One morning walk...

I do love morning walks, although they are more erratic than they used to be as I have my husband's things to attend to before I can go. I don't get to hike out for morning sunrises any more. That was such a huge pleasure for me for many years.

An interesting result of that is I've noticed a tree/bush that I have missed somehow. 

It has the most amazing flowers and wonderful scents in the spring. How it came to be here is a mystery. Probably seeds spread from birds?

The flowers are tiny but profuse and the smell is heavenly. While I was trying to get a good shot of the tiny flowers I kept hearing a noise. I looked around for bees, then recognized the sound.
Humming birds, they were darting in and out of this bush like little bombers.

The best I can figure it to be is the Sweet Olive Bush  Autumn Olive.

 

I searched for other flowering shrubs along the gravel road and found that the Nanny Berry Bush was starting to show blossoms.

I have actually enjoyed following this bush through its phases last year. The hard part was being able to recognize the leaves and shape of the bush which is crowded in among other brush along the ditch on this dead end gravel road.

By September the berries form and are bright red against the green leaves. By fall, the leaves turn read and the berries turn black-purple.

Last September--->

Nanny Berry Bush when the berries turn black.

The Highbush Cranberry bush is slowly opening its flowers. It also is located in the ditch alongside the dead end drive.

Even the grasses are flowering.

And the Dandelions are fading away sending their seeds flying on the lightest of breezes.

A missed sunrise
new surprises...

Dandelion Wishes....

Quiet Time

Time for some chillin' off the farm.

I could have stayed home as the temps were supposed to be in the 80's again, but I thought I'd make my own breezes again. This time I promised myself to just pedal until I found something interesting and then stop and look at it. 

This was not a work out, it was a pleasure out. I took my ancient camera that I had converted to Infrared. I put on the hot filter to shoot in normal colors and traded off with some infrared filters of 665nm and 850nm. The 850nm presents in black and white with the greens becoming white and blues are dark.

One of the places I really enjoy stopping at is the pond that is near a place called Star Valley. Okay, it was a place called Star Valley. A community lived here from 1901 to 1962. In the 60's, the government started a flood control project called the LaFarge Dam Project. People's homes/farms were purchased and those who refused had their land appropriated.

There still is a lot of resentment over those actions as the project was abandoned in the 1970's.  I've referred to the project over the years. You can check out one of those posts here: Dam Hike & Forest Wandering.

By the time I got to the Star Valley Memorial after riding about 5 miles, I was so chilled out that I could have laid on the bench and napped. Instead, I sat and just let my mind wander while I ate an apple. Funny thing is, I never thought a bit about my schedules for the next week. 

I knew then, that this was exactly what I needed.

Here is the pond in color, then in IR Black and White, and lastly in 665nm.

The presentation of the foliage and the pond reflections are startling in IR. I guess that is what the biggest appeal to me is. The wild colors are pretty much up to the person who processes IR. I happen to like a pink tint to the 665nm foliage. Sometimes the Black and White is more appealing. I love how the clouds and the reflections stand out.

I couldn't resist bringing my mini-me and Charlie along. In real life, I couldn't do this!

The colors were starting to turn in various places but nothing spectacular quite yet. The sumac offered some beautiful reds.

Bridge 16 is in the background of this shot.

Here is some different colors and a different variety of Highbush Cranberry.

Fully mature Nanny Berries! They turn black ... 

Last but not least was some curious vines I'd seen before but never stopped to investigate.

I've seen it flowering in the spring but had no idea that it is a type of wild clematis, with a common name called Old Man's Beard.

It was a pleasure to have some solo time. It was a beautiful afternoon and oddly enough, I never saw another person on the trail. There was no sign of hikers, bikers, or equestrians. 

Fall is coming. It will be here eventually....

The colors red

 ..and other inspiring ideas....

Sometimes after a having an dry spell of ideas and lack of motivation one needs ... something. Early this morning I looked around the internet and read a few things then looked at some blogs. Most of them had to do with photography.

Well that added to my motivation and joy. So much so that I was able to go out and look for opportunities.

These are Highbush Cranberries taken last week when Charlie and I took an afternoon walk up the road to check these plants out.

Here is the difference from July 1st of this year:

And here is the photo I took of the berries this morning...

I thought Red! Red! It is the color of holidays, of cheer, of bright and beautiful things. 

I have been following this bush since spring. Oddly enough, I've never gotten a photo of this bush in flower. I hope to get it this coming spring so I can complete my 'journey' of watching it through the season. 

I should mark it with a little flag before it drops its leaves as it will be hidden amongst all the other brush this winter.

Nanny Berry Red! Apparently after red, they will turn dark purple or black colored.

Nannyberry on July 1st of this year. No photos of the flowers this year. Again, I need to flag it somehow.

And then just your run of the mill Sumac. Truly though, they do add so much color to the roadsides!

Of course, there is always this in red....

A Ninja Minifig helping to trim flowers....

And in the spirit of the coming Fall season...

A Vampire Knight... in Red....

Some shots from the morning's walk to the meadow as the sky burst out with color.

The last shot is looking west from the pasture south of the house. This is probably the only other spot I can get a full view of the sky without the forest or trees crowding the sky.

That was my Red Theme for the day. September has been providing us with some amazing morning skies ... finally!

Cool Weird Plants!

Self Heal

Heal All

If you look this plant up on the internet you will find a lot of information regarding the medicinal properties of the plant. 
I see it all over the place, it grows in the pastures and in the forest.

The next two bushes had me going for a while. I started to pay attention to different bushes growing alongside the back roads that Charlie and I walk on a year or so ago. I walk past them and note their differences. 

The funny thing is, I had no idea that there were so many kinds of plants/bushes located within a mile radius of where I live.

At first I just noticed the flowers on these bushes and made a mental note to keep an eye on them. I thought I was seeing the 'same' plant or bush in two separate locations. 

When I stopped to really look at the leaves on each bush and photographed them so I could see the difference, I discovered they were not the same at all.

The thing that struck me, was the berries looked very similar.

Nanny Berry

Highbush Cranberry

I know that I have shots of the Highbush Cranberry from last fall. When it changes color, it is simply stunning!

I will have to wait to see what the Nannyberry bush looks like in the fall.

Ninebark

In the fall, the Ninebark leaves turn dark purple-ish and quickly dry up and fall off. Perhaps this fall I can get a good shot of them.

Winter Ninebark seeds:

The seeds are very distinctive while the bark and plant itself blends in with the plants around it.

Meanwhile back in the pasture, there are a few of these plants with cheery yellow blossoms on them. The mules don't eat them and they don't seem to spread too fast.

This is St. John's Wort:

An herbalist friend of mine showed me this plant years ago. Apparently some consider it a small shrub that comes back year after year and can be very slow to spread. That is fine with me, if the animals don't eat it, then it isn't really a good plant to have in the pasture.

However, I read that it is another one of those plants with medicinal properties. The scientific jury is still out on if St. John's Wort actually does everything the herbalists claim it does.

One last weird plant that is actually a lichen and not a plant. I didn't notice these right away as they were also in the pasture growing on a mound of moss which surprised me.

Pixie Cup Lichen:

According to different 'googled' sites, this too has medicinal properties. Imagine if we could find great medicinal cures just growing around us?

I am sure these little guys were in hiding for the past few years. They live in a wet environment which is certainly something we've had this year.

The more I learn, the more I know that I have so much more to learn.

Grasses and Bushes

Bottle Brush Grass 

Hard to see, but it is the spikey grass
in the center of the photo.

I don't know...grass....

There were several possibilities.

Taken along a state bike trail in a marshy area.
It could be Johnson Grass that hasn't opened yet.

👇

 

Johnson Grass

[taken alongside a creek bottom]

👇

Wild Parsnip...
don't mess with this stuff...

I did use a machete to cut a lot of
this down where I walk along
our creek bed on a cold wet rainy
day.

Nanny Berries?

I noticed them last fall but 
didn't think to try and ID this bush.

[found on our road]

Red Elderberry
found on West Ridge Trail
at the Kickapoo Valley
Reserve

Rye

I had a hard time with this one, it wanted to look like Wild Oat, but then I recalled that my neighbor told me he planted Rye and some Oats along with other seeds I didn't know.

It seems the spiders liked it just fine though!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Grass Ballet:

In the cool morning breeze,

the grasses sway
their movement like a dance.

The beauty of grasses are invisible
unless one stops to watch
them perform their silent ballet.

Breath deep, 

and let the dancers

amaze you.

--Val