This week's To-Do List, with pictures

To Do List:

* Get to airport on time. [Just barely.] a

* Make difficult decisions, such as:

Walk North a


Walk South a


* Take lots of naps.a

* Hug some trees. [metaphorically] a

Palm trees...

Swamp fig on cyprus

Cyprus


* Swim in the sea. a

* See the sun kiss the water. a



* Eat plenty of seafood (Grouper, Flounder, Shrimp, Oysters...) a

* Go to my favorite Audubon Sanctuary, Corkscrew Swamp and observe nature. [alligators, birds, anoles, frogs, plants, spiders, racoons. Heard a bear growl.] a

Red-Shouldered Hawk
Green Tree Frog (hiding)

* Ignore Blackberry. Let others work. a



* Stop and smell the flowers. a
Water Lily

Narrow-leaf sunflowers

Orchid

Alligator Flag Blossom
White vine


* Lie on the beach under the full moon and stare at the stars. a

* Work on personal projects, not work projects a

* Observe two birds I haven't noticed before [Black Skimmers, Common Yellowthroat] a

* Read. a

* Favorite line of poetry this week:
...from what we cannot hold, the stars are made -- WS Merwin Youth

* Take pictures. Relax a

Old trees hold many tales....

Three Beautiful Things

Unexpected joys of summer:



Fresh Watermelon. Lovely taste. Slicing this juicy melon reminded me of my grandfather teaching me how to slap melons in the market to tell if they were ripe. Finding a seed in this seedless melon made me smile.





I like watching blue dragonflies flit from plant to plant around my pond & porch. I am not a good enough photographer and I don't have the right equipment to capture the graceful ways his wings flap, making blue arcs across the garden. Maybe there isn't a photographer or camera that could capture his true beauty. Part of the pleasure of watching them, I think.




I am awed by spiderwebs, especially when they catch the last few drops of rain.

What three beautiful things did you hear, see, say today?

Summer Pleasures

Lovely Lily of Blog posted recently about summer pleasures. One of hers is iced coffee. One of mine: Iced Sun Tea.


In this case, black current, brought to me by a friend on a trip to Russia, purchased in duty-free shop in Hamburg, with Finnish wording on the Lipton package. I was amused by the package; love the tea.

I'm particular about how my tea is brewed and rarely buy iced tea in restaurants, particularly now that so many places where I live (not even in the South) serve that beverage abomination known as Sweet Tea. Unsweetened tea is a 'special request'. Ugh! Sun tea, more accurately cold-brewed tea, is a simple pleasure. I don't make mine in the sun; just place the tea into cold water and let it stand for about an hour. Watching the tea slowly sink to the bottom of the pitcher can be mesmerizing, if you're in one of those "don't have anything I really want to do right now" kinds of mood.

Even though I don't make Sun Tea outside, I think of this as a summertime pleasure. It is light and soothing and feels appropriate for the season. After I snapped this picture, I realized how perfect this picture was. Unintentionally framed in the picture is one of the tiles in my kitchen. With the flash from the camera a reflection was created resembling a sunset with a palm tree superimposed on the glass. What could be more summer-like than that?


The tile, actually, is of a May Apple (Podophyllum peltatum). One of the first things I noticed when I looked at this house was the hand-painted tiles in the kitchen. The owner explained that all of the represented flowers grew on the property. At closing, she gave me a book used by the painter for most of the tiles.



Thinking about summer pleasures and iced tea, made me realize how these tiles are one of those everyday pleasures in my home. They make me smile. I haven't seen wildflowers in the woods to match each of these tiles, although some, like the may apples make their appearance each year. Some I know would not be classified as wild because they are not native plants. Still, the tiles remind me that hidden in the woods throughout spring, summer and fall are little blooms that, when stumbled upon, will make me smile.

What do you see every day that makes you smile?

Blue Violets; White LadySlipper
Marsh Marigold;
Eastern Trout-Lilly;
Bluebells;
Red Trillium

Dutchman's
breeches







If you know the names of those I haven't identified (2nd, 3rd down on right), please let me know. Also if I've identified any incorrectly.

Question: What is 10 Years?

Answer: The number of years I've lived in the woods on Old Oak Hill without seeing a Pileated Woodpecker while looking out my kitchen window.

The memory card wasn't in the camera. The door was locked and the screen door squeaked as I opened it. By the time I made my way through the scrub to get near Old Oak, the camera battery was dead. But, the pair was re-united and the worried half of the pair had stopped its kuk-kuk-kuk song that, roughly translated, was a pleading where are you?

So, here is another picture from the woods, just as wonderful, but not as surprising: Virginia Bluebells, a flower with delicate blooms and a leaf that says Don't mess with me! I'm a hardy perennial.

Spring Find

I took my camera out to the woods last night to snap some shots of the daffodils. I love it when I find something like this volunteer, which appears to be some sort of dwarf iris. If you know what it is, please let me know in the comments.

When a tree limb falls in the icy woods...

and it hits you in the head -- it hurts! Nevertheless, Cam, the intripid photographer, risked life and (human) limb to wander underneath the trees at the start of the icestorm. I hope there aren't too many branches that fall during the night! (P.S.: only twigs and small branches were falling as the sunset.)

ICE LOG:


FROZEN RAINDROPS:


PINE BRANCHS ON BIRD BATH:


ICE DROPS:


ICY HILLSIDE:


BABY PINE IN ICE PELLETS:


OLD OAK, ICY FOREGROUND:

Snow and Shadows, with a quote

I love the textures found in the woods. Five photos taken on a cold day recently, and one on a cold night:

Naked Trees

Old Oak Limbs

Snow and Bark

Ash Bark

Tracks and Shadows


Eclipse


Listening to melody, every man becomes his own poet, and measures the depths of his own nature. -- Abraham Lincoln

Wednesday: Words and Winter

I read recently that the collective noun for Ravens was an unkindness of ravens. "Before or after Hitchcock made that movie?", I thought.

This led me to a search engine to confirm. While I can't find a definitive origin (I'm sure it's out there, but I didn't look extensively), I did find that there are numerous collective nouns for birds.

How about a murder of crows? Or a siege of bitterns? Others include:

-a wake of buzzards
-a cast of falcons
-a confusion of guinea fowl
-a kettle of hawks (Dinner, anyone?)
-a parliament of owls
-a congress of eagles
-an exultation of skylarks

I thought a A Unkindness of Ravens, A Murder of Crows might make a good title for a mystery. I don't read mysteries, but I wasn't surprised when I queried Amazon that I found results. Ruth Rendell wrote a book called An Unkindness of Ravens; Cuba Gooding starred in a movie in 2000 called A Murder of Crows. More on collective nouns for birds can be found here.

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Winter is still a few weeks away, but we had our first snowfall overnight. I love the first snow of the year: new, fresh, bright, the whiteness of it all. I like celebrating the cycles of the seasons and snow, rather than ice or cold, is the sign of winter to me. I like to be reminded of it, but I would be happy if winter only lasted a few days and then we could get on with it. Snow that melts after a few hours is the best kind. Today's was like that, at least on the roadways. I had to grab my camera to capture the snow before it melted away:

The thick wet snow coating the limbs of the trees:






The last few green leaves on the undergrowth, struggling against the elements:




Chimneys seem purposeful. I like the monochromaticism of this picture, all whites and grey. A plume of smoke would have been perfect!




The abandoned, seasonal bench on the front porch, where it isn't too welcoming at this time of year:




The beauty of a single leaf upon the new snow: