Rose In Bloom

Red rose twining over the mailbox.

Wild rose over the back fence.

Sweet smelling roses to scent the June air,

This might be Apothecary Rose, I don't have a label on it.

Tropical Sunrise Rose at sunset.

White rose like a puffy white cloud.

Among the Iris

The Least of These

You've seen those birds, right?  The ones in the dried flower department, made out of mushrooms and lichen.  The ones that look like this little guy.

For almost twenty minutes my little mushroom bird flitted from one weedy herb garden bed to another, feeding on seeds while my zoom lens tried to capture a good photo through the glass of my back door.

And then my mushroom bird flew away.  Last night my sister helped me identify my feathered friend, we looked through the field guide and after much consultation over warblers and finches dismissed all of those possibilities when we discovered the Least Flycatcher.

The range is right, the markings are right, the size is right... Meet Empidonax minimus the smallest eastern flycatcher.

There and Back Again

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

- JRR Tolkien

Spring

Random Photos

Have you ever noticed how sometimes photos accumulate? Like leaves caught in the eddy of a stream they swirl and gather, remaining stationary, not flowing on, unclassified, passed by. They're just waiting for a rush of water to carry them forward, down stream, out into the world. Planters I once liked the look of, long since sold out, but I like the look of the photo so much still it sits in my digital files waiting to be inspiration for something someday.
Magnolia blossoms from last spring, still in my cell phone images, wait to be joined by this year's saucer blooms.

And a butterfly from last summer when the Phlox was in bloom attracting every nectar loving insect and bird in the neighborhood.

think quietly,

contemplate

act frankly,

"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." -Ralph Waldo Emerson"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken." -Oscar Wilde"A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you." -Elbert Hubbard
"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind." -Dr. Seuss

to listen to the stars and birds, to babes and sages,

"Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square hole. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."
-- Jack Kerouac

Trails, Tracks, and Travertine

Falls Ridge is an 80 foot waterfall over what the Nature Conservancy claims is the largest known exposed deposits of travertine. Very cool rocks.
Very cool. The trail looping round the falls is less than a mile, and though steep in places is really an easy hike. A second trail offers an additional 2.3 mile (4 round trip) which is well worth doing.
Only the wildlife had bothered with this second snow covered trail and we saw evidence of deer, rabbit, raccoon, and turkeys.
Lots of turkeys.
We hiked along a ridge and admired the view on both sides...


... and then my camera died.

Which is a shame, because the witch hazel trees were in bloom, the lowering sun through the trees was making really neat shadows, and there was an awesome cave that we saw (went into) on the way back to the car.

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Falls Ridge Falls Video

A Focus Study

"Comforts that were rare among our forefathers are now multiplied in factories and handed out wholesale; and indeed, nobody nowadays, so long as he is content to go without air, space, quiet, decency and good manners, need be without anything whatever that he wants; or at least a reasonably cheap imitation of it." --GK Chesterton

"Are the comforts of God too small for you, or the word that deals gently with you?" Job 15:11

"Civilization has run on ahead of the soul of man, and is producing faster than he can think and give thanks." -- Chesterton

"Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples! Sing to Him; sing praises to Him; tell of all His wondrous works!" -- 1 Chronicals 16:8-9
"Great truths can only be forgotten and can never be falsified." -- Chesterton

Friday Photos

"As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more." -- Psalm 103:15-16

Bombus

Bombus impatiens to be exact. The Common Eastern Native Bumblebee has a range from Florida to Maine, across to Kansas and Tennessee, even as far as the Dakotas; and it has been introduced in California and British Columbia since the failures of Western Native Bumblebees. Although most likely found as a wild bee, they are raised commercially for use in pollinating greenhouse tomatoes and the Maine blueberry crops. Bombus are particularly fond of blueberry blossoms and will fly to visit them even on cold or misty-rainy days. They are vegetarian, eating only nectar and pollen. (Pollen is actually a protein!) Like most bumbles the Common Eastern Native Bumblebee produces no stores of honey for the winter. Unlike honeybees who survive the winter on their honey stores, the social colony of 300-500 bumblebees will die in the fall. The newly mated bumblebee queen is the only survivor. She goes into hibernation in the ground emerging in the spring to begin a new colony.

Remains of the Day