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Sprite Lake | Enchantment Lakes & Wenatchee National Forest
After we found ourselves at Perfection and Inspiration Lakes we wound our way around the north end of Perfection back down towards the much smaller Sprite Lake. We took a few minutes here for a snack and photo break. There were several wildflowers along the path that I won’t even try to identify, though I did briefly look online. If you are familiar with alpine flora in Washington state please help me out! I do think these are some kind of phlox though. These little flowers are reminiscent of blueberries so I wouldn’t be surprised if they were in that family. Sprite Lake was a pleasant resting point before we…
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Loggerhead Shrike & Roseate Spoonbills
I’m not usually a big bird photographer but there’s a lot of bird activity these days and they can be fun to photograph. I don’t have the right lens for any decent shots of the little-brown-jobbers but I thought it would be fun to shoot some birds when we were in Galveston last week for a conference. We had a field trip during one of the days to Galveston Island State Park, a state park that Chris and I are both familiar with since we went to college in Galveston. We were driving along the main road on the back side of the park when we saw the loggerhead shrike…
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Shhh! We’re sleeping!
I know, I know, I just did a post about cats but here are some more cat photos I took this weekend! Ruby and Isis chilling after eating their afternoon meal. Apparently Isis thinks the baobab pot is a fine place to slumber and Ruby can sleep standing up!
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A Bunch of Lazy Bums
Fred is the resident cat who does not wander very far from the house. Every now and then I find him far down the driveway but usually he’s cuddled up in a spot on the south side of the man cave. Or on my truck. Isis has been enjoying some freedom by jumping fences lately. Ruby inches above Mr. Stripey in the competition for noisiest cat. She’s easy to figure out when you can’t see her but only hear her. The sunshine is a great place to take a bath. Or scratch your head. Momma comes and joins the party. And parties a little more hearty by hanging out on…
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The Trail South of Waynesboro | AT Video of the Week
This week we’re going to jump ahead to north-central Virginia and just go for a nice walk in the woods. We’d just left Paul C. Wolfe shelter after holing up there for the afternoon and evening the day before while it rained. We’d come nearly 16 miles from the Maupin Field shelter that morning and had made good time, arriving mid-afternoon to the Wolfe shelter. Had it not been raining I think we’d have gone straight into Waynesboro that evening instead. However, the next morning dawned clear and bright, and we booked it for Rockfish Gap where we called for a shuttle into Waynesboro. Our destination—and what I know I…
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Backyard Nature
Sunday was a gorgeous day and I spent some time wandering our yard looking at the flora and fauna in it. The turtles started gathering at their usual spot for a morning sunbath. I noticed a Rubus trailing down by the pond. The rattlebox (Sesbania) mesmerized me for a few minutes… so much so I took two different photos. The sky was the color I always wish I could just roll in, a stunning blue that puts a smile on my face. I tried to get closer to the turtle but it saw me move and dashed under the water never to return. Some resurrection fern was rehydrated, others were…
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Eggplants | Fruit & Vegetable Portraits
If there is one thing about eggplant, it is that you can easily have too many! We grew all of these varieties last year, actually another one that keeled over before harvest, but I concluded one or two plants will suffice next year. I saved seeds from I think most of them, either that or we had some leftover, but nonetheless eggplants in moderation. White Star Hybrid These were pretty neat in that you could really tell that they were ripe/overripe as they turned yellow or dark orange, in addition to becoming rock hard. Not an edible stage! Rosita This size eggplant worked great for eggplant parm sandwiches. Listada di…
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Inspiration & Perfection Lakes | Enchantment Lakes
I know, I know, I haven’t finished writing about our trip to Washington State. My excuses are a: laziness, b: a crappy computer that has on several occasions shut down when I’ve had photos open in Photoshop thus leading to loss of interest in processing photos, and c: other interesting things that have been going on. But, I’m hoping to remedy this soon and finish the photos and writing about the trip. When I last left off, I was talking about goats. The goats were still prevalent for the rest of the trip and were definitely a source of entertainment! On our second morning of being in the Enchantments we…
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Muskrat Creek Shelter | AT Video Of The Week
This is the first shelter into North Carolina (going north) on the Appalachian Trail. We’d left Hiawasee that morning with sunny skies, however by evening it had started clouding over. I remember thinking it was pretty hard to leave town as it was our first town stop along the way. The next morning it started snowing and we walked up a snow covered Standing Indian Mountain. It was a long day but eventually we made it to Carter Gap Shelter for the night. I need a few nights in a tent soon.
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Reading & Listening
These days I’m… Reading: Flower Confidential. I’ve known about this book for several years but finally picked it up at a used book store several weeks ago. I’m really loving it so far and it has me rethinking buying cut flowers, but not only that it delves into this crazy world of hybridization and growing plants. I’m about halfway through and will likely do a full review at Sprout Dispatch when I am done. Barnheart: The Incurable Longing for a Farm of One’s Own. This I picked up on a whim one day when I went to the library to pay a fine. At first glance I thought I would…