These June Days Are Slipping By

Learning the new computer I bought months ago was so frustrating. I finally got all my photos transferred to the new one, learned how to import and post new ones and moved the new computer to my desk last week. For that reason, and because I've been sharing photos on other platforms, I haven't blogged much. Consider this post a 'photo dump' of some favorite pictures the past ten days.

Thursday morning, the 15th, I saw what I thought was a mama deer and her fawn. It looked like she hid the fawn in the deep grasses and then took off at a run up to the trees at the top of the meadow.

It wasn't until I had the pictures on the computer that I realized the fawn was actually a fox that the doe had been chasing off. 

Later in the morning a Redwing Blackbird serenaded from this back of a chair at pond's edge.

Their presence is always welcome in my world.

Hamburger stew - it's what's for lunch. In the book I was reading, they talked about making hamburger stew for a large gathering. The ingredients were listed, but no recipe. So I guessed on amounts and came up enough for the two of us to eat a couple of different days.

I used one pound of ground beef fried with some onion, two cans of stewed tomatoes, one can each of green beans and corn, one and a half to two cups of instant brown rice, salt and pepper and some spices. It was so-o good! A nice change from chili.

They had been working for several days to get the fountain working again. After a few fits and starts, it remained operational.

Thursday evening the setting sun lit up the top like a burning candle.

The strength and spray are higher now with the new pump. The sights and sounds of the fountain once again are most welcome. It last worked in 2016.

Thursday morning, the 16th, I went up to McKinley Park to walk on the trails there.

I parked at the campground and walked up the hill and down and up to the Historical Village.

They've done a lot of work around the village and one of the new things I spotted was the old pedal-powered grindstone outside the blacksmith shop. We didn't have one on our farm but Grandpa Joe did. It fascinated me. 

The pretty magenta-pink ground cover is a new one for me - Bloody Cranes-bill (Geranium Sanguineum), a spreading rhizomatous perennial. I wouldn't mind having some of this around my house.

By the door of the pioneer cabin is an antique iron wash tub with some purple verbena.

Mom had one like this that maybe I should have saved, but didn't. It was so heavy even when not full of dirt. 

Ferns grow on the north side of the old cabin.

I cannot resist the play of sunlight and shadows - especially with such a background of stone and timbers.

While waiting for the library to open, I drove around the east side of town where I happened across this old buggy. It looks very much like the one we had that my sister and I hooked old Queenie to. Our's had a top that got broken off when a reign broke and caused the buggy to go into the ditch while my brother and two of his friends were going down the road.  

5:47 a.m Friday and it looked like we might get some rain.

Even at 8:30 on my morning walk around the neighborhood it still looked like we might get some rain. 

We didn't get any rain.

6:20 a.m. on Saturday - a bit different looking sunrise without the reds and pinks - but I took this shot because of that light blue on the middle right of the photo.

It reminds me of how I was always looking for blue hole pools when we were still doing more extensive traveling.

Another 'new one' for me - something called "slime mold".

It was growing on the maple tree stump next door. Until I looked it up I assumed it was some kind of fungus. Such a bright yellow!

Somehow I skipped picture taking on Father's Day.

And I only have one to show from Monday.

Sunshine and shadows on the hay bales up on the hill.

And only one taken on Tuesday, the first day of summer. 

I heard a little wren singing on the deck. By the time I grabbed the camera, stood up to sight the camera through the window, the wren had hopped up on the flower pot, ducked under the flowers and come out with a three inch piece of stem or some other suitable nest-building substance and flew away.

So, again, a light and shadow photo.

I was up early enough Wednesday morning to see that the sunrise was going to be spectacular.

It was necessary to drive to the nearest high ground to get a less obstructed photo - 5:43 a.m., just off Cottonwood Road.

Around eight a.m. during my morning walk through the neighborhood, I found this little feather - my first feather gift for some time.

The best way to take a picture of it was by placing it in this flower saucer alongside the, I believe, petrified plastron (understide of a turtle) I found when rock hunting on an old dirt road in Adams County last August.

I have some photos I refer to as my Moná pictures. 

They are slightly out of focus and remind me of a Claude Monet painting. 😍

This is the latest - sunrise reflecting on clouds Thursday a.m.

I don't know why some years the Yarrow is faded in color and some years it is bright peachy-pink.

This is a bright year. 

This morning's walk was rain delayed which was just fine because we needed the rain.

The bright purple of a neighbor's Clematis got my attention. At first I took a close-up of it, then I noticed the beautiful proportions of the tree behind it and had to include it, too. 

A bit farther down the street was the first Yucca in bloom that I've noticed this year.

I had some of these on when we lived in West Des Moines and also on the farm. 

I really like them. I don't know why I didn't bring some when we moved here.

This grouping is on the same property. I don't know what all the little flowers are.

I took the photo because of the milkweed plants. I'm glad more people are introducing this weed into their flower beds.

Closer to home, much larger and already blooming are these milkweed plants.

I asked the neighbor if she planted them and she said they self seeded. I didn't see any monarch caterpillars on them but I'm sure there will be.

Lastly, one of the plants I mentioned on the 15th that hadn't bloomed yet was this geranium.

Now I know what color it is. 

And this concludes my ten day round up. 💞