I TOOK A WALK TODAY...

Early spring is a time of contrast, when the verdant meets the dead; when life emerges from what looks like death, but indeed has just been waiting. 

On the bike path near the Spring Valley Wildlife Area, a few ephemerals are beginning to carpet the ground...Dutchman's Breeches with it's fern-like leaves and white, pantaloon flowers and Yellow Corydalis, all tubular and sunny.

Along this section of path that borders the river, lipstick buds of
buckeye trees make their appearance, the older ones fanning out like like elaborate headdresses, grateful for the ice and cold that broke their shells.

     

Further down the trail I take a turn towards an expanse of last summer's tall grasses, lured there by a field sparrow's bouncing song, as it clings to a stalk of dried bluestem. 

In the wind, all over this field, I hear the slight clicking and cracking of these brown and wheat-colored stalks. They stood like soldiers against the ice and snow of winter, but now bend in a final surrender toward their own waiting roots. Breaking off. Making room. Turning back to the soil. 

It is an April painting, a fleeting snapshot of lush, supple greens alongside the dry, hollow stalks of winter, as an Osprey flies overhead towards water. Try not to miss it. :-) 

FIRST WEEK IN JUNE - 2014

As the description states, this blog is a nature journal of when, where and what is happening at the retreat.  In nature, something is always happening!  Just three weeks ago I could see through the woods and last years brown growth on the ground.  Now the trees have leafed out and the ironweed, wingstem, grasses and other herbaceous plants are towering over and filling in any bare spots.  



I've been taking a morning and an evening walk with binocs and my camera each day.  Here are some of the things I encountered this first week in June...captured with the limited camera skills I possess.  One of the exciting things for me was to ID two new plant species for the property.  Again...something is always happening...a seed that has been dormant finally germinates. The wind carries a seed through the air and plants itself in the readied soil.  A bird poops.  However it happens, I'm glad it does.  Enjoy!  And come visit sometime!  



PS...if you received this via email...scroll down to bottom and click on link.)

THE PRAIRIE

Venus's Looking Glass...a first!

Common Milkweed starting to bloom

Long-leaved Bluets Houstonia longifolia (I think)

Sneezeweed...another first for Prairie Pond Woods

Box Turtles were on the move this week!  They lay eggs in June in Ohio.

Had to dodge 3 while mowing the Refresher Course

Blue-winged Warbler sings all day here

Yellow-breasted Chat (annoyingly) sings all day here too!

Prairie Warbler

 THE POND

Painted Skimmer

Comet Darner...I honestly don't know how I got this photo.  I have been trying for years to photograph one.  They are so quick and they NEVER stop flying.  At one point I think I just took a shot out of frustration and was shocked when I scrolled through and saw it.  Not the clearest but considering the challenge I'm happy with it.

Mating Damselflies

THE WOODS

The Creek at the entrance to the property...and Cyon's swimming hole

Downy Rattlesnake Plantain

Cyon waiting while I try to (unsuccessfully) photograph a Worm-eating Warbler

A FEW WILDFLOWERS AT PPW

Jack-in-the-Pulpit

Trillium

Pink Lady's Slipper

Wild Comfrey

Hoary Puccoon

Wild Geranium

Columbine and Rock Cress growing on Dolomite Rock

Bluets in the Prairie

American Columbo

Can grow up to 25 years before blooming once and dying

WILDWOMEN WEEKEND

This past weekend a group of my old (and one new!) friends spent two days taking in the gorgeous display of wildflowers and migrating birds in Adams County, and enjoying much-needed, but too infrequent, time to just "be." We shared good food and good stories. We laughed and cried. We checked each other for ticks. It doesn't get any better than that.

On Friday and Saturday night American Woodcocks started their aerial courting displays exactly at 8:45 pm and we watched their silhouettes against a cloudless, dusky sky. Then, right on cue, at 9:15 the Whip-poor-will began his loud (some said, obnoxious) repetitive call in the pines near the deck. After all that...the silence...and brightness of the stars.

During the early morning we took birdwatching hikes on the property at Prairie Pond Woods. Late morning we left for jaunts to local nature preserves to see spring carpets of Trilliums, Violets, Wood Poppies, Bluebells, Jack-in-the-Pulpits and courageous flowers hanging off rough rock faces.

Sometimes nature came to us, as when a flock of 30 Cedar Waxwings congregated in the Persimmon tree so we could watch them dive out for bugs. Or when three Indigo Buntings came to the hanging feeder. Or, in an odd moment, when a Scarlet Tanager left its familiar tall tree tops to perch on a deck chair!

My friends, like nature, are one of my spiritual lifelines. Deep friendships are sacred. Mine give me encouragement, purpose and context. I love the growth I see in them...even though we all acknowledge (and sometimes laugh about) the few things that beset each of us year after year. But my friends extend the grace I need to deal with my humanity. Like the wildflowers and warblers that show up every April, my friends are faithful, reliable and bring me comfort...and a whole lot of joy!

See you next year, you wild women! --Cindy