Category: Mother Nature

Airborne Seeds and More

I have posted in the past about Maple helicopter seeds (whirly gigs). I ran across this Swamp Milkweed seed picture this morning and was impressed once again by the beautiful silky fibers of this seed. These fibers allow the Swamp Milkweed to go airborne (in a different way than the helicopters). I have posted the picture to show you the beauty of these seeds.

I have been thinking about planting a Swamp milkweed again. It really does bring in the Monarch butterflies. It is a host plant for them. I have been getting out into my garden, though today the weather is making me stay inside. Outside feels like an intense sauna.

Yesterday morning I started organizing all my garden supplies by cleaning out my long deck storage box and my garden shed. I have many old garden gloves, however, the two long sleeve pairs I had are now damaged. So, I ordered two more long garden gloves to protect me from all the bad plants that could hurt me. I also found my head netting that goes over my garden hat, and protects my face, ears, and neck from garden bugs.

Looking through my pictures brings back plant memories to me. I also found a cool picture of the aster flower with a flower spider and its prey. Perhaps I will plant more of these. Look below.

I also ran across a picture of a beautiful dahlia flower that used to grow in my garden. I used to order dahlia corms from Swan Island Dahlias. Dahlias do not grow year round in my garden because we are in a plant zone where you have to dig them up to keep them. I still get an occasional email from Swan Island Dahlias, so now I am considering whether I could grow them again. My garden has changed drastically since then. Here is a picture of the beauty from the past.

I need the weather to move out of the danger zone before I can make serious progress. I have been taking advantage of early mornings and late evening for some garden clean-up. Patience is needed right now.

Stay hydrated if you have to be out in the heat, and be careful.

The Storm is Over, Power has been Restored, and a Heat Wave has been Forecast

The recent storm caused power outage pushed me to rearrange the deck and uncover my Big Green Egg. I had a big enchilada casserole in the oven when the power went out in the late afternoon. I waited, thinking the power would be restored soon. After a couple of hours I covered the casserole still in the oven. Around 6am the next morning when the power was still out I fired up the grill, and placed the casserole on the stone shelf. It finished cooking this way. It was delicious!

We kept the two refrigerators cold with a generator we had not had to use for over 10 to 15 years. Neither my husband or I could remember exactly the last time we had an extended power outage, though we knew it was a long time ago. The small portable Jackery power station my husband uses occasionally with his business came in handy for smaller electrical necessities.

I read about the heat wave that should be arriving this weekend or early next week. I prayed that our power would be restored before this time. The power came back on last evening when the day was winding down. Thank God, and thank you Dominion Energy and all your dedicated service workers.

The picture above captures my mood this morning.

Red Hats

Red hats. Image generated by AI.
I just finished reading Ursula K. Le Guin's book Voices. The priests in this book all wore red hats. They were called the Red Hats.
 
Coincidentally, I have been seeing a lot of red hats in catholic news these days.

The Red Hats in Le Guin's book were not kind men. I am not making any kind of comparison to the real cardinals wearing red hats and working together to pick a new pope in the Sistine Chapel. 

Out of curiosity I did a quick search of catholic hats. I was surprised to find so many official hat names.
Names and definitions
A graphic of catholic hats

Three Poems

This photo was taken by Katherine June Krein in the year 2008. 
Hairstreak
Small in size, about an inch, it still captivates. Up close it is more attractive than from a distance. Usually, the opposite is true, especially true of humans.

There are different types and variations of the hairstreak. It has a scientific name.  I don't have it memorized. You can look it up.

The sky is overcast today. We are in the future now, and not in the past with this. I have not seen any butterflies yet in 2025. 

Honeybees were swarming the skip laurel hedge yesterday. I read it provides an early spring nectar. They seemed a nuisance, but they are important pollinators, so they will be left alone. I am insignificant to them, and probably not even noticed.

The overcast sky today has changed to intermittent sunshine. A storm is forecast for later tonight.
AI generated image
Rose Hips
The season is over, and all the petals have fallen.
The stark and brittle rose stems are left standing.
They remain armed and dangerous with thorns intact.
The blossom bases that were once green begin to redden and ripen.
These jewels are called hips.
They hold value and should be picked.
Fresh or dried they can be used for tea or jam.
If left alone, the birds will find them and be thankful.
These rose hips might even keep the doctor away.
(July 12,2020)
Not exactly dirty, hot, and sweaty! AI generated image.
Unadorned
No necklaces, no manicures, no pedicure
Uncut, unpolished, and rough.
Sweaty, grimy, hot and dirty.
I sit completely unadorned in the garden.
The plants, insects, and garden birds take center stage.
The only spotlights are the sun and moon.
In the garden I'm the watcher and director,
When nature decides to acquiesce.
(I deleted it and typed it again today. The original date has been lost.)
P.S. I combined two old posts. I was going to delete them, and decided they could stay here. Why not?
P.P.S Today I added a 3rd poem.

Garden Update April 2025

https://birdfact.com/articles/northern-flicker-vs-red-bellied-woodpecker. Picture is from this site.

My husband has been regularly filling the bird seed feeders and the suet feeders. This has attracted all sorts of birds to our garden. The other day I was very surprised to see a Northern Flicker at the suet feeder. I have never seen a live one nor a live one in our garden. It was big for the feeder compared to the little Downy woodpeckers that come around regularly now. When I was in the kitchen baking this morning, I looked out the window and saw the big bird again, but now I am not sure whether it was a Northern Flicker or some other type of woodpecker. The reason I wondered this is because the bird seen at our feeder had a very red head. The red started at the back of its neck and extended up to the back top of its head, and flickers don’t seem to have so much red on their head. However, looking at the comparison pictured above, the bird at our feeder did have the black patch and a mottled look on its front. It must be a Northern Flicker that it is coming around these days, and perhaps its redder head is a variation. In any case, I am very thrilled to be seeing it. It is almost too big for the suet feeder.

The Skip Laurel (Schip Laurel) hedge that is on two sides of our deck is blooming heavily this year. See picture below that was taken with my cell phone today.

Another surprise that I noticed today is a very old tall pink honeysuckle blooming. It was in the garden originally; however, it had been stunted with lack of sunlight for many years because another tree had been crowding it out. The offending tree was cut down a couple of summers ago. The pink honeysuckle is taking advantage of this and is spreading out and blooming. Gardens are always full of ongoing competitions. Next week I will be on break from school, so my plan is to get out in the garden.

Date Palm: Phoenix dactylifera

This picture was taken from the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park Alliance website

My fascination with Palm trees continues. With Palm Sunday arriving this weekend, I have been exploring the Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera). There are many of these trees on the property owned by the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park in California. One of my fondest memories is taking my daughter on a Safari drive through this park when she was young. We were visiting my sister who lived in Los Angeles at the time. My daughter was thrilled and a little scared to feed the giraffes carrots. They would come up to the safari truck and with their prehensile tongues they would scoop them out of our hands.

The fruit of the Date Palm tree are called Medjool dates. I bought some the other day at one of our local grocery stores. I have eaten them in salads at restaurants, but I have never bought a box of them to consume at home. We have been eating them today, and I can definitely say that they are delicious. My plan is to chop some of them up to put into a pound cake I hope to make this weekend. I enjoy experimenting. One of my recent goals this year is to try new foods and experiment with different recipes. I am currently focused on the Medjool date.

The dates I bought were grown in the Bard Valley of California. I had to research the name Bard since I attended an elementary school in California in 3rd and 4th grade by the name of Richard Bard. Curiously I don’t ever remember eating whole dates when I was young and lived in California. This is a shame since I could have discovered them long ago.

If I end up making the cake this weekend, I will post a picture. It would be a nice addition to a Palm Sunday brunch.

Medjool Date Cake glazed
Medjool Date Cake right out of oven

I made the Vanilla Sour Creme Pound Cake and added chopped medjool dates. I baked it this morning. Now all I need to do is make the brunch tomorrow morning to go with it. It will be simple.

I found a picture (08/09/25) of Ivan the giraffe that would use his tongue to scoop the carrots out of your hand.

Heart Strings

Lamprocapnos spectabilis

The common name is bleeding heart, but I like the name heart strings better. The scientific name is written in the caption. The pictures were taken by me long ago at Meadowlark Botanical Garden not too far from our home.

Today we celebrate the 35th birthday of Laura. We had lunch at Carrabba’s Italian Grill. The quote written on their to-go bags is: “There is no love more sincere than the love of food.” I would like to add “and family” at the end. However more people probably agree with their version.

We all agree that Carrabba’s Cannoli Cake for Two was incredibly delicious! Better to have birthday cake out than have a whole cake at home (way too many calories.).

This cannoli cake for two** at Carrabba’s Italian Grill is very moist and wonderfully delicious.
It was shared by two people, and still the calories should not be consumed daily.

In attempts to get a picture of this cake to share, I found many recipes out there trying to recreate this cake at home. It is good to know I will be able to find the recipe if I ever decide to make one at home. I am definitely more inclined to go back to Carrabba’s. They had a wonderful promotion on taking home meals. I should be set for the rest of the work week ahead. Thank you Carrabba’s!

March Madness 2025

Cameron Indoor Stadium-Duke University
I remember the long lines waiting to get into Cameron, hours spent waiting, all to get good center court stadium seats. We chanted songs and cheers.
This madness continued throughout the basketball season.
I won lottery tickets to go to the Final Four one year.*
The good old days!
Over the years since then I have not always followed the team. Some years when my life has allowed me the time, I watch the games.
This past Friday I watched Duke dominate the other team. They won!
They play again today. 

The other day when I was looking at pictures, I saw a Duke fan wearing a Blue Devil mask with the words "U Can't Touch This" written on it.
This MC Hammer song came out the year my daughter was born just a couple of weeks before her birthday. This song always puts me in a good mood, especially when I watch MC Hammer do his dance!

Go Duke!

* Update--I decided to look up the year I attended the Final Four. It was 1978 and the final four was held in Charlotte, North Carolina. My roommate Allison, was from Charlotte. Duke made it through to the Championship game, however, we lost to Kentucky that year. The score was 94-88.

Correction to the update: It was the first round of March Madness that I attended in Charlotte, N.C. in 1978 and not the final four. Duke did go on to the Championship game that same year.

International Women’s Day 2025

AI generated image with the prompt: Business woman holding up her arms to show her muscles.
Keep your head up. Look up and see the big blue sky, and feel the energy all around you. Feel the pulse and rhythm of life.

Stand up tall,stretch your neck, and loosen up.
Try to flex every muscle in your body.
Feel your inner strength pump up your potential.

Get ready to move, to excel, to support others, and to keep going even when the hurdles get higher.
Your opposition needs to be pushed back. Do not let them overwhelm you when 
you come head to head. Your voice needs to be heard!

Celebrate your successes, and do not let your shortcomings hold you back.
Keep getting up and doing your best.
Do not let others discourage you from your goals.
Stay strong!