Wednesday's Wondrous Trek

 

Last winter I started making a list of places I wanted to go once it was warm enough and safe enough to be out and about again. Hanging Rock Park on the SW side of Redfield in Dallas County was my choice for yesterday's outing. It isn't too far away, just right for a morning's ramble. I wrote down the 'directions' which weren't exactly clear, but we found this entrance to the trail on a side street.

I knew we were close to the river and the dam and followed this deer trail that direction.

Finally, I listened to HD and got out of the woods and back on the path, which is when we found the road leading to the Hanging Rock feature, went back to the car and drove the rest of the way.

I was totally captivated by that hole. What made it? What's in it? Etc, etc. 

Do you see anything in there?

Bud made his way down to the river. I wish I could have followed him, but the way down was too steep and rough for me. 

So I had to be content taking photos from above....

....and in the woods.

There was a lot of bird song,  mainly Orioles.

It was hard to find exactly where in the foliage this one was. The new yellow-green leaves helped camouflage it, but eventually I got a good snap.

Obviously there was once a man-made structure here. A bridge most likely.

I'm always flummoxed when I see birds I can't identify. Any ideas?

Maybe Warbling Vireos or Field Sparrows? They didn't call nor sing, so no clues there.

When Bud climbed back up the bank from the Middle Raccoon River, he brought me my own Hanging Rock rock - this banded, sparkly, pebble for a keepsake.

Hanging Rock Park is an interesting area to visit. If you are going to see just it, and not walk on the trails, from the Casey's on the SW corner of Redfield, go straight North a block or so to Redfield Street. Turn left and go up the hill to 3rd Street. The entrance will be on your left. There is a large red tile barn as you enter. 

Follow the road to the end and you will be at Hanging Rock.

After leaving Redfield, on the way to our second stop, I wanted to see what one of the houses my son Douglas built looks like now.

From the south....

 

....and from the west. Looks like they built on a garage and sided it with yellow vinyl.

I could have found a better picture of when Doug and Shelly lived there, but this one was handy.

Doug poured a lot of work, love and his own design into this place.

Things change.

This Guthrie County Park was my second planned stop for the morning. I wanted to hike some trails here, but by the time we got to Nation's Bridge Park along the South Raccoon River, I had had enough hiking for the day.

So we drove through the camping area, stopping to take a few pictures.

These Canada Geese had their own little island in the middle of the river.

Water sparkling in the sun and burbling across the rocks is always so pretty and peaceful.

It was nearly noon so we drove on into the town of.....

 .....and stopped at......

where I had something I'd never heard of before - a chicken cheesesteak.

Bud had a tradional one with beef, commonly known as a Philly Cheesesteak. Both were very good.

Neither of us could remember the last time we ate in a restaurant. As nearly as I can figure, it was while on our way home from our grandson's in Eastern Missouri - July, 2019.

We feel safe being outside, though we go places during the week when they are less crowded. We wore masks into Ruby's, as did others, and tried to keep an empty table between us and other diners. But I don't worry about it too much since being vaccinated against Covid-19.

This little jaunt was exactly as I hoped it would be. From leaving home to returning home, it was four hours total. 

Oh, Bud wanted one more picture, but his camera was in the trunk so he stopped along the road so I could take this one for him:

I'm going to call it Bud's G.O.A.T. goat.   😁😍😎

Continuing the Tradition

 

After a slight deviation from last year's no contact flower delivery due to the pandemic, my son and I were able to enjoy what has become our Mother's Day tradition. And I had a realization about this tradition. I have told Douglas more than once he does not have to keep bringing the flowers, that it is enough for me just to be together. What I tumbled to was: this is Doug's tradition, not mine, even though I am a part of it. It is his tradition to bring his mommy a hanging planter every year. I'm just the fortunate recipient.

He brings the flowers and daughter-in-law Shelly brings me strawberry-rhubarb pie. That's her tradition and I love it!

Mother's Day began on Saturday with a card and more than two hours of facetime with daugher Kari and continued yesterday with many Facebook and phone greetings from other family members. I was one happy, and tired, mommy last night. 

The weekend also brought first sightings of the beautiful Indigo Bunting and.....

.....a Ruby-throated Hummingbird - though I've yet to get a good picture of it. 

Mother Nature and Family - Mother's Day weekend couldn't have been any better.  💖

More Pottering, Planting & Enjoying Spring

 

After posting the first gosling picture of three, we discovered another nesting pair had six babies. This is a recent photo showing how they have grown already.

For the longest time I thought two of the resident 'permanent' chickens had gotten broken. Turns out they were just upset. A visitor set them back upright.

Now the quiet, kindly, deer of the tree watches over them in the early morning light.

I have been wanting some eucalyptus - you know, the bunches like we had back in the 70's & 80's. I looked on line for some near me and found that Kelly's Flowers had eucalyptus. I looked around their gift shop but didn't see any so I asked. "Oh, it's over in the greenhouse, down the center aisle on the right."

It's real live eucalyptus; an annual here in Iowa. She said I could cut it as it grew out and dry it myself. So, I'ma gonna' try my hand at it, leaving it outside until fall and then bringing it in for the winter. 

 My Guy Wolff pot seemed the perfect place for it.

Wednesday HD brought me this miniture yellow rose in an oversize pitcher featuring hummingbirds.

It was in a plastic planter set in the pitcher, ready to plant outside.

I've never tried planting a miniture rose - or any roses for a long time - so I read about them and found they are more hardy than hybrid tea roses, so I'm trying my luck with it.

My Grandma Delphia, whose birthdate is May 10, had an old fashioned yellow rose bush I just loved. So I planted my yellow rose in front of one of her geodes. It is near Lily's lilies and the fern leaf peony. I hope it does well there.

The other flowers I planted today were these little 'Pacifica Apricot' Vincas.

I put them in the old iron pot that was my Great-grandma Means' (Grandma Delphia's mother). The bottom is rusted out so what's left of it is partially buried in the soil. Another of Grandma's geodes is behind it to the left.

A close up of the pot and geode with hen and chicks and lavendar in background.

That's it for the flora, now for some fauna:

At dusk last evening this young deer was nibbling on the new willows down at the pond. It has looked up at something - probably that other deer on the dam whose reflection is shown in the water.

And lastly, who knew Brown Thrashers liked suet? I didn't. This is a first for me. Robins have even been pecking at the suet feeder.

I love this time of year. 

Celebrating May Day In Some Favorite Ways

 

I'm in my happy zone - potting some flowers and then going to buy more.

I got a good deal on my favorite geraniums - a large pot of four was broken and marked down to half price.

So the three I was sure weren't damaged went into their usual pot yesterday while the snapdragons I got this morning went into the deck planter made by my eldest grandson.

A repeat of last year - happy little Portulaca in the matching deck rail planters.

I had been seeing signs around town for a new greenhouse out in the country. Today was their opening day - good reason for a drive in the countryside. 

After buying a few plants there, I decided to continue on down the road rather than retracing my drive out.

I can't resist stopping to take creek photos from a bridge.

And noticed.....

.... a  few chokecherry blossoms in the ditch nearby.

Around a curve I saw some wild phlox and this path into the woods. Oh, how I would have loved following the path, looking for more spring wildflowers and, perhaps, finding some morels, though I think it has been too dry for them.

That final geranium looked like it was okay, so into a pot with a springeri fern for accent. Time to sit back and enjoy two more of my favorite things - a glass of May wine (Starborough Sauvignon Blanc) and a good book.

Later, watching the Kentucky Derby. A very pleasing start to the Merry Month of May.

Books I Read In April

 Eight books read this month - half of them written by Michael Connelly. 

The Reversal, The Fifth Witness, The Gods of Guilt and The Law of Innocence by Michael Connelly are books #3, 4, 5 and 6 in his Lincoln Lawyer series featuring Mickey Haller. The first three are older books; the last one was published in 2020 and brings me up-to-date. I have now read my way through this series unless he writes another new one, but I felt like the way he left Haller in the final book made it possible that it will be the last of the series.

These books are captivating, easy reads and I'm now on to his Harry Bosch series of which there are many to enjoy.

Code Name Hélène by Ariel Lawhon is a fascinating novel based on the real life of Nancy Wake a WWII leader in the French Resistance. Shortly after finishing the novel, we happened onto a docu-drama about Nancy Wake and watched it. Neither of us had heard of her before. She was a most remarkable woman - #1 on the Gestapo's Most Wanted list. This book is a must read for anyone interested in WWII history.

Spoils Of The Dead is Dana Stebenow's fifth book in her Liam Campbell series. I really like this author and reading her books, all set in her native Alaska. My library has one other book in the Liam Campbell series, which I've read, along with all the ones the library has of her Kate Shugak series.

The Consequence Of Fear is #16 in Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series. I always look forward to a new book in this series. The first books were set in WWI, then between the wars and now the setting is WWII London where Maisie is secretly working for the Special Operations Executive, assessing candidates for work with the French Resistance. (Maisie and Nancy might have worked together!) 

Eternal by Lisa Scottoline is the novel she said she has wanted to write ever since her days as an English major at the University of Pennsylvania. I have really enjoyed all her novels especially the Rosato & Associates series. But those have something of a light-hearted aspect whereas Eternal is a more sobering novel about WWII in Rome and what happened to Italy's Jewish population.  

One other remark about a favorite author, Louise Penny, though none of her books are on this month's list. We have watched more movies in the year+ of Covid-19 than any other year ever. A few night's ago we watched a 2013 movie based on Ms. Penney's first Inspector Gamache novel, Still Life: A Three Pines Mystery. It was fun seeing one of her books brought to the screen and featuring Nathaniel Parker as the Inspector - the same actor who played Inspector Lynley on the 2001-2008 mystery series based on the books written by Elizabeth George. Again, just something we happened across. 

Introducing This Year's Hatchlings

I've been waiting impatiently for Mama Canada Goose to get her babies out of the nest. My wait is over. This morning was the morning - and a beautiful morning it is. But wait, there's more! This isn't the mama from the tire. She's still on her nest. So once again, we've had two nesting pairs. Double joy!

There are three baby goslings in this batch, but they are not the only things yellow in the photo:

The Dandelion 

O dandelion, rich and haughty,

King of village flowers!

Each day is coronation time,

You have no humble hours.

I like to see you bring a troop

To beat the blue-grass spears,

To scorn the lawn-mower that would be

Like fate's triumphant shears!

Your yellow heads are cut away,

It seems your reign is o'er.

By noon you raise a sea of stars

More golden than before.

     (By Vachel Lindsay)

You could say this is a red letter day, but it is more like a💛!

Afore Poetry Month is O'er

It's not that I haven't thought about posting a poem or two during poetry month or even tried writing a poem for poetry month - I just haven't been motivated enough.

Blame the weather for my ennui because yesterday it was beautiful here and after planting my lavender and moving some daisies, I headed off to a couple of greenhouses intent on bringing home some flowers to pot. (Many others had the same idea.) I couldn't find the Peachy Keen Verbena I specifically went after, so my enthusiasm waned a bit. But I did find another plant I wanted, after almost overlooking it --  the 'not always available in our area', the delicate, delightful, enchanting, heavenly heliotrope. If you've ever smelled it, you know what I mean. And if you've never smelled it, well, you're missing out.

I got it potted and then I went in search of a proper poem about Heliotrope to share for the closing days of poetry month. I decided on this one, by Sara Teasdale:

Old Tunes

As the waves of perfume, heliotrope, rose

Float in the garden when no wind blows, 

Come to us, go from us, whence no one knows;

So the old tunes float in my mind,

And go from me leaving no trace behind,

Like fragrance borne on the hush of the wind.

But in the instant the airs remain

I know the laughter and the pain

Of times that will not come again.

I try to catch at many a tune

Like petals of light fallen from the moon,

Broken and bright on a dark lagoon.

But they float away -- for who can hold

Youth, or perfume or the moon's gold?

I will enjoy the unforgettable, heavenly fragrance of the Heliotrope all spring, summer and fall and then, perhaps, try to winter it over in the house.