And BAM...Summery Spring has arrived...

Almost all of the trees are leafed out by now. The undergrowth of the forest which includes Barberry bushes, Honeysuckle, Raspberry, Gooseberry, and other prickly things all are in blossom or getting ready to blossom.

The grass and weeds in the Meadow have sprung to life this past week. The yard grass has a life of its own seeming to grow inches each night.

Our friend Jason came out for Mother's Day with his fluff balls...

his intent was to give me time to do what I wanted on Mother's Day.

This next series of shots is from my morning out in the forest. The last shot is of one of my favorite trees that flowers. The Hawthorne tree. The flower buds still weren't quite open. I was able to spend a little more time by this tree to discover that there were six or seven little ones growing under the forest canopy.

Color me happy.

Whoops...an Allosaurus???

Jason had come to give me coverage for Rich on Monday night. Olive's Track Team had a Conference Meet at their home field and I had volunteered to come and photograph the kids doing their things.

It also meant that Rich had to be comfortable enough with Jason to allow him to help him undress and put him to bed. Rich and Jason said they had it covered and off I went.

I donate my time and the photos. I give Olive the shots and she hands them off to the Head Coach who lets the kids have their photos. 
The last time I did this the Head Coach received feedback from the students. They asked to have my name and wanted to know how much I charged. 

I had set up the ground rules ahead of time.

I remain anonymous and they get their shots.

I did get to see a few students that I'd seen the last time I'd done this. Six hours of running about on a hot spring night 'shooting' action shots was pretty fun.

My favorite event to photo is the hurdles. I only tried them one time myself, but never quite got the hang of it.

The meet went on until after dark so the 'shooting' got a bit trickier as the night went on. Still, I had great fun pushing the limits on my camera. Even with a high ISO and panning, I got a bit of motion blur. However, this was the last event and it sure was an exciting one.

Another coach suggested I try photographing the triple jump and pole vaulting ... along with some of the other events if I wanted more cool action.

I'm game to try it one day.

I probably pushed the boundaries of activity and sleep a bit. By Tuesday I was totally wiped out between being up long hours doing fun things, farm things, and having fun at the track.

When Shay came out for 4 hours of Respite care, I went to the upstairs bedroom and turned a fan on high and slept for most of that time.

Below. A photo from the Meadow back to the forest pasture. I'll be opening this gate and letting the gals out onto more grass for the summer.

[Taken in Infrared...well, because it is that time of the year!]

I have a lot more work to catch up on the outside and yard.

Rain, Morels, Yard and Whatnot

On Monday I went hiking at Duck Egg with the intent of searching for Morel Mushrooms.

Instead, I found some amazing bluebell fields.

I also found False Morels.

Lots of them! All over the place!

They are pretty interesting and sort of wickedly cool.

 

They are different from Morels in that they are solid through and through and not hollow like a Morel is.

Hiking in Duck Egg is a crazy sort of adventure ... that is, if you can make sense of the signs:

The signs are getting better than what they used to be though:

The trails basically circle around the dam which protects areas from flooding. The altitude changes from the ridge to the valley are about 300 feet. Trails zig and zag up and down steep hillsides. The horse trails are really quite wonderful and will make the equine work hard. Hubby and I used to ride Duck Egg quite a bit.

I did find 3 Morels the next day in our woods.

They hide! Actually, because of the garlic mustard 'invasion' they are getting pretty hard to find:

With all the rain and the warmth, the plants are growing with great gusto and soon it will be very hard to find the delicious fungi.

The last few years were too dry or too hot for good Morels to appear. The conditions have to be just so and their are quite a few other factors and conditions that have to be met for them to flourish too.

I do like Morels, but I won't dedicate my days to hunting for them as I have so many other duties to attend to.

I went out to the Meadow to look under the old apple trees for Morels and I found a broken Turkey Egg. So they are nesting right now. 
 

I stopped by the Hawthorne Trees to see how they were doing. They are flowering now. One of the trees still has reddish leaves with buds, but I found this one in full bloom. Note the thorn! 

I still think these are amazingly beautiful trees.

Duty keeps calling in the form of mowing the yard. Hubby has an old zero turn mower that has a deck that has to be flipped in order to clean it properly.

We did get it flipped and it is always a total B--tch to get it flipped and back together properly. With his lack of ability for doing any heavy work, it is proving to be near impossible to get it done. I've cleaned it and now it has been sitting for 3 days not ... quite put back together.

I have a little self propelled mower and have been doing piece by piece mowing when I can between rains and foggy mornings. 

I have a notion to just run a temporary fence over certain sections of the yard and let the equine do the work at least for this growth period.

I did that in the 'lane' which is a hilly grassy lane between two pastures. The gals picked it pretty clean and then I mowed what was left. I have hoof impressions in the lane but the grass is no longer knee high.

...Hey...it has been done before!

Photos from many years ago.  2006 and 2008. I think hubby was in the hospital at these times and I couldn't keep up with mowing because I worked full time and drove to Madison to see hubby on my days off.

However...I learned not to hang laundry out when they were in the yard...

The yard never was worse for wear and they did a good job.

A large perfectly mowed yard is very underrated. I guess I shouldn't complain though, last year we mowed the yard 4 times all summer.

The rain and frustration are welcome.

Cool Trees

 I think that trees and wildflowers in the spring are so amazing.

There is a mad rush where I feel I have to run out and find every flower that emerges as an ephemeral.   I want to squat down and peer at these flowers and enjoy their fleeting presence in the forest.

I rejoice at the flowers in my garden also of course, but they are there and will appear. I won't have to go searching for them in an adventure. So chasing those little flowers is exciting and frustrating sometimes. 

I may search one area too early or too late. 

I also take a moment to look at the trees and note when catkins are forming or leaves are bursting through. This year I followed one type of tree from November until now. I finally got a definite ID for the tree from my neighbor.

Here is the Hophornbeam tree. April 17th.

April 24th

Pictures of it in March are here in my blog about Bushes, Trees, and birds. It hasn't changed much except that the catkins are getting greener and plumper and the leaves are emerging.

Box Elder April 18th:

Box Elder, April 24th.

Wild Plum trees!

When I first moved to this area my husband would say that the first trees that blossomed were the Cherry Trees and now I am finding out that most of the 'cherry' and plum trees blossom about the same time. My forester neighbor confirmed this tree to be a plum.

It is in the woods to the east of our driveway. I'll have to see if it bears any fruit.

However, I did discover wild plums not far from the back of our property! Perhaps this fall I'll be able to pick them and make plum jelly!

Plum Blossoms from years past ~~~

April 27 2012

May 1st 2019

It is fun to see how different trees react differently to the weather. I don't recall how the weather was like in 2012. In fact, I don't think I was paying much attention to the weather as I was working 40+ hours a week in 12 hour shifts even though I was a part time employee.

This tree has always grabbed my attention and after all these years, finally the neighbor ID'd this for me also!

My next favorite tree that I like to watch in the spring is the Hawthorne Tree. It really isn't liked by some folks as it has some really gnarly thorns. 

In Ireland the Hawthorne Tree was said to be a home to fairies. In other places in Europe it was thought to be the Tree of Love and Romance [and of course fertility].

I like the tree because it is so unique. 

April 25th 2021

April 26th 2024

See the thorns? Thorny but so beautiful!

The leaves turn green once the blossoms open.

Apple Blossoms 

from the Wild Apple Trees

in the Meadow

April 26th 2024

This meadow was home to so many beautiful apple trees that were not planted by anything other than Mother Nature. However their fruit is always delicious. I enjoy picking as many apples as I wish each year for jelly and juices.

This last shot is from 

May 16th 2006

Photographed with a film camera.

With temps rising along with these wonderful rains we've had, I need to get out and really spend time exploring both the trees, bushes, and the spring ephemeral flowers.

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.

Trees and blossoms

While hunting morels the other day, Rich and I went into our creek bottom and wandered about.  It was fairly early in the day and the light was delightful.
He called me over to see a gorgeous discovery.
This wild apple tree with brilliant pink blossoms.

I've lived on this land for 20 years and this is the first time I've found this tree in all of its pink glory.
How odd, I didn't know this wild apple tree even existed.

I went back in the afternoon and everything looked different in the afternoon light.

Last week we had a very foggy morning and I decided to take a quick walk up to the ridge and see if the 'chokeberry' tree was still in blossom.

The morning light was wonderful and the sunlight cast harsh sideways shadows on one of my favorite trees.

The blossoms wouldn't be around much longer, perhaps only 24 to 48 hrs.  I felt lucky that I got a shot of them this year.

The next tree that will blossom will be the Hawthorne tree.  Rich doesn't like them but I find their blossoms beautiful and their leaves distinctively beautiful. I am not sure that anyone particularly likes the thorns though.

I love adore these little flowers. How can something so thorny have such beautiful blossoms?

These trees are just starting to bud out and will probably be in full bloom by the weekend.

One of the things I keep promising myself each year is to learn how to identify trees by their leaves and their bark or shape.

I am slowly learning.  But it is hard!

Talking to my mom...

Yesterday I called my mom.  I'm supposed to be a good daughter and call her weekly.
Last time we parted ways, we promised each other that we'd talk each and every week.  If I didn't call, she would...well okay, she might.

Anyway let's just say, I'm not the 'good' daughter in that way.  I don't call every week, but I should because you should hear my mom's voice perk up when she hears my voice on the phone.

She wanted to know what I was doing on a certain date and I told her that my schedule wasn't out yet for that.  But I'd let her know as soon as possible.  She told me that she was putting on an ice cream banana split party on that Friday and I should come.

She also told me about her group of Seniors that went out on Friday nights and had Fish Fry or Pizza and how much fun they had.

I actually decided that this could be fun to do.  So I'll check into my schedule as soon as it is posted.
My mom's senior friends are a real hoot.
What's more, is that my mom loves it when I go with her to meet her friends and do things with them all.

If you think a Senior has nothing to offer, then you haven't been around this group of folks.  I've always enjoyed time with them.
I do hope I get scheduled so that I can 'run' down and see her soon!
 

 Hawthorne Tree Blossoms ~ May 23rd 2013