Saturday Wonderday!

A good day starts with a good walk if I can manage it. Sometimes the other half gets up too early and needs his coffee made and can get grumpy if it isn't taken care of. [I am smiling as I write this, because I know that I can get up at 4:30 now and enjoy quiet time for a while!]

I am trying to keep track of the trees alongside the gravel road to our house. The one below is a Grey Dogwood ~ I believe.

This year I am trying to keep track of birds...trees... and of course fungi. It is a means of keeping myself occupied and my mind stimulated.

My favorite Box Elder

Red Oak I believe!

Another one? Oak.

I think...not sure... Hazel nuts? I will have to wait for the tree to leaf out a bit more or some sort of elm??
Speckled Alder??? 
Gosh I don't know!

I found more amazing trees on the morning walk then headed to town and picked up Rhubarb Pie and Cherry Pie from the Farmer's Market and some fresh leaf lettuce. I've decided to just grow sweet corn in the garden this year.
When I can purchase fresh produce each week all summer for our needs and for freezing, it doesn't make sense to spend endless hours in a vegetable garden.

For example, the cost of the beautiful lettuce I got? $2.50, I can't grow it for that! 

MMMM. It gives me more time to play with flowers which I LOVE!

I went out just before lunch and found Morels with Charlie!

Charlie didn't feel so good, so I took him home. As I cut through a deer trail looking at the ground, I saw this...

Fawns do not have a scent when first born. They lay so still as to be invisible! I moved away with Charlie and we headed home.

BUT! Not before we heard a commotion in the trees about 40 feet away. An owl was having it out with some red wing black birds and crows.

I thought to myself...Dang where is Aurora with that lens of hers? I know she would have loved watching this owl watch us. [Taken with my pocket camera and cropped so you can see the owl.]

We had Morels with our steak and watched several squalls come through and ended the day with a rainbow. [A bit over the top with the edit, but the clouds were so amazing and I wanted to catch their strangeness as it cut through the rainbow.]

Comparisons trees & brush

 Bittersweet May 1st in blossom

Bittersweet August 20th

Bittersweet September 20th

Bittersweet October 22nd

This was one plant I was pretty sure of. I was able to photograph it from spring to fall.

Properly dried Bittersweet is often sought after by the old timers as a Fall and Thanksgiving decoration in vases or on wreaths. Who can blame them? They are so bright and cheerful.

Here is the mystery bush that turned out to be a Hazelnut.

These are being sought after also as a alternative crop. Hazelnut coffee? The wildlife and humans both adore the nut. See? I will have to pay attention next year!

Hazelnut bush September 9th

Hazelnut bush September 24th

Hazelnut bush October 9th

Hazelnut bush October 22nd

Then there is the Dogwood. I didn't even know we had dogwood around until after I'd visited my son and he'd shown me some of his beautiful varieties in his yard. I recall looking at the blossoms in the early spring along side our road.

Dogwood Blossoms May 1st

August 20th 

October 22

Oak Tree May 1st

October 22

Another oak variety with rounded edges on the leaves.
White oak.

I think that is about it for today. I'm actually haveing some fun with trying my best to learn more about tree and how to ID them. This has evaded me most of my life.

However this summer while at my son's place, we spent quite a bit of time looking identifying trees around his home. For whatever reason, I found that really interesting.

I always start out with these exact good intentions every spring [to follow a plant from spring to fall] ... and usually forget about it. I didn't do too badly this year.

I'm looking forward to some winter ID'ing and more!

I need to get back to where I saw those Witch Hazels at KVR! That will be my goal next week!

Some Trees and Stuff

I don't know enough about trees. I bought a guide book but still, I sorely lack the expertise in identifying trees. I can ID the simple ones.
Birch
Oak
Maple
Pine
Box Elder
and the much disliked tree
the Buckthorn.
I am currently working on trying to figure out how to kill some of them off without nasty sprays. Chopping them makes them branch out. I am wondering if 'girding' them will work.

I do however adore the not much loved Hawthorne Tree:

I adore the shape of the leaves and the flowers that appear in spring.

The color and shape are very pretty. The thorns? Probably not so much.

I like the wild apple trees that grow in the Meadow next to us.

In the fall I do pick as many apples as I can and make juice, jelly, and dehydrate them in slices covered with cinnamon and sugar. They make a great treat while hiking in the winter.

In the spring I do like to go around and take photos of the trees when they 'flower'. After that, I lose interest in them again until fall when they show me their colors again.

Each year I am encouraged and try to wander around to figure out what the trees are by their bark, or their shape. However in a thick forest, ... the shapes get lost.
And then I get caught up by more interesting things.

Like rocks.
Or Fungi.
Or picking berries.

I don't seem as if I can ever stick with it.

Perhaps this year I can do better.

Sunday, ... Trees

I'm going out to check out some trees this morning and of course check the forest floor for anything interesting.

I would like to take a few shots of a Poplar tree too.

I found some rather striking weeds the other day...their bright yellow colors were quite cheerful.
Yellow Rocket:

I had a disagreement with someone that thought my photo of the Basswood was a Quaking Aspen.  Apparently unless you can see the bark, you may not be able to tell the difference.

I photographed this Birch in two ways, one way was just the leaves and another was with a branch dangling down over the trunk of the tree.

Birch tree:

 No doubts here about it being a birch.  And yes the tree was leaning, not me!

I hope you all have a great Sunday!
Tomorrow is Parade day with Opal and a hot dog cook out over a fire.