Virginia – Page 2 – movingforwardslowly

Hello September!

I will welcome September with open arms. The full Corn Moon will shine bright next Sunday, the 7th, though in North America we will not be able to see the total lunar eclipse that will turn it into a blood moon. (The next total lunar eclipse visible to the United States will be March 3, 2026.) The Harvest Moon will rise in October.

We can still enjoy the full Corn Moon. It is already candy corn season in the stores, and I have purchased my yearly quota. I cannot seem to let go of this tradition that dates back to my childhood. Once a year I buy a bag to consume by myself. Now that I am older and wiser (ha) I spread it out over a few days, thus avoiding a sick stomach. I never eat it at any other time during the year.

The autumnal equinox will arrive the 4th week in September. Bird migrations will be in swing and they will continue through October.

Snow geese, black ducks, and American coots…

These are just a few pictures of some of the birds that migrate and take a rest stop in Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia. I have many more pictures. Hopefully, I will be able in return there in the future for another migration season.

The cooler air coming in will be a welcome relief from the hot, hot summer that is coming to an end this month. Possibly, I will get outside and try to take some picture with my old Nikon of the hawk that comes daily now into our garden in Sterling. It perches in the lower branches of the tall crepe myrtle tree closest to our patio. It is visible from our kitchen window and the big dining room door that exits to our deck and patio. It has scared all the smaller birds from our feeders, and no scurrying feet of other garden wildlife can be seen either, which in some cases is a good thing. Overall, I welcome the hawk's presence. The food chain is in action.

Speaking of food chains, here is a white heron eating something it caught in the water, fish or frog…

This bald eagle pair was far away and I did not have a long enough lens, however, you can see that they caught dinner. I think they were feasting on snow geese.

Malva sylvestris – Zebrina Mallow

After looking at the Ricola bag again I realized that I grew another edible and flavorful flower in my garden. The leaves of the mallow plant are eaten around the world and cooked in various ways, often stuffed and wrapped around meat and other foods. I found several foragers who wrote about being overjoyed finding mallow in the wild and harvesting it for food. I grew it because I thought it was a beautiful plant. There are several types of mallow. I grew the Zebrina mallow for its lovely flowers.

Looking through my files looking for the mallow I remembered growing, I found this good picture of a soldier beetle also known as a leather wing beetle. It is considered a beneficial bug in Virginia. It is a pollinator. The flower that the soldier beetle is enjoying is a peony.

Have a great weekend!

The Healing Power of a Garden

Very prolific flower. Easy to grow. No problems. Honeybees love its scent.

Above you can see a black swallowtail butterfly and carpenter bee enjoying a blazing star. The middle picture shows my pond in its heyday. The third picture shows a clearwing moth enjoying a butterfly bush. The screenshot of the significance of hyssop according to E-Bible taught me something new today. I grew hyssop in my garden for many years. I loved it, and many butterflies of all sizes loved it. Interestingly, I saw very few hummingbirds around it, and this possibly was because the red cardinal flower held their interest (not pictured here.)

Summer Vibes

The other day I was reading something and playing with numbers when I was reminded of a TV series that was on during my late teens (1976-1981). Do you remember the original Charlie’s Angels? I do. I even tried to make my hair look like Farrah’s hair. I never quite pulled it off, not to mention I looked nothing like her. Anyways, this morning I looked at what happened on this day June 25th in history. I was surprised to see that Farrah Fawcett died on this day in 2009. Her death was a little overshadowed by the death of Michael Jackson which happened on the same day. This coincidence with thinking of the TV series, and then seeing that the anniversary of Farrah’s death is today, made me look up the series opening soundtrack. Listen to it above.

The weather today is still too hot and humid for me. I am busy inside with other responsibilities, and when given the chance I still like to enjoy my favorite past time of looking at old garden pictures. It serves as a motivator for me. Look above at a picture from my past. I don’t have too many pictures of damselflies because they were shy and not as noticeable as the more flamboyant dragonflies.

I hope you are staying cool and refreshed. Don’t read the news if you want to stay in a good mood. This is my strategy when I can muster the willpower. The weather needs to get a little cooler and less sauna-like for me to get outside in the garden.

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.

Natural Bridge in Virginia

The 2025 calendar on my refrigerator was purchased from the National Park Foundation. April 16 in 1908 the National Bridges National Monument in Utah was designated.

Our family trip to Natural Bridge, Virginia came into my mind, though, this is a Virginia state park, and is not the one advertised on my calendar. We have not been to the Natural Bridges in Utah.

This was a pleasant reminder of our trip in 2011. I have posted a few pictures from our trip.

Perhaps one day we will visit the National Bridges Monument in Utah.

This is a screenshot. It is incorrect with the claim of it being the largest natural land bridge in the North American continent. I believe the Rainbow Bridge in Utah might be the largest.

This is the park my calendar was referencing.

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.

Heart Strings

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!

Bless, Blessed, and Blessings

I have several thoughts on my mind this Sunday. I think I posted about the cardinal flower yesterday because Pope Francis has been in the news.
My thoughts and prayers are with him.

Last week I received my Virginia Real ID. This is my birthday month, and it was time to renew my driver's license, so since the law has changed regarding this, I upgraded to a real ID. I am good now for eight years before the need will arise again.

My inside joke is that I will be blessed next week since adding one year to my age will make my age 'code' for blessed. I see this word written on clothes, garden stones, garden fairies, etc. Making it a joke is one way to lessen the thought of 'older age' or 'old age'. I don't feel old.

This hypertufa planter I made 14 years ago is still standing strong.
The inside needs to be redesigned with new plant material and fun features.
I found the recipe online at gardeners.com. Here is a picture.

You can find directions at the above mentioned website. I did not follow these exact directions when I made mine years ago. If I remember correctly I found the directions in a book or magazine. They were not complete directions, so I had to improvise with how to make the form. I used a big old picnic basket that I lined with a super-sized, plastic, heavy duty garden refuse bag. I used gloves to slap the mixture on the sides. It was much harder to make than I expected. Once you start the process, you have to finish it. I was very blessed that it turned out as well as it did. The only reason I made one is because I kept seeing them at an upscale garden center, and I really wanted one, though their price was more than I could justify or felt comfortable paying.

Since I will be blessed this year (ha!), I should redesign the planter with some new mini or dwarf plantings. It currently holds a dwarf azalea, and some dwarf hostas named "Mouse Ears." These are drought tolerant. I still have the faded fairy with the word "Bless" on it. I will look for more garden decor with the words: bless, blessed, or blessing. Also I need to look for an automatic way to water it.

Looking ahead with plans to improve some things is a good way to feel positive right now.