Musings

I’d like to think that if I ever did a ceramic-tile project, I’d use gems like this.

In perhaps 7th-grade art (can’t remember), the assignment and supplies were for making a trivet with little pre-made tiles (tiling, then grout, that kind of progression). Except. As as I recall, the options were from The Ugly Assortment (my judgment). Like medium brown with YELL-ow flecks…ick.

These, HOWEVER, are lovely. Gems. Not good for a trivet, but much better aesthetics. IMHO.

Posted at 9:25 PM | Comments Off on Aesthetics

I see these lovely sculpture-copies and realize my ignorance: who is it? A goddess? A person?

Despite the sunshine, I am in the dark.

Unenlightened may indicate simple ignorance.

Posted at 9:36 PM | Comments Off on I am unenlightened

I saw no owls today. Didn’t hear any, either.

About two months ago, several times over a ten-day period when I was at the southeast corner of Orme Park I heard an owl high above in a tree…not always the same tree, but the same area. Not since, however. [Do they migrate????]

No owls, not even superb owls.

Posted at 9:27 PM | 1 Comment »

I saw a squirrel taking advantage of this BIRD feeder installed super-close to the fence-corner…best winter take-out deal for squirrels within miles! [Saw, that is: no proof photo, however.]

Except for a similar feeder in the opposite fence corner.

Posted at 9:15 PM | Comments Off on Winter feeding

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw green in a dogwood with nice buds, but nothing else: winter.

I laughed inside thinking that the dogwood (yes, anthropomorphizing) was trying to move the arrival of spring up with a captured leaflet from another tree. Or pretend to.

Posted at 9:11 PM | Comments Off on Nature backstory

Evidence of how windy it’s been lately—the pine-needle top dressing has redistributed from it’s careful alignment along the sidewalk edge, revealing…subsoil?

I keep thinking this is true: wind can only be captured in a photo through physical bits affected by wind…and not the wind per se.

Posted at 9:10 PM | Comments Off on Zephyr tracks

I’ve been thinking the theme of my walks each of the last few days has been Keeping Carotids Warm…and my (absurdly expensive—and worth it!) Grrrrrr-tex neck buff does the trick.

The leaves on this vine tend to hang down, but the cold today has made them more limp than usual.

Bonus photo: so strange that in this bright, bright sunlight, this otherwise perfectly grey panel looked greenish. I’ll check it again tomorrow to see if it’s back to matching the body color.

Posted at 8:48 PM | Comments Off on KCW

I labeled this photo dragonfly then wondered: is it? Or is it a damselfly? I do think the artist was going for dragonfly based on wing position (horizontal, away from the body). HOWEVER, by definition, dragonflies have a broader hindwing than forewing—not true of this wonderous creature.

At least that’s the rundown based on WikiPee, which I don’t think is always right, but it’s easy to find and I believe mostly correct…regarding this type on natural history topic, anyway. IMHO

Posted at 6:42 PM | Comments Off on It’s art

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted this fungi with uncharacteristic lobes…plenty of them. I looked closer…

…and spotted this “normal” fungi, same kind (pretty sure), just below it.

So, why the difference?

Fungi on the fungi? Viral infection? Alien artist manipulation?

Don’t get me going; I’m full of possibilities and potentials.

Posted at 6:58 PM | Comments Off on Comparative natural history

We’ve now watched the entire first season of “Bordertown,” which is set in Lappeenranta, in southern Finland, and shot in Finnish. Or we are watching it in Finnish, with subtitles. Turns out, after listening to hours of Finnish dialogue, I got nothing. Well, perhaps yes and no…just checked: they’re juu/joo and ei…so, hmm, perhaps not?

And this tree, every time I walk by it, I think: Araucaria. After a wee internet dive, I may be wrong about that, too.

Posted at 9:07 PM | Comments Off on I don’t know