Cool Day For A Swim

We had a cold front go through during the night, taking all of yesterday's humidity with it. So it was cool for my walk at Lake McKinley this morning.

I didn't take many photos.

Doesn't it look like there is something in the hollow of this Maple tree?

This plant looked familiar but I didn't have a name for it and had to look it up - Broadleaf Arrowhead.
It was growing in the small stream the footbridge crosses, but down at the end close to the lake.

Other names for it are duck-potato, Indian potato and wapato. As those names suggest, the plants have edible tubers.
The small white flowers remind me of begonias.

This fungus, although drying up, looked good enough to eat. Maybe I was getting hungry after my walk. Don't worry, I never eat any fungi unless I'm certain they're not poisonous.

I may have been chilly when I started out on my walk, but I was almost hot by the end of it.

Then I came home and my heart was warmed by these roses and carnations from Hubby Dearest.


Unexpected. No reason. The best kind.

Hiking The Prairie Trail

My day began w-a-a-a-y to early. Early enough I had time to kill before driving out in the country for some sunrise photos.

At first I thought that thin white squiggle was some kind of crazy jet trail - until I realized it was sunlight on the edge of a cloud.

The heat and humidity combined for the hazy photos, but there was a nice breeze and it was lovely to be out so early.

A couple hours later and Stix and I were ready to hike the prairie path. This is a selfie of the three of us heading up the hill.

Between the tailwaters of Green Valley Lake....

......and the headwaters of Summit Lake, there is an area to park to begin at the south end of the trail. (North side of 150th St. 1/2 mile west of Green Valley Road.)

The only marker I saw. 4.5 miles from what? Where? Lots of ragweed and a bit of pinkweed.

For some reason, I thought this trail was a flat expanse across the top of the ridge. Instead it was up one hill and down another, which is why I said I 'hiked' the prairie trail instead of 'walked'. And it's a heckuva lot easier for me to go uphill than it is down. From here it wasn't much further to the end of this segment at the south (dam) end of Green Valley Lake/Park.

Here's looking south from the north end - starting back. I'm guessing it is a half mile from one end to the other.

Now, some of my sights:

First -- FAUNA

Turkey Vultures or Turkey Buzzards depending on your preference of what to call them or the region you're from.
(Taken from quite a distance with zoom lens.)

While trying to get group photo of the buzzards flying over this farm pond, I captured a Heron without realizing it. I can't tell, does it have something in its beak?

Our state bird - the American Goldfinch. Note their favorite food, thistleseed, at bottom of picture.

There is a pale yellow, Clouded Sulphur, butterfly at the lower left of this photo. It almost matches the emerging goldenrod flower it's feeding upon.

WARNING -Some people may find the following picture disturbing.

This poor little Snapping Turtle was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was near where I parked my car. I just hope I wasn't the one who ran over it. 😢

On a happier note - and to make up for the previous horror story --
-- here is a live Painted Turtle.

I call this: The Turtle and the Tire.








And Now - FLORA

Dark leaves and pale seeds of a vine which I think is Asclepias, aka, honeyvine milkweed.

I'm always happy to see hedge balls growing. Also known as hedge apples and monkey brains - though I never called them that - they are the fruit of the Osage Orange tree.

I love the dark garnet color on this Elderberry bush even though the birds have feasted on almost all the berries.

Some leaves of the Sumac have already turned red.

While others are still deep green, a perfect backdrop for the much darker, dried blood, red of the Sumac drupes or berry clusters.

The final picture of flora and my favorite in this category - a montage of flowers, seed pods and leaves. There is the white Queen Anne's Lace and the yellow Birdsfoot Trefoil, but it was the pretty purple leaves that caught my eye.

That's it. The end of the trail. Even though I was out early and did not walk fast, the humidity was enough to make me glad to be back at the car, though I'm certain Stix could have gone on and on had I been willing.

It was another lovely walk/photo shoot in the great outdoors.

Following A New Trail

A pretty start for Labor Day and another walk outside with my Sticks.
(I decided to capitalize Sticks because of their value to me. Next, I'll probably name them!) 😊

Back out to Green Valley State Park to try out a new trail. A good omen as soon as I exited the car in the lot on the North side of the lake.
#BlackFeather

First the feather, then the rustling of the Cottonwood leaves.

I planned on taking the path around the North end of the lake, but when I got to the corner I discovered the path I was going to take was gravel while the paved path led across the causeway. What to do?

I followed the gravel path, which I had all to myself.

When I saw these cattle feeding bunks in the distance I thought, "What are those for? Are they feeding the deer?" Then I saw that the path continued on from them and realized.....

....duh - it's a bridge across a marshy area -- so recently built that it still has that 'new wood' smell. This area is right behind the Park Ranger's house and maintenance buildings. The path does go on to the other side of the lake.

But I retraced my steps back to the paved path and crossed over the causeway.

Taking pictures of this stump, which made me think of a moose head......

......and these new little maple trees whose leaves are already turning red.

And while the lake had an odor......

.....the woods had an aroma.

Another lovely morning; me and my Sticks exploring a new trail, enjoying the great outdoors.

Lovely First Morning of September

Thanks to my Nordic Walking Poles - what I call my 'sticks' - I've been loving walking outside again. It is so much more enjoyable than walking on the treadmill. So before the rains and cold weather set in, I'm going to savor the great outdoors while I can.

This morning once more, I was at Lake McKinley Park. Naturally I don't go without my camera along. The lake was still; no waterfowl to be seen.

The walking trail makes walking there easy. And even though I don't have a dog, I'm happy to see that the new fountains keep the furry friends in mind.

Pretty flowers in one of the park's old 'New York Ironworks' planters.

The trail passes through part of the Historical Complex. How is this for authenticity - the well pump and outhouse next to the one-room school building.

I thought I had the trail all to myself when I heard, "Coming around you."

I had stopped to see if I could tell what those birds were in the top of a tree. Zooming in with the camera showed a red-headed woodpecker and a robin.

This time when I crossed the footbridge and looked down into the stream I could identify those flowers. PINKWEED! They like damp soil.

Yes, it was a gorgeous morning this first day of a new month. I was happy to be out in it - all the while hearing these lyrics in my mind....

♫ And look how far we've come
So far from where we used to be
But not so far that we've forgotten
How it was before

September Morn
Do you remember
How we danced that night away
Two lovers playing scenes
From some romantice play
September morning 
Still can make me feel that way ♫

Read In August 2019

Two more books read this month than last, seven versus five. But I can feel, see and hear Autumn in the wings and after that, the season of more reading - Winter.

A Justified Murder by Jude Deveraux is the first book of hers I've read in quite awhile. It is the second in her Medlar Mysteries series and while it was okay as far as the mystery part, I seem to have graduated to the more gritty genres.

Like John Sandford's Lucas Davenport series, of which Neon Prey is the latest. Once I discovered Sandford, I read my way through all his books. Now I have to wait (im)patiently for a new one to come out. I still love this author and his books.

Careful What You Wish For by Hallie Ephron is the fourth book of hers I've read. I don't know why I'm still surprised by how much I like her writing, but I am. Apparently I forget from one release to the next.

Kate Atkinson is another author whose books I have to wait for. Big Sky is the fifth in the Jackson Brodie series and the first in nine years! Believe me, I have really been waiting for this book. Love Atkinson's writing and love, love, love Jackson Brodie.

Madam Fourcade's Secret War by Lynne Olson is the non-fiction account of one woman's courage as head of a French Resistance spy network during WWII. A very interesting, well researched and written read.

Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts relates the lives of L. Frank and Maud Baum from their first meeting to their marriage and life of struggles and hardship until he wrote The Wizard of Oz. The book moves back and forth from their lives together to Maud's life as a widow trying to help during the filming of the famous movie. This novel is a very interesting read for any Oz fan.

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline had been on my 'want to read' list so long I had forgotten to check on its availability. I'm so glad I finally read it.

The ordeals of a young Irish immigrant sent west on one of the Orphan Trains takes up most of the book, but her story, when she is in her nineties, becomes entwined with the life of a difficult 17-year-old foster child. The unlikely friendship of these two leads to acceptance and healing for both.
This was my favorite book this month. I highly recommend it, especially if you have never heard of Orphan Trains* or know little about them.

* My brother-in-law's father came to Iowa via an Orphan Train. Also, when I drove the Senior Citizens' bus in Corning, in a conversation with one of the riders, I learned she had come to Iowa on an Orphan Train. Years later, when I worked for The Adams County Free Press, I wrote an article about her experience. When I interviewed her for the story, she expressed a wish to return to Grundy Center which was the terminus of her Orphan Train ride. I took her there. We drove around the town and area, but after three-quarters of a century, there was little which looked familiar to her.

There are now more than an estimated two million descendants of those Orphan Train riders.