Mushrooms #1

Greensprings Interpretive Trail

Helene

Well, it was a busy afternoon and evening here yesterday, filled with all sorts of ominous weather alerts about possible flooding and tornadoes. Today I'll get out to survey what damage might have occurred locally, although I think the worst of it probably was just west of here, across the James River. 

Field

Powhatan Creek Trail

Linking again today with Skywatch Friday.

Meetinghouse

Wisdom Teeth

Okay, well, this is a little bit different. I finally had my upper wisdom teeth extracted. A little late by current dental standards, but I remember this being a matter of some controversy back when I was of the age most people got their wisdom teeth removed. The idea was that if they weren't causing the patient any particular problems (e.g. impacted, decayed, whatever), then perhaps it was best to just leave them be. My dentist at the time, evidently, was of that persuasion. 

How about you? Still got yours? 

Flames

Colonial Williamsburg garden

Greensprings

Greensprings

Thistle

Powhatan Creek Trail

"Ears"

Powhatan Creek Trail

Curious about why we call corn "ears"? Well, so was I. So I looked it up. Here is some of what I found from Grammaphobia:

The “ear” of corn that we eat in summer and the “ear” that we hear with are unrelated. Yes, these are two separate and distinct words, both of which have been with us since Anglo-Saxon days and have different prehistoric roots.

In Old English, Middle English, and Modern English, the word “ear” has been used to mean a spike or head of grain. The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as “the part of a cereal plant which contains its flowers or seeds.”

Here’s a typical citation from the OED: “The ripen’d Grain, whose bending Ears Invite the Reaper’s Hand” (from a 1740 poem by William Somerville).

This spiky agricultural “ear” is descended from an ancient Indo-European root that’s been reconstructed as ak (“sharp”). It became the Proto-Germanic akhuz, which eventually gave us the Old English word ear around the year 800. 

Harvestime

Powhatan Creek Trail

Linking again today with Skywatch Friday.

FUV

Another Acrimoto Fun Utility Vehicle (FUV) in Williamsburg.

Careful!

Be careful where you step! Those might be . . . mushrooms. Actually, living in a town where horse drawn carriages and oxen are as common a sight as cars and trucks, it pays to watch where you step anyway. And at first, I'll have to confess, I thought that's what these were--little love offerings from one of our friendly animals.

Heron

All was fairly quiet on the pond at Greensprings this past week. Just a lone heron on duty.

Hay Loader

I believe the people responsible for maintaining Greensprings have chosen to leave this old abandoned hay laoder here for educational purposes, to remind us of how this land was farmed in the early 1900s. That seems perfectly reasonable. Still, I think my preference would be to find some way to either restore this old relic, if that's even possible at the point, or simply to remove it altogether and thereby to return this area to its more "natural" state. 

Interesting piece, though. A now seriously deteriorated label indicates that it was manufactured by New Idea, Inc. in Coldwater, Ohio. 

Turtle

Met this guy (gal?) on the Greensprings Interpretive Trail. 

 

Fall

I don't think I've ever looked forward to meteorological fall more than after this past summer. Whew! Hoping we all can get a handle on global warming sooner rather than later. We owe it to ourselves as well as to the planet.

Windmill

Linking again today with Skywatch Friday.

Sheep

Colonial Williamsburg has introduced another breed of sheep. The Leicester Longwool sheep have long been a familiar site here, but these are definitely a different breed. I have yet to learn what kind.

Capitol

A quiet moment before opening at the capitol building in Colonial Williamsburg.

Fruits & Veggies

The name Barbados Peppers, I think, probably says all that needs to be said about these little bombshells I spotted growing in one of our CW gardens.

A much safer alternative might be the squash.

Homegrown

Meanwhile, in our gardens back here in Colonial Williamsburg  . . .

 

"Contraband"

Odd story about how this tea from Sweden came into my possession. Knowing how much I liked tea, a friend had it shipped to me in early June while he was in Stockholm. Only I didn't learn about it until much later in July because it had been seized and later released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection as suspected--wait for this--"contraband." I kid you not.

Turns out that on June 29, 2010, the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act became law, an act that made it illegal to use the U. S. Mail to ship cigarettes and most other tobacco products. In addition to Federal law, several states and localities also have specific laws prohibiting the purchase and interstate shipment of tobacco products. 

So, evidently, one of our hardworking U. S. agents decided this "tea" was actually some kind of fancy tobacco and had it seized until he or someone else decided, "Oh, heck! It probably is just some kind of tea" and let it pass. 

That still didn't prevent me, though, from receiving all kinds of ominous sounding notices, including one from the United States Criminal Investigations Service Center threatening me with--I kid you not--"both Federal and State criminal and civil liability, including fines, penalties, and imprisonment."

All of which sort of reminds me of a certain song. :-)

Guest House

Frelinghuysen Arboretum

Morristown, New Jersey

 

Linking again today with Skywatch Friday.

Painting

Frelinghuysen Arboretum

Morristown, New Jersey

Stepped briefly into the arboretum's air-conditioned (!) visitor center and spotted this lovely painting. Didn't have the presence of mind to jot down the artist's name. Sorry! Next time. :-)

Fir Tree

Frelinghuysen Arboretum

Morristown, New Jersey

Magnolia

Frelinghuysen Arboretum

Morristown, New Jersey

Japanese Maple

Frelinghuysen Arboretum

Morristown, New Jersey

Ferns

Frelinghuysen Arboretum

Morristown, New Jersey

Surprising how plants like these, arranged and layered so carefully, can make you feel cooler even on what was otherwise a terribly hot and humid afternoon.