tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81959044382570319712024-03-05T18:25:12.736-05:00HavenwoodTwo suburbanite boomers throw caution to the wind, postpone retirement, and move to a farm in Indiana. There they intend to live happily ever after.MyMaracashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04277857661670053625noreply@blogger.comBlogger268125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195904438257031971.post-28055299847178672562013-12-27T22:45:00.000-05:002013-12-27T22:45:00.488-05:00Elvish Spoken Here
Fabulous news story of the week: Iceland is delaying the building of a new road because it will disturb the elves. Yes, really. Elves.
According to the media, around 62 percent of the population believe in the "Huldufolk", or "Hidden People". Elves, gnomes, and trolls are believed to live in the very rocks, particularly standing stones and lone boulders - and woe befalls anyone who moves them.
MyMaracashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04277857661670053625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195904438257031971.post-57117324570691734312013-12-23T23:21:00.005-05:002013-12-23T23:21:57.400-05:00Merry Christmas!
May your holidays be bright!
MyMaracashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04277857661670053625noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195904438257031971.post-65108092921053806312013-11-26T10:18:00.000-05:002013-11-26T10:18:50.089-05:00Nature Notes: Seasons Change
November is when autumn fades into winter here - or slams into it broadside, as it did this year. These were taken from an upstairs window just nine days apart.
I've put the bird feeder back up, and it has a few regular visitors again. Not nearly the numbers as before, but maybe as the winter wears on. We do have an unusual number of crows, though.
I've been stalking crows for years, hopingMyMaracashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04277857661670053625noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195904438257031971.post-75968520963670235212013-11-18T15:37:00.001-05:002013-11-18T15:37:52.666-05:00Gratitude, With a Side of Milkweed
I posted recently on Maraca (my other blog) that I had become bored with photography lately and asked for advice. Truth be told, I was about to give it up, at least for a while. Among the great responses was this one from Barb at From the World Lens Photography: "Challenge yourself to 'take the picture you've never taken'. That's what I do sometimes, and I don't allow myself to switch to anotherMyMaracashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04277857661670053625noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195904438257031971.post-29093490024695832622013-11-10T12:50:00.002-05:002013-11-10T12:51:55.234-05:00Drops of Sky
It was one of those perfect fall days, a world of golden woods and cerulean sky...here and there, perfect orbs of lingering rain, or maybe dew, glinting on fallen leaves. Miracles are sometimes very small.
Posted for I Heart Macro at Shine the Divine and for Michelle's Nature Notes. MyMaracashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04277857661670053625noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195904438257031971.post-70048788815314592822013-11-04T12:19:00.000-05:002013-11-04T17:04:26.548-05:00The Kid Buys an Airplane!
Behold the newest addition to the family: a 1946 Aeronca Champ, a very cute, very small airplane. My older son is a corporate pilot, and this is his first plane of his very own. Needless to say, he is ecstatic...walking on cloud 9, so to speak.
He is one of those lucky souls who always knew what he was born to do - and he was born to fly. Of course, I have to set aside my overprotective, MyMaracashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04277857661670053625noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195904438257031971.post-44333732386016503302013-11-03T13:14:00.000-05:002013-11-04T12:21:32.285-05:00Nature Notes: Puffballs
Found dozens of these papery orbs covering a rotting log in the woods. According to at least one source on the web, they appear to be pear-shaped puffballs, and they are a "choice edible species" while they are young. Which is to say, still soft and white with no spore holes. I'm disappointed to have missed the boat on them, but they are said to come back every year, so maybe next time. I MyMaracashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04277857661670053625noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195904438257031971.post-56580935131029851342013-10-29T14:08:00.000-04:002013-10-29T15:54:07.614-04:00Nature Notes: Spooky
I've been saving this one for Halloween week, because spiders kind of creep me out. These webs, spotted on a recent walk through Ludington State Park in Michigan, were completely invisible unless viewed from exactly the right angle. I had never known multiples of these to occur together and felt very lucky to have seen them. I didn't see the little artists who made them, though, so I can't MyMaracashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04277857661670053625noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195904438257031971.post-14637483550853164432013-10-22T12:46:00.000-04:002013-10-22T12:47:19.490-04:00Nature Notes: Swan Song
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see'st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west;
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self, MyMaracashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04277857661670053625noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195904438257031971.post-17786994210265377602013-10-18T14:28:00.001-04:002013-10-18T14:28:58.782-04:00What Will You Do With Your Time?
Found this on SingularityHub.com and thought it was worth sharing. As a new retiree, I am having a bit of a struggle with the question.
On the one hand, the days are never long enough to do all the things I want to get done. On the other hand, are the things I want to do really the things I should want to be doing?
I'm having a lot of what I consider fun: Reading, puttering around the MyMaracashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04277857661670053625noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195904438257031971.post-59582659885348457972013-10-01T11:33:00.003-04:002013-10-01T11:34:34.378-04:00Nature Notes: A Touch of Mink
On a recent weekend visit to the lighthouse in Ludington Michigan, we spotted this little fellow hunting among the rocks. He (she?) is a mink, which are mostly nocturnal and secretive. Mink are fierce predators and feed only on other animals - fish, frogs, birds, etc. I suspect its fearless foraging was related to the many fishermen around the pier, who may provide it with an MyMaracashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04277857661670053625noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195904438257031971.post-76517494895396789742013-09-25T15:25:00.000-04:002013-09-25T15:25:57.945-04:00Nature Notes: Cleanup in Isle Two
Would you believe this beautiful thing is a vulture? A common turkey vulture, no less, the kind that usually appears only as an ominous black silhouette high in the sky or perches on fence posts, sunning ragged brown feathers.
A few days ago, while I was out walking in the yard with my mother in law, five of these dreaded creatures circled directly overhead, painting dark, vast shadows on MyMaracashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04277857661670053625noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195904438257031971.post-43973879487954311612013-08-26T12:57:00.000-04:002013-08-26T13:04:44.745-04:00Nature Notes: Bye Bye Birdies
There's good news and there's bad news this week.
Good news first: Cedar Waxwings! They came to visit for just one day last week, darting like swallows over the tall grass in pursuit of insects. I didn't even know they did that.
It was only the third time in my life that I've ever seen them. Unfortunately, they were too busy to pose for photos, so this was the only halfway decent shot I have MyMaracashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04277857661670053625noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195904438257031971.post-20479215916057145642013-08-20T09:36:00.002-04:002013-08-23T00:24:26.360-04:00Nature Notes: Golden
Not much new this time around, but I spotted three patches of these little pretties in the woods and thought I share them. ** Update August 23 - Just to be clear, these first ones are NOT edible. Just pretty. **
This second photo was taken last year. These are Chicken of the Woods, definitely edible. I chickened out last year, but if I find any this time around I'll give them a go.
MyMaracashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04277857661670053625noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195904438257031971.post-89860284902542881792013-08-14T18:16:00.000-04:002013-08-14T18:16:42.692-04:00Nature Notes: The End Is NearA walk around the pond confirms it. Summer is fading fast, and autumn is in the air. Fall wildflowers are in bloom: goldenrod, bull thistle, field sunflower, nettles, jewel weed, Queen Anne's lace, and the even lacier water parsnip:
Always the first to turn, sassafras scatters shards of crimson to announce the change of seasons.
Below the surface, tadpoles are busy becoming frogs. (The MyMaracashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04277857661670053625noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195904438257031971.post-73372012089842281702013-08-06T16:10:00.000-04:002013-08-06T16:10:03.504-04:00Nature Notes: Small Pleasures
Foraging doesn't get much better than wild bramble berries. They are tiny, but with all the rain this year they are plump and plentiful.
Rain is good for spiderwebs, too, transforming a messy mass into a veil of diamonds.
Visit Michelle and her guests at Rambling Woods for weekly Nature Notes.MyMaracashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04277857661670053625noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195904438257031971.post-79877805279655348472013-07-29T21:56:00.000-04:002013-07-29T21:56:38.753-04:00Nature Notes: Too Fast, Too Furious
Five little cucumber seeds. That's all we planted. And now we're getting about this many cucumbers Every. Freakin'. Day. I don't know about you, but I can't eat 'em that fast.
I have added them to salads, made cucumber salad, and cubed them as snacks. I have sent bags of them to the office with Hubby to be foisted upon unwary coworkers.
I have rummaged out my old pickle recipe from my MyMaracashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04277857661670053625noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195904438257031971.post-33451908178274060622013-07-23T11:40:00.002-04:002013-07-23T11:40:39.090-04:00Nature Notes: Burning Rings of Fire
It's been a while since I've gone exploring. Mother Nature is in the
throes of a massive hot flash, and I avoid Her when She gets like
that. But the garden has given me something to share this week, besides cucumbers and beans: Sunflowers!
This is the first year I have grown them, and getting to know sunflowers has been a revelation. There have been good surprises and bad surprises. Such MyMaracashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04277857661670053625noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195904438257031971.post-23955496975760185262013-07-02T01:58:00.001-04:002013-07-02T16:03:45.444-04:00Nature Notes: Fairy Lights
I have heard that people are seeing fewer fireflies these days. It could be because they're all at my house.
I've been trying for years to photograph the spectacular annual light show in our meadows with no luck at all until now. Though still not great, these are the best so far. They were taken with my new "nifty fifty" lens set for a 15-second exposure.
(For a much better look, please MyMaracashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04277857661670053625noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195904438257031971.post-90746989035738634652013-06-25T15:52:00.000-04:002013-06-25T15:52:48.269-04:00Nature Notes: Chucking the 'Chucks
Well, so much for living with the woodchucks. They are not team players. I had to chase one out of the garden, and another dug under the workshop floor and emerged inside the building. Hubby was not amused.
I can't say as I blame him. Hubby has been spending most of his free time trying to fence the critters out of all the places we don't want them, but they always find another way. Hubby has MyMaracashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04277857661670053625noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195904438257031971.post-2075610420035445632013-06-11T12:41:00.000-04:002013-06-11T12:41:03.685-04:00Nature Notes: It's a Zoo Out There
There's so much going on in my yard this week that it's going to be hard to fit it all in.
A smallish snapping turtle wandered through. They don't usually leave the water, so it was either a male looking for territory or a female looking for a nesting place. I love to see them walk; their gait is like an alligator's, with the belly lifted completely off the ground. You don't want to get MyMaracashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04277857661670053625noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195904438257031971.post-47254459994373848462013-06-04T11:11:00.002-04:002013-06-04T11:11:40.807-04:00Nature Notes: Trouble With Triples
Three woodchuck babies emerged this week from the den under the front porch. Like the Star Trek tribbles, they're furry, cute, extremely destructive, and multiplying exponentially.
Longtime visitors may remember our adventures with the patriarch of what has become the groundhog clan: "What About Chuck?" By sinking metal barriers into the ground around the pole barn and constant MyMaracashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04277857661670053625noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195904438257031971.post-51202093568324831062013-05-27T21:59:00.001-04:002013-05-27T21:59:50.558-04:00Nature Notes: Beauty and a Beast
For Nature Notes this week, I went looking for a beauty. What I found was a beast.
I planted a waterlily about three weeks ago. It seemed like something should be showing by now, so I took a walk down to the pond to see.
The bramble
berries and fragrant honeysuckle were in bloom, and the light on the water made me feel as if I were stepping into an impressionist painting. But there was MyMaracashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04277857661670053625noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195904438257031971.post-62070835267056966162013-05-20T14:49:00.000-04:002013-05-20T14:49:32.810-04:00Nature Notes: The Birds
Have you ever seen Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds"?
I think I know where his inspiration came from. All of a sudden, all my little winged buddies want to come inside for ... what? To visit? To complain about the food? To tease the cat? To rent a friggin' room?
Goldfinches are monopolizing the hummingbird feeder, pecking on my kitchen window as if they expect me to let them in. And when that MyMaracashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04277857661670053625noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195904438257031971.post-59824901934691259372013-05-17T17:16:00.004-04:002013-05-17T17:16:43.175-04:00Paradise Lost
Invaded. Violated. Assaulted. Under attack. Spoiled. Ruined.
We have a new neighbor. He bought the thirty acres next to us, which apparently includes a large strip of what I thought was ours. He hasn't even built on it yet, and already he has completely changed the west side of our property, mowed down all the milkweed, and poisoned the pond. He intends to cut down a whole swath of the MyMaracashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04277857661670053625noreply@blogger.com9