a 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.

This summer, I've let a handful of milkweed get established in the lawn because, why not? We got mouths to feed. Specifically, this one:



I spotted this monarch caterpillar a couple of days ago but couldn't find him (her?) (it?) today. Must be around somewhere.

Grass is always good for a close-up. I don't know what kind. The tall kind. Sorta like timothy grass, but we have that, and it hasn't gotten this far along yet.

Purple-flowering raspberry. I'm just going to go on a binge here, don't mind me. We'll start with the beginning:

Some say beauty fades with youth, but I'm not so sure...the petals may be gone, but this is life unfolding before your very eyes...

Ah, wasn't that fun? Soon that'll ripen into the the sweetest little open-cupped raspberry you can imagine. Yum.

Here, have a fly.

And now, a final dose of purple, courtesy of the bittersweet nightshade flower...

OK, time to call it a night.

wisdom as dispensed by the municipal mowing team

I was dismayed to see the town’s mowing crew vehicles out on our dirt road this morning. Devastation and chaos ensued.

This jack-in-the-pulpit wasn’t too pleased, either.

Fortunately, others survived. These continue to be GREEN.

...except this one, but this one looks like it’s still trying to GET green, rather than transitioning from green to red.
(As I type this, the mowers are just outside the house. I shudder to think of the fate of folks I was JUST photographing a few minutes ago. Hopefully the blades are set too high to wipe out the campion. Sob.)
It was stupendously hot, and I was moving quickly, because my goal was to get about a mile away to where some jewelweed is starting to bloom, without expiring on the way. I’ve seen gigantic jewelweed but only one flower, so I planned to investigate and see what I could learn.
I couldn’t resist the just-opening milkweed flowers, though:

*slurp*

This guy got crud all over his feet and spent some time clinging to the underside of a leaf, cleaning its back legs. But it kept a front leg hooked over the edge to hang on:

What the hell are those little paddles coming off the joints? That is crazy.
Celandine seed pods are ripening. Apparently they orange up as they ripen...

...because then they apparently just explode, leaving just the husks:

One still had seeds inside...

Looking up the road to the acres of jewelweed I planned to visit, I realized they were all gone:

Slashed down without so much as a by-your-leave. There goes that project.
On the unmowed side of the road, I saw a fair amount of jewelweed, but just a single flower, and a few seedpods.

Maybe they just...don’t...flower every year? Sigh. I’ll figure it out eventually.
When life’s mower comes along, change what side of the road you’re on. That’s my new motto. I found stuff I wasn’t expecting – such bonuses as red baneberry...

These seem to get red more the way apples do – green blushing into red. Still no clue how those jack-in-the-pulpit berries are going to get red. Perhaps by magic, overnight?
A few trillium, long gone to seed:

And all the celandine I showed you a minute ago.
By this point I was dripping sweat and ready to go home.

Almost home - I found another stash of these across the street from my neighbor’s mailbox, but I fear I will never be able to ID them, as the gnashing of mowers have probably just wiped it all out.

Farewell, sweetie. I saw you.

the second milkweed pod’s opening up

Aw man, I gave away all the excitement in my headline. When will I learn?

See? I have nothing left to say here!

In the meantime, the original pod is empty, except for…

 

…that tongue thingy hanging out.

Some of the seeds didn’t get very far – they’re tangled up in the neighboring goldenrod.

But #2 is raring to go.

more belching

That is all.

vomiting milkweed pods

I’ve got a secret.

I’m fixing to bust.

My fellow pod has the same secret.

Here she is this morning.

And here she is, five hours later:

Blurp!

Where will this lead?

Madness, I tell you! Madness! Waaaaa hooooo!

Just gotta be meeeeee….

sunday ramblings

 

Fall’s definitely on its way. The milkweed pods are nowhere near opening up, but they are losing their green.

july 24

september 16

Bittersweet nightshade berries are so translucent, that you can make out the seeds inside them.

Jewelweed – aka “touch me not” – flower. Loving the texture.

 

cattails lose all dignity when they go to seed.

 

I was aiming for the flowers of the japanese knotweed, but found this wasp instead.

And now, for the jester’s hat of the campion’s seedhead:

there are goodies to behold inside.

it took me a few tries to focus on the mysteries within.

oooohhhh! another whole little world in there! I explored all this last september, too – you can see that here.

I advise against breaking your nose

Hey, guess what? Broken noses kinda hurt! Who knew? The swelling’s gone way down. My appointment with the “what now” surgeon was rescheduled for next week because – get this – he hurt his leg so badly that another surgeon advised him to go home today, thereby missing my appointment. So I won’t meet with him til Tuesday, 10 days after I broke it. That’s the outside limit for seeing someone and having it fixed on-the-spot. Not that I necessarily want it fixed on the spot, as I understand it involves chopsticks. I wanna be sedated.

I was advised by the doc in the ER not to lie down – to keep my torso at least 45 degrees upright. I don’t know for how long, but given how tender things still feel, and given how I typically sleep on my stomach, I’ve been sleeping in a big-ass chaise we have in our bedroom. This has cut into my Spooning with Best Beloved Regimen. My morning yoga routine – which involves a lot of attempting to touch my toes and downward-facing-dogs – violates the Stay Upright rule, and I have yet to use my brain power to devise another routine. So, no yoga in days. Running feels like it would be too jouncy, so I haven’t been doing that.  In short, I have gone from Super Duper Toughest Mudder of Them All, to Mildly Depressed Couch Potato, all inside a week. How’s that for accomplishment? And what do couch potatoes do? They hang out on the couch. Well, actually, they hang out in their their home office and work work work, and forget to Go Outside and Visit the Flowers.

Can you imagine the spiral of doom that is developing here? Pain + no exercise + no flower visiting = glum = why bother  = oh good lord, Sarah, just go outside already.

Recognize this? It’s a tiny baby milkweed pod! With the petals and stuff still attached!

Sumac flowers. Yeah, I had no idea, either.

Lobelia – Indian tobacco (Lobelia inflata)

Big Sis, the first black-eyed susan to open up this summer, is getting to be an old lady now.