the 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 around him, and spotted a couple of jack-in-the-pulpits for me.

Not even opened up! Way to go, Kev-o. Later on in our walk, we were headed toward the beaver pond for a status update, and I found my own jack - like the one of the other day, close to the bottom of the driveway.

Each and every one of these is a thrill. 

AND, Solomon's seal abounds as well, along the way to the pond.

She's filling up nicely! 

Hours later, while Kev was off to softball (a double-header, no less) I headed out again, and again, didn't think to bring the 'real' cameras. After all, it was past 6 pm, the light wasn't that great, and "what is there to see?"

Silly me.

I found a mess of teeny Golden Alexanders on the north side of the field on the way out to the road. 

Oh, for the Nikon's zoom lens...

And some type of fern encased in... foam wrapping.

or at least that what it looked like to me.

By now I was pretty close to the pussy willows near the mailbox, I wonder what they're up to...

busy, busy, busy...

Next, I bring you - drum roll please - my oldest white baneberry friend. I've known this guy for like, six or seven years now. Kevin spotted it first, on our walk together earlier, but the best picture of the several I took was from my solo walk:  heaven forfend I arrange pictures out of order. It would violate the... journalistic integrity of this project.

Check out the way the flower buds look like they're being clasped by a hand...I guess that's a leaf, wrapped around them. "Journalistic integrity" indeed... I suspect you need actual readers for your writing to count as anything vaguely journalistic, and I'm pretty sure I'm typing merrily into a void. Who has the time/patience to read this? 

"If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody hears it, does it make a sound?" comes to mind.

Where was I? Oh. Flowers and whatnot. We're just inundated with trillium. Trillia?

This one was up in the mystery woodland. It pleases me to find 'em under the trees, regardless of whether anyone is there to see them. 

The saxifrage, on the other hand, I knew to expect. I promised The Void that I'd get to this with the Nikon: first sunny day! First sunny day!

Blurry because they're friggin' TINY.

I leave off with a magnolia queen upon her throne. 

on losing one’s mind, and finding it again

This is how most of this week month has been:

Out of focus. Meaning, the things that are actually deeply important to me? Uhhhhhhhh….

What are they again? I can’t see straight.

Basically, I have spent the past month or so working too hard, and not getting enough bliss time in. Hard to believe, when it’s only a part-time job, which, I do from home. Hard to believe when I have pretty decent self-maintenance habits: I eat pretty well (hardly any crap), I run several times a week, I give myself Reiki every day, and I do at least three to five Reiki treatments on other people every week (not counting Kevin – he gets Reiki every day). I don’t know how much of this is background stress (some pretty major things are up in the air in our lives, plus some loved ones are experiencing health issues), and how much is the changing of the seasons (the onset of fall, as I’ve gotten older, gets harder and harder…), and how much is just not really taking my needs seriously.

All I know is, Tuesday there may have been an episode of brain paralysis, followed by a minor emotional meltdown. There might have been another meltdown yesterday morning, followed by extra bonus meltdown in the afternoon. Two in one day! Excellent! Last night, Kevin gently suggested to me that I – brace yourselves – take breaks more often, and go outside with the camera. Today, I finally did so.

I went from this:

 

To this:

Oh. Okay.

 

Yeah.

I remember this.

Exhale.

 

Bees go all in for what they want.

Bluets don’t give up. September? “Fie!” they say.

Sumacs say, “Hold my beer and watch this shit.”

 

Asters got the memo that fall colors involve orange and red, and responded with an “oh yeah?”

“Sez who?”

 

The tall anemone follows suit, indulging in a little light purple…

…before saying “screw it” and exploding.

 

 

Only one eyeball left on the white baneberry.

And now, for yellow.

Oleander aphids on a milkweed pod…

…and stem.

 

 

As for the tree that fell at the base of our driveway: it’s in the burn pile now. In the background, on the edge of the field, lurks the feral bathtub.

life = plasmic goo

On a run this morning, I noticed one last batch of a lovely purple-blue flower at the top of a hill about a half mile from the house. I’ve never photographed it before, so this afternoon I went for a walk to investigate. Much to my consternation, when I got to the spot where I was sure I’d seen it…it was gone. Vanished! Vamoose! Maybe it’s like my neighbor’s morning glories, which are, in fact, glorious, in the morning, and less so, in the afternoon. I don’t know. I plan on a drive-by tomorrow morning, if only to prove to myself that I did, in fact, see something there.

In the meantime, there were other consolations in the late afternoon sun.

This, for instance. And…

My first ever (around here) monarch caterpillar! Munching away happily on a milkweed leaf.

It’s hard to imagine how this creature will turn into…

 

…this creature.

But we can all hope, can’t we? To be transformed? It’s that mushy part in the middle that’s the tricky bit, isn’t it. The part where the caterpillar is ensconced in its cocoon, and literally dissolving into plasmic goo.

In other news, the white baneberry, or Martian Eyeballs, as Kevin calls it, is turning fire-engine red:

…while the lily of the valley berries ripen.

butterflies planning an insurrection in the driveway.

OK, so last week, remember I had a cold? I’m still leaking brain fluid, but I’m doing much better. I’ve gotten back into the swing of things. The flower reports have been delayed due to rain, but this afternoon, we had a classic Vermont spring situation: blue sky, puffy clouds, full sun, and rain, all simultaneously. Heaven.

honeysuckle before…

 

and after:

 

 

white baneberry, the day before yesterday, had exploded into bloom…

(remember it from two weeks before that?)

today, the petals are gone. a few stamens are hanging around gamely. the stigma are sullied with glorious pollen.

 

false solomon’s seal on april 28.

 

by may 7, teensy flowers were on the way.

 

on may 21, the seemingly embryonic flowers were out and about. they really are green.

 

today, some of those are barely waking up.

 

while others have unfurled more happy bits.

 

milkweed makes its first appearance.

 

onwards to buttercups.

I believe this one’s been fertilized.

 

again, with the lingering stamens.

 

the final product. so elegant.

 

female eastern tiger swallowtails congregating in the private drive on the way to the mailbox.

seven.

I snuck up on one. she was vibrating and moving slowly in a circle.

she turned completely around.

occasionally they’d lift off, flutter around, and gradually re-assemble.

this one was exploring the soil with her probiscis (thank you, internet, for supplying the word.)

On the stud report, I started a CrossFit-type regimen at the gym this morning. It took just twelve minutes to reduce me from “woo hoo, let’s get started!” to “is there a bucket I can puke in?” Apparently I did great! I’ll try to last longer, next time.

On the chorus report, we had our spring performance over the weekend. I’ll link other groups’ performances of two of the pieces we did (we don’t film our performances).

This is a kick-ass, fast moving gospel piece. I was one of the smaller group in the front. I wore my sexy new LBD. It was awesome. (Again, please note, this video is Not Us.)

Here’s another piece we did – again, as performed by other people - http://ericwhitacre.com/music-catalog/satb-choral/three-songs-of-faith – the “i thank You God for most this amazing day” piece. Lovely stuff.