Musings

We haven’t stopped at Seney’s Boot Hill in years, so we did today. It was buffed up perhaps fifteen years ago, but nothing since, so it’s entering another genteel decline. Strange plastic items survive better than most of the wood.

We went on to the refuge, and it’s mushroom season…mushrooms and swans. And the usual marsh critters and plants.

Parent trumpeter swan in front of perhaps three-quarter grown swan/cygnet—when do the youths become swans?

I’m speculating: giant aphids?

Not sure what nibbled this mushroom down to the gills—I know turtles like them….

Speaking of turtles…painted turtle?

Posted at 7:24 PM | 1 Comment »

You’ve heard of a cow bell? Hah. 😉

Posted at 8:31 PM | Comments Off on Twist on the normal

Blushing cauliflower.

Giant zucchini blossom.

Rain last night. Heavy overcast and surprisingly warm all day, but not raining. Rain has returned ushering in an early dusk.

Posted at 7:38 PM | Comments Off on Wait five minutes

Lake had some waves this afternoon, but they weren’t pounding in, so the sand beach is preserved.

Here’s a late bloomer. I think I saw one other pea blossom on the property (not a thorough search, however), and that’s it. Goldenrod in background.

Queen Anne’s lace aka wild carrot, with ant friend.

Puffball posing. About half this size two days ago. How big will it get?

Posted at 6:48 PM | Comments Off on Late summer

Arty foam on the beach. Note: this means there actually is beach. This is special after the super-high water earlier this season…that lasted for months.

See: beach.

We whiled away some time just watching the water, lapping waves, passing birds. The dock was terrifically scenic.

Posted at 7:51 PM | Comments Off on The Lake

Many swamp-ponds in these parts, but not all sport cattails and goldenrod borders. Helmer isn’t technically a village any longer, but this pond is mighty pretty this time of year.

Garden sunflower, a delicate specimen, not a giant one. Heart of the bloom looks rather murky (under zoom-magnification (in original)), although I need to check it more closely. Wondering if all this rain has affected the flower and it will never open?

Low this morning on the porch. Nice day!

Posted at 6:39 PM | Comments Off on Goldenrod season

In my youth, we’d compete (if we remembered in time) to see who would spot The Big Bridge first as we motored along from the south. Because of the hilly terrain, the tall pylons effectively “hide” for quite some time.

Were we ever glad we were northbound today. I’d been monitoring traffic info on my smartphone, and I’m pretty sure northbound had this problem about three hours before we got here. Whew!

Big payoff sign! The colorful ones aren’t referring to the peninsula, but the toll booth immediately below. Speaking of closed, the DOT is replacing a river/creek bridge* west of The Big Bridge, and all westbound (non-local) traffic had to go north to get west—only a few alternate routes in this swampy low-population** area. This closing just began this week—after the big summer-end holiday—and will continue for a mere six weeks or so. Must be a modular/pre-manufactured bridge.

* For those in-the-know, this roadwork is in addition to the seemingly unending revisions to the Cut River Bridge, where traffic can pass on one lane and is controlled with red/green lights.

** Low people density. High populations of mosquitoes and many other living things.

Posted at 7:23 PM | Comments Off on Infrastructure (bridge-talk)

On occasion when we’re traveling we search for “indigenous cuisine.” Despite our term, it is a wide-ranging category that includes what cooks in the locale typically make at home, but also embraces pretty much anything that isn’t from a kitchen (microwave?) in a chain place.

We made a fantastic find in a Thai/sushi restaurant that we ducked into to give the Cincinnati rush hour a chance to straighten out. We loved these “fish crisps”—pretty much deconstructed fish tacos.

And, yes, the traffic jams were mostly gone when we returned to the highway.

Posted at 11:13 PM | Comments Off on Oh yum

Do you figure this is a household where someone says, “Hey, honey, it’s sunny out and I gotta paint those seee-ment vases today!”

Serious vase decoration, there. I have been remiss in learning architecture terms, and cannot come up with the names of these flat spots to the sides of the staircase. Seems like a term I should know.

Posted at 9:35 PM | Comments Off on Shrug

Integrating the day’s errand stops together, we stopped at the “new” H0leFuuds because it fit into our route better, instead of our closer-to-home usual outlet. It’s different. It’s oh-so urban, in a large structure with parking in a ramp that’s part of the building, get your parking ticket validated in the store (thankfully, the cashiers help you remember that step). We parked in an electric charging spot, and got the car topped off (well, to 99%) subsidized by WF and so free to us, thank you very much. Next to our spot was this fancy wall rack. Empty. Such a green city, ATL, ¿no? haha

Posted at 7:38 PM | Comments Off on Go green