Sunday, August 27, 2023
Question Mark?
Saturday, August 26, 2023
Signs
Monday, August 21, 2023
God-like?!
Cicada when, among the tree-tops,
You sip some dew and sing your song;
For every single thing is yours
That you survey among the fields
And all the things the woods produce.
The farmers’ constant company,
You damage nothing that is theirs;
Esteemed you are by every human
As the summer’s sweet-voiced prophet.
Muses love you, and Apollo too,
Who’s gifted you with high pitched song.
Old age does nothing that can wear you,
Earth’s sage and song-enamored son;
You suffer not, being flesh-and-blood-less–
A god-like creature, virtually.”
Thursday, August 17, 2023
Wednesday, August 16, 2023
Canna Indica
Thursday, August 10, 2023
Paw Paw
Monday, August 7, 2023
Lagerstroemia
Monday, July 31, 2023
Halyards
Sunday, July 30, 2023
Knockabout
Monday, July 24, 2023
Regeneration
Saturday, July 22, 2023
South End
Thursday, July 20, 2023
Mount Toby Forest
So my next hiking adventure took me to the Mount Toby Forest where I planned to hike the Cranberry Pond Trail. Here's what the University of Massachusetts has to say about this area:
"Department of Natural Resources Conservation at UMass-Amherst has responsibility for managing the 755-acre Mt. Toby Demonstration forest for teaching, research and demonstration. We also try to coordinate with recreational users of the Forest, as well as the Mass. DCR (who operate the fire tower at the summit), and other organizations. The Forest is topographically diverse. To the south are three hills, the highest being Mount Toby (1269 feet). Slopes are steep with small cliffs and ledges to the east and west. There is a deep valley between two of the hills – Roaring Mountain to the south and Ox Hill to the north – with a brook that drops in a waterfall near the eastern border of the Forest. Most, but not all of it, has been logged more than once, but some areas are so inaccessible that they were never logged. Today, UMass students and faculty use the forest for teaching, field exercises, and forestry research activities. Mount Toby is used heavily by the general public for a variety of recreational activities. These are allowed so long as they conform with the University Trustees guidelines for use of the Forest and do not interfere with teaching and research activities."
Wednesday, July 12, 2023
Sorrel
It may be known as Common Yellow Wood Sorrel to some, but it appeared quite uncommon to me as I ambled along the Norwottuck Rail Trail last week. I thought at first that it must be a kind of shamrock. Then I read this on thespruce.com:
"Wood sorrel is also often confused with shamrocks—another plant in the clover family. Sorrel is sometimes called 'false shamrock,' and during St. Patrick's Day season, it's common to find yellow wood sorrel misbranded and sold as shamrock."
Tuesday, July 11, 2023
Bridge
Wednesday, June 28, 2023
Reconstruction
"The Capitol at Williamsburg, Virginia housed both Houses of the Virginia General Assembly, the Council of State and the House of Burgesses of the Colony of Virginia from 1705, when the capital was relocated there from Jamestown, until 1780, when the capital was relocated to Richmond. Two capitol buildings served the colony on the same site: the first from 1705 until its destruction by fire in 1747; the second from 1753 to 1780.
The earlier capitol was reconstructed in the early 1930s as part of the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg. The reconstruction has thus lasted longer than the combined total of both original capitol buildings" -- Wikipedia
Tuesday, June 27, 2023
Chaste Tree
Monday, June 26, 2023
Ice and Stone
Thursday, June 22, 2023
Jack-in-the-pulpit
Spotted this specimen on a trail near my home. Not too difficult to figure out how it got its name:
"The small, inconspicuous flowers of Jack-in-the-pulpit are borne on a fleshy, spike-like inflorescence called a spadix ('Jack'), which is enclosed (or nearly enclosed) by a large, sometimes colorful bract called a spathe ('pulpit'). The flowers are clustered around the base of the spadix inside the spathe. A sterile spadix appendix protrudes from the mouth of the spathe tube. The appendix is covered by the leafy tip of the spathe, referred to as the spathe hood (or spathe lamina). The lip along the mouth of the spathe tube, used as a landing platform for winged insects, is called the spathe flange." -- Wikipedia
Monday, June 19, 2023
Powell House
"Benjamin Powell was a carpenter who became a contractor, built a couple of Williamsburg landmarks, and enjoyed the company and counsel of some of 18th-century Williamsburg's leading gentlemen. He acquired his property at the east end of the city in 1763, and for nearly 20 years pursued from there the career of an 'undertaker' – as contractors were called in those days." -- Colonial Williamsburg
Sunday, June 18, 2023
Bottlebrush Buckeye
"The naturalist, explorer and plant collector William Bartram first noted this . . . shrub on his travels through Carolina, Georgia and Florida in 1773–78. An old example was still to be found in Bartram's Garden, Philadelphia, in 1930." -- Wikipedia