inhale/exhale

Feeling somewhat impressionistic today.

We have several rose of sharon scattered around the house. That’s a seed pod from last year. Dunno where this year’s are.

columbine’s jester hat.

jester’s hat + jester’s slippers. (tis the seed bits forming.)

spiderwort, in pink! in VT, we have purple, and white, but not pink.

lilac.

triptych.

canada mayflower, rhodies, bleeding heart green beans, hummingbirds

Right next to the entry way of our house, at the base of a pale lilac rhododendron, the previous owners and/or nature sprites planted a whole mess of Canada mayflower. On May 18th, they were at this stage:

Just starting to open up.

They’re at this stage now – slightly faded, not yet Obviously Magnificently Preggers.

The scrawny kind of bleeding heart – I don’t know the official name – is likewise just starting to fade. Here’s one with a just-opening rhodie behind it...

I’m more partial to wildflowers, in theory, but it’s hard to resist the show being put on all around the house. I mean, what’s not to love about a humongous rhododendron right at your own front steps? It’s like being in the woods in West Virginia.

I’m not the only fan.

Those bleeding hearts make long green bean pods.

We also have the fat white kind. I’m new to them, more-or-less – still trying to figure out the order of events.

This might be the last of the bunch to get going. Oh crap, this is out of focus. Oops.

Eventually the bottoms go sproinnnngg...

OK, now I’m just geeking out and documenting the process, even though this isn’t the best shot...

Around the south side of the house, a batch of fat pink ones are the furthest along.

Also on the south side of the house, we have purple fireworks. I think they’re in the chive/onion realm.

At one point, a family of cardinals got all up in my grill. Or maybe Maggie’s grill. They were upset about something.

Note: a macro lens might not be the best choice on a bird. Speaking of which, the hummingbirds are eating us out of house and home. Seriously. They go through 2.5 cups of sweetened water in about five days.

Sir H. There are at least three or four couples right around here. I spy on them from the kitchen. They hesitate when they see me and often work their way around to the one hole opposite the feeder from my vantage point at the sink. But I’ve managed to get a few shots, mostly of females, who are slightly not-as-wary. Perhaps they recognize a kindred spirit in me.

I’m awfully fond of them.

words fail me

I went for a three hour walk with a friend in some nearby woods that are famed for their wildflowers.

The stream in this bed was sometimes above ground, and sometimes below ground. A mystery for another day.

That green haze on the forest floor is a veritable carpet of flowers. Without further ado:


Dutchman’s breeches.

Squirrel corn.

In the above shot alone, there is dutchman’s breeches (lacy leaves at far left, and all over), squirrel corn (flowers at lower right), blue cohosh (tall stem on the left), trillium (self-evident, right?), wild ramp (fat narrow leaves), spring beauty (one eensy flower, right).
There was so much blue cohosh, I didn’t even bother to try to do it justice. The ones here were much further along than those at home, and I’ve found trying to capture cohosh is hard – the lightest, slightest breeze sets them to dancing.

But here’s a nice shot at a cool stage – the structure of the plant is opened up, but the leaves have yet to fully unfold.


The trillium were simply epic. A ton of them. And huge. Oh, and there’s trout lily in the background, and blue cohosh. Sick.

Gaaaaggghhhhh!

Jack-in-the-pulpit – these are the only ones we saw, perched on a rock ledge.

Weep-inducing Columbine.

Heart-stopping wild bleeding heart.

Crowfoot, a miniature early variety. As you can see, this is going to seed at a decent clip.

Trout lily up the wazoo. And a token spring beauty.

False ginseng.

Early saxifrage.

Miterwort.

Wild ginger’s freaky flower – I’ve always pegged this for a carnivore.

Red baneberry.

Multiple flavors of violet. You know you’re on system overload when you can’t even manage to take down enough detail to key out your violet species.
I was wearing chaco sandals, and after having done my 13 mile run yesterday, I’m not sure who got tired first: the soles of my feet, or my wonder-intake-capacity valve. I may need to eat an entire garlic pizza and soak up five episodes of “Eureka” just to recalibrate back to something approaching normal.