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NanoWriMo Round 2
Somewhere on the northern part of the Appalachian Trail, 2010. Last year I won at writing and accomplished my goal of finishing a NanoWriMo event (National Novel Writing Month) for the first time. I’d written about half of that about a decade ago but had never finished the full 50K words. This year I’m at it again but am finishing the book I started last year. I had intended to spend time editing and finish the book earlier this year but my interest waned. Instead I have spent the last few days reacquainting myself with the book and characters. I thought I had remembered enough about it but apparently not…
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How can you grow native plants if there aren’t native plants to buy?
A discussion that Chris and I get into on occasion is, how can gardeners grow native plants when there aren’t native plants to buy? Ok, sure, there are native plants to buy but the diversity of native plants is terrible, as you will see further into the discussion below. To take this idea even further, some gardeners and ecologists think gardeners should be growing by ecoregion or habitat type, not by USDA hardiness zone, which is the prominent method of identifying plants that will grow within a certain gardening region. Some recent discussions on social media prompted me to really ruminate on this issue and write about it, so let’s…
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Disappearing Act
Hello! You look down and suddenly it is over two weeks since your last post and time just keeps on ticking by. Life has been busy but I can’t really blame it all on that. Part of it is that I got a new computer for my birthday back in July and in August it started giving me blue screens of death with various warning codes to decipher and after both Chris and I tried to negotiate it ourselves, it is now on its way back to HP. I still have my old laptop but it is limping along with various issues of its own so I don’t like toting…
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Scratch and Sniff Butterfly Ginger
Ever since the gardenia died after the Snowpocalypse in 2021 (there are a couple of tiny shoots coming up, but it is basically gone) I haven’t been able to enjoy that heady aroma in the garden. The next best thing is the butterfly ginger which blooms in the autumn, though it doesn’t waft its scent from backyard to frontyard like the gardenia. It’s not a bad consolation and will lift your spirits while cleaning up the potting bench or starting new seeds, but you do have to force your face into the flower to drink in the full scent of the flowers! I keep hoping some of our other gingers…
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Thankful to not be in Florida…
Last night I saw a rumor that the Sanibel lighthouse had been taken out by Ian but this morning that appears to have been false, thank goodness. But I did see that the bridge to Sanibel/Captiva sustained damage and is completely unusable. I’m trying to wade through social media and the news for reports and we’re hoping a friend/acquaintance in Cape Coral made it out ok. I have a lot of thoughts and memories about Sanibel and Fort Myers to write up but will save that for a few days to process. Living in the Houston area we’re subject to our own storms and floods but moving out of Florida…
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Birdwing Passionflower, Passiflora tenuiloba | Wildflower Wednesday
Last summer during our stay near Dripping Springs I spent some time wandering the area just outside of our AirBnB to see what I could glean for iNaturalist. I noticed a gulf fritillary wandering along a vine and it made me pause for a moment. Gulf fritillary should mean a passiflora somewhere but nothing was standing out to me directly as a passionvine. Of course a closer look meant that I found small fruits and flower beds and once I focused in on the interesting leaf shapes I knew it was for sure a passiflora species. My first thought was Passiflora affinis, which I had seen in areas nearby in…
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The Best of Intentions
Well, 30 days of writing just isn’t going to happen. As per usual, I start off well for these types of things and then fail rather quickly. It isn’t for a lack of interest. I go into weekends with the plan to do more creative projects than I actually get done and over the years all of those plans fall apart faster than they used to. I can’t even get all of the chores I want to get done completed in a weekend anymore. What I have been doing is spending a lot of time in my head brainstorming ideas and thinking of the projects I’ve started that I need…
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Magnolia-cone Mushroom, Strobilurus conigenoides | Wildlife Wednesday
While fungi aren’t quite wildlife or plants and I probably should have called this Fungi Friday instead, we’re going to shuffle our mushroom friends to a Wildlife Wednesday today. And while we’re enjoying Second Summer, I’m dreaming about a day that will come soon enough, one that requires a light fleece in the morning, warming to the high 60s or low 70s mid-day, but under foot, while traipsing about the woods, are tiny mushrooms growing on decaying magnolia cones. I first saw magnolia-cone mushrooms, Strobilurus conigenoides, a few years ago when out in Sam Houston National Forest, not realizing that they were a specialized fungus that grew only on magnolia…
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Second Summer | 30 Days of Writing
Second Summer has arrived. We still get that tease in the early mornings that perhaps we can pretend it is fall. That has been quickly dissipating, though, as the day warms up. In August I decided to get a head start on some fall veggie crops and sowed kale and cabbage seeds, which all germinated. In my head I envisioned planting them all out mid-September and by October there would be great growth with the cooler weather. I went ahead and transplanted the kale and cilantro seedlings on Sunday evening and am hoping that adequate mulch and frequent waterings will get them through the upcoming high 90s, possible 100*, temperatures.…
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Battleship Texas | 30 Days of Writing
A few weeks ago Battleship Texas was towed from its home near the San Jacinto monument to a dry dock in Galveston to have major repairs and work done to it. Tonight we walked over to get a glimpse of it from near Fisherman’s Wharf near The Strand. Whenever it is finally back in public view we will have to make plans to see it up close. Short and sweet tonight.
