we have a wood turtle! we have a wood turtle!

Today was mostly about “ooops”. As in

• “Oops, I spent so long wandering around with the camera this morning that I’m 45 minutes later than I intended to be getting over to the hospital to do Reiki”. “
• “Oops, my phone battery is dead.”
• “Oops, I left my lights on and my car battery’s dead.”
• “Oops, I missed my dentist appointment because my car battery died.”
• “Ooops, I’m four days late putting Toxic Death Gel on the cat and as a result, I have a tick. On my back. Where I can’t reach it.”

On many a day, all this would have freaked me out, but all I can think is, “WE HAVE A WOOD TURTLE! WE HAVE A WOOD TURTLE!” and all is well in my world! All batteries have since been recharged, my own included. The tick’s been removed and flushed to its greater reward.
To rewind, this is how my day started:
The very first thing I did this morning, before even making coffee, was, I went outside to see if the turtle was still there. It wasn’t. Rats. As I turned around to head back inside, I froze in surprise as I saw it was ten feet away from me, staring at the garage door. I tiptoed inside and grabbed the camera…and the compost bucket, which was full.

I headed back out. I apologized to the turtle, dumped the compost, and invited him (her?) to check it out.


I think I’m in love.
Turtle headed toward the compost, but changed his (her?) mind, and then over the the course of a half hour or so, wandered toward the pole barn and up into the woods.

The journey begins.
Since I was already outside with the camera, I went a-visitin’…

Bluets are still going strong, mostly because I spared them the wrath of the lawnmower the other day.

Lily-of-the-valley.

A hosta has taken over a spot formerly inhabited by spring beauties and trillium, at the base of the yellow birch tree.

Foamflower, aka false miterwort, is still going strong.

So’s the actual miterwort. I love how each flower is connected by spiderwebs.

The azalea over by the garden shed is the current noisy thing in the yard.
Speaking of noisy, since the Handel concert last Sunday was a smash success, standing ovation, etc. woo hoo! – we’ve now got five, count ‘em five, rehearsals to figure out the chorale in Movement 4 of Beethoven’s 9th symphony. For some idiotic reason I’ll be singing the soprano part. The one that has a whoooooole lot of over-the-staff singing. Super, super high. A whole page of high “A”, as a f’rinstance.
I can easily nail a high A in the shower, in the car, while minding my own business. But put a score in front of me? And the words in German? I won’t be able to hit anything above a D (a D, for cryin’ out loud!) until I’m pretty comfortable with the music. I’m like a fair-weather soprano, I guess. But the choir director is overloaded with altos on this one, and wants me to stay with the sopranos on this one. Gulp.

have you ever looked inside a magnolia blossom?

If not, you should. There’s been a riotous magnolia goodness going on around here lately…

today.

To back up…

A few days ago, they were just starting to open up.

It didn’t occur to me to peer inside until May 9th. This, I love. It’s like a crazy Venetian glassblower went to work for Willy Wonka. Or a sea anemone decided to go arboreal. Or something.

A couple of days later, this happened. Another laugh-out-loud moment. I remember reading a review of a film adaptation of one of Jane Austen’s novels. The writer told of how she saw a girl on the subway reading “Emma”, and she asked, “first time?” The girl said “yes”, and the author smiled with nostalgia. Oh, to be reading “Emma” for the first time!

…That’s how I’m going to feel about magnolia blossoms from here on out. I’ll never stop being delighted by them, but I now know what to expect…a divine explosion of loveliness. Now you can see the pollen is being deposited where needed. I keep seeing bugs in them – I’m going with “ants”, as for now, I’m not into bug ID. There’s only so much I can fit into my wee little brain.

happy sigh!

Today’s post comes to you courtesy of the trip to the mailbox, via the mystery woodland. The air in the mystery woodland is dancing with blackflies, and I’m pleased to report I have two of their bites on my face. The sacrifices I make for you, I swear… I just had to go in the woods, though: I was in search of jack-in-the-pulpit. We have two kinds – blond and brunette, for lack of a better term.

Here’s one.

And here’s another – right on the side of the shared drive, and easily overlooked. Just for comparison, here’s one of the blondes:

Moving right along, I found a new flower yesterday. At first I thought it was miterwort – same leaf shape, a tall raceme of white flowers. But no, my friends: we have an imposter.

False miterwort, aka foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia)

PLUS, I have news on the false Solomon’s seal front. (Maianthemum racemosum)

the overall plant and…peering at the bits hidden under the last set of leaves…

not-yet-ready-for-prime-time flowers. If you want to skip ahead and see what these will look like mid-summer, have a look here.

Gratuitous stream shot.

Wanna know what the best part was? I finally thought to look up.

An oriole! My very first picture of an oriole! He kept flitting around.

I got another decent-ish shot of him a few seconds later in a different tree.

Editor’s Note: This is the post that got away from me: I tried to upload it on Thursday, May 12, but Blogger was down – so no luck. In Real Life, it’s cold and drizzly and I’m wearing two sweaters and the magnolia is already dropping its blossoms.