tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62248331076578384432024-03-14T06:55:57.051-04:00musings from davedave's a place, not a person, for what it's worth.sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00433184291061135740noreply@blogger.comBlogger772125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6224833107657838443.post-62158294402262477512023-11-27T08:59:00.002-05:002023-11-27T08:59:54.842-05:00Still here That is all. sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00433184291061135740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6224833107657838443.post-87901842389949945492021-01-05T17:04:00.002-05:002021-01-05T17:04:11.639-05:002020Came and went. Don't let the door hit you on the way out, we told it.That is all for now.sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00433184291061135740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6224833107657838443.post-42552357809345085592019-09-21T17:46:00.004-04:002019-09-21T17:46:42.943-04:00hope and tragedy
A monarch caterpillar set up shop in the garden basil a couple of weeks ago. I brought it inside the other night because it was projected to almost freeze that night. And then it warmed up. And lo, the pupa turned from mint green to almost black, which the interwebs tells me means the butterfly within is just about ready to emerge.
Here it is, balanced between two wooden skewers suspended sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00433184291061135740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6224833107657838443.post-88427195280717682642019-08-25T18:51:00.002-04:002019-08-25T18:58:54.929-04:00Ireland, Day 5: Dingle all the Way
This was an epic and mind-blowing day. We were staying on northeast edge of the Dingle peninsula, way up close to Tralee.
Step one: cross over the peninsula on N86. This means, along the edge of beautiful super-green valley with hills rising up 1,200 feet above us. We'd already been this way the previous day and we didn't stop for pictures today, so here's one from then:
sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00433184291061135740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6224833107657838443.post-33246455111195453452019-08-22T16:06:00.004-04:002019-08-22T16:06:56.557-04:00Ireland, Day Seven
We (meaning, of course, Kevin) drove from our Airbnb just outside Tralee over to Cobh ("Cove"), just outside Cork, today.
We're staying in an old dairy that's been converted to a sleek, modern apartment, with barn doors separating a back entrance/the bathroom, and the bedroom, from the kitchen/living room:
This place is cute enough to warrant more photos, but my feet are too tired sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00433184291061135740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6224833107657838443.post-29078479878242798862019-08-21T16:38:00.003-04:002019-08-21T16:43:21.713-04:00Ireland. Day Six.
Too many gorgeous things encountered today to not throw up a blog post.
We're in Ireland, in County Kerry. This is our 6th day.
We're on our way to the Uragh Stone Circle outside Kinmare. It's only 3.5 km off a main road out of town, but the land is so up-and-down and the road so curvy - and narrow! - that it feels like it takes a long while to get there.
We're surrounded by big,sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00433184291061135740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6224833107657838443.post-60950092359675196952019-05-09T20:45:00.000-04:002019-05-09T20:45:53.667-04:00
It's been a while, hasn't it. It's been a very soggy May, so when I found myself home early enough from work with some scant sun this afternoon I had to get out there...soak up some spring....why yes, I will happily settle for a dandelion!
The willow down by the culvert is in full-bore explosion. Here's one just starting to open up:
The Mighty Lumix (the camera I had with me sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00433184291061135740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6224833107657838443.post-33058502960342970752017-09-09T15:27:00.000-04:002017-09-09T15:29:42.717-04:00why I love it here.
Without further ado, the 2017 Westminster West Community Fair.
It starts with a parade. This year's theme: New Beginnings. Each of those little white flags below has the name of a kid born within the last year.
A nice counterpart to Brattleboro's Strolling of the Heifers: The Hefting of the Strollers. Those are our elected state officials - our Senator, Jeanette White, and our repsarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00433184291061135740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6224833107657838443.post-71163673784506985082017-07-18T15:40:00.001-04:002017-07-18T15:43:41.774-04:00beauty underfoot
So this is what happens when you take the Nikon into the garden: you realize even the enslaved plants are...well... plants. Just like the wilder ones. There are similarities. The corn, for instance, reminds me of grass.
The same dangly bits.
And I'm struck by a fractal: the little green and red...leafy bits enclosing the not-yet-exploded flowers (scales? sepals?) sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00433184291061135740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6224833107657838443.post-55703253069170273572017-07-08T13:58:00.001-04:002017-07-08T17:30:49.438-04:00in honor of eleven
Behold the Mighty Lumix, and its zoom lens. This eastern tiger swallowtail is at least 10 feet away from me.
Incidentally, I never did find the monarch caterpillar again, after I first spotted it on July 2nd. By now it's probably several sizes bigger.
Mullein.
Out on the road, musk mallow.
Does this remind you of anything?
Maybe gray birch's sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00433184291061135740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6224833107657838443.post-11932556325477683842017-07-02T20:00:00.001-04:002017-07-02T20:00:05.944-04:00a random sampling of roadside pleasures
July already?
Gone are the days when I could while away the hours on a mere trip to the mailbox a quarter mile away, and get 200 shots in. For lo, I am gainfully employed and whatnot, and damn if it doesn't eat in to the esoteric pursuits. Translation: oh right, the Mighty Lumix! Let's go out into the world with it, shall we?
The milkweed is just starting to pop.
sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00433184291061135740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6224833107657838443.post-74120501387271025332017-05-13T13:12:00.001-04:002017-05-13T13:12:45.251-04:00in honor of mother's day, some observations of flowers' families
I went up into the woods this morning armed with only the iPhone because it's kinda overcast and I figured any pictures I took would suck. So I'm standing there, looking around, when eventually I notice a whole clump of trillium flowers, about twenty feet away. I've noticed clumps of trillium on one other occasion and it made me curious to know how that comes about. Are they all related to one sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00433184291061135740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6224833107657838443.post-53998141380069066972017-05-12T19:12:00.002-04:002017-05-12T19:12:34.225-04:00sun + Nikon = happiness
Friday Friday Friday! The day I go put my hands on strangers. Doing Reiki. The signal-to-noise ratio wasn't ideal - a lot of patients not in their rooms, or passed out, or about to be discharged, or visiting with family - but I did have some great conversations, and I put two people to sleep, so I count it a win.
AND AND AND I started the day off with a run, first thing. I have three half sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00433184291061135740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6224833107657838443.post-33619681446496588462017-05-09T16:04:00.002-04:002017-05-09T16:05:14.947-04:00great things from small packages
I'm fascinated by beech buds, particularly the terminal ones - the ones at the ends of the branch - because just the one bud really packs a punch. This one has at least five leaves coming out of it, in their special accordionated formation.
Once again, for I am a fool, I headed out with only the phone, so... well, it wasn't sunny, that's my excuse. This here is a RED BANEBERRY which as yousarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00433184291061135740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6224833107657838443.post-32029170350641279442017-05-07T19:27:00.000-04:002017-05-07T19:27:44.989-04:00the nature of the void.
Kev and I went out for a walk this morning. I say "morning", even though it was really early afternoon; such are the wonders of being able to sleep in of a Sunday morn. I foolishly didn't bring either the Mighty Lumix or the Nikon, but being me, I dawdled here and there, snapping crappy close-ups with my phone. And all this rubbed off on the dear boy, because he was looking attentively all sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00433184291061135740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6224833107657838443.post-24490543232314006812017-05-06T18:19:00.001-04:002017-05-06T18:19:07.579-04:00unfurlings continue
Here's what's been going on around here.
Red eft. Kevin took this picture.
Ferns just starting to open.
We have a jack! We have a jack! This is basically at the foot of our driveway. It's the only one I've seen.
Our lilacs are taking their time.
Another type of fern unfurling.
Down past the booming metropolis that is the village of Westminster Westsarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00433184291061135740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6224833107657838443.post-42980965436444548552017-04-29T18:37:00.002-04:002017-04-29T18:37:49.054-04:00when in doubt, fetchez la caméra la plus proche
Happy Saturday...here's where we're at here in West West, Vermont...all of these courtesy of the phone, because the Mighty Lumix (the little guy good for macros, particularly in awkward shots like underneath a flower two inches from the ground) is in Kevin's car in an airport parking lot. And the Nikon with its awesomeness is...oh, it's on my desk, but I'm lazy, so without further ado...
sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00433184291061135740noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6224833107657838443.post-32149374184672355322017-04-25T17:24:00.001-04:002017-04-25T17:24:42.467-04:00upskirting the shrooms, lost in reflections, the tenacity of birch
We've been back in Vermont for what, eight months and change now? And not til today did my friend G. and I get out into the woods together.
Shelf mushrooms on a downed log, looking first the one way...
...and then t'other.
I'd left the Mighty Lumix in Kevin's car...or at least I hope that's where it is, since I can't find it... so I had only the phone with me and lo, sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00433184291061135740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6224833107657838443.post-31268856073976194622017-04-18T16:07:00.001-04:002017-04-18T16:08:06.535-04:00TRILLIUM. It's my day off, and the sky is an expanse of deep blue. Mmm mmm good. There's been this strange cold virus out and about - it nips your heels for a week or two, and then when you're not looking, it sucker punches you. Then, a few days later, when you're all "I'm on the mend, yay!" it kneecaps you. So the running has been a bit erratic lately. But today, I finally got a solid run in. I NEED to sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00433184291061135740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6224833107657838443.post-66231636421101214382017-04-16T15:44:00.002-04:002017-04-16T15:44:42.945-04:00sproing-oing-oing-oing-oing
words. who needs 'em?
Gray birch catkins spreading out and getting down to business.
More pussy willow explosions.
A half mile+ away, a whole lot of bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis).
sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00433184291061135740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6224833107657838443.post-12004557316896197612017-04-14T17:44:00.000-04:002017-04-14T17:46:39.795-04:00pussy willows exploding, gray birch party hats, and big news
You can't always be fluff.
You gotta speak out at times.
Like, say for instance, this pussy willow.
Ta-da! Goodbye, fluff...hello, delight.
oh god, this makes me so happy.
I wonder if the southern sides tend to ripen up more, as would be suggested here:
Meanwhile, along the side of the road, near the edge of a former-and-soon-to-be-future beaver sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00433184291061135740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6224833107657838443.post-12955488525000110082017-04-11T20:11:00.001-04:002017-04-11T20:11:51.396-04:00a warm day + brain melt
First time I've used the Mighty Lumix in a long time; I had to fiddle with it to remember its settings.
Yellow birch, hop hornbeam; toes intertwined.
An 80+ degree day after weeks of 40s or below; I have the added discombobulation of having a cold, and hence, no energy.
gray birch female flower, aka the party hat. these little fuscia ganglies mystified me for years sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00433184291061135740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6224833107657838443.post-64264386805572577602017-02-25T12:57:00.001-05:002017-02-25T12:58:22.527-05:00mud season, alders, cattails...
We could hear the red-winged blackbirds - the males - across the (former) pond this morning. First time this year - February 25 - in years past, that's happened pretty much on the equinox. So, early.
It's been warmer lately and with the snowmelt, the stream that runs through our property has swollen considerably. I went out for a walk before breakfast with just the phone for a camera. sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00433184291061135740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6224833107657838443.post-72431150155041528032016-12-30T00:00:00.000-05:002016-12-30T00:00:25.769-05:00an afternoon at the grand canyon
Today was our last full day in Arizona and we decided to head over to the Grand Canyon - it's only about two hours from Sedona.
A sign at the top of the Bright Angel Trail advised the use of crampons. Hmmm. We hadn't thought to bring our YakTrax (rubbery devices that fit over your shoes, strung with wound wire, that provide grip on icy surfaces) so we decided to proceed with caution and sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00433184291061135740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6224833107657838443.post-56906135339200597672016-12-28T20:54:00.002-05:002016-12-28T20:55:11.765-05:00Fay Canyon Arch, Chimney RockI was up before the sun rose this morning, hoping to score a parking space at the magic place just a half mile from our hotel but lo, pre-dawn, every parking spot was already taken. And verily, the crankiness descended upon her.... but lo! she didst solve this problem by getting a cup of strong, black coffee, darker than her irritable soul, before returning to the hotel room where her sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00433184291061135740noreply@blogger.com0