Road Trip from Tucson – Part 2

After a good night’s rest in Carrollton, Texas we headed out for two long days of driving to get to Laurel, Maryland. Our first stop was still in Texas: a Love’s in Mt. Vernon, Texas. We both got morning caffeine: coffee for my daughter and a soft drink for me.

The next stop was a McDonald’s in Hope, Arkansas. I remembered to send a text to my husband that we were on the road. We bought French Fries and Chicken Nuggets which I ate while driving. I eat the French fries first from the container on my lap. Then my daughter hands me my portion of the McNuggets.

The next stop was a McDonalds in Cotton Plant, Arkansas. We felt a little guilty because we didn’t buy anything; just used the facilities and continued our drive.

I was in the passenger seat when we were crossing the Mississippi River to Memphis so was able to take some pictures.

We stopped at a very understaffed Exxon travel station in Arlington Tennessee. I bought another soft drink to keep me going.

The only real rest stop of the day was in Benton County Tennessee.

We got to our stop for the night, an EconoLodge in Lebanon, Tennessee, and managed to park in the shade while we ate dinner (so the tarantula and spider stayed cool enough) and were back to the hotel about sunset.

We had a large breakfast so didn’t stop until lunch time (it came a little earlier because of the time zone change). It was a McDonalds but I got a salad this time. I drove while my daughter ate.

We made a stop at a Sheetz for gasoline…and another soft drink for me.

I started eating my lunch and then took some pictures of the greenery in eastern Tennessee throught the windshield.

The next stop was the only rest stop of the day – in Virginia. There was a dogwood near the building’s entrance with fading blooms.

We were close enough to home that we went for 3 hours without another stop. The car was power washed by some rain showers along the way. The road was drying by the time we got home. We staggered out of the car. The tarantula was out of it burrow and seemed glad the vibrations were finally stopping.

It was good to be home again!

Mt. Pleasant Farm in May 2017

The Howard County Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant Farm was a busy place in May: many field trips from elementary and middle schools and the flurry of construction on the education center expansion…trying to finish by the end of the month. There were the usual spring sights around the farm house: black walnuts leafing out and blooming,

Dogwoods in flower (this pink one is and near the rain garden).

And peonies.

The perimeter around the construction is mostly off limits – but the new sign in up.

Last week I took a walk out to the community garden to meet the buses for a 2^nd grade field trip and enjoyed the time before the other volunteers walked out doing some photography. There was plenty to see: dandelions gone to seed,

Water droplets in the grass,

Seeds of grasses and

Sturdy wild flowers in the areas no mowed recently.

The winds have broken some of the ties that held the fencing mesh around the community garden; I noticed it as I photographed goldfinches

And tree swallows. The tree swallows were in a nesting box near where the buses were going to unload. It sounded like there were already nestlings!

Zooming – April 2017

What a difference between March and April! The collection of zoomed images this month is dominated by flowers: Tulips with sunshine through their petals and patterned centers,

Wild flowers on the forest floor,

And trees with flowers like Dogwoods,

Tulip poplars, and

Carnation tree (a type of cherry) petals carpeting the sidewalk after a rain (when it dried out, a little boy on a walk with his mom had great fun scooping up the petals and throwing them in the air like confetti!).

Of course, there were a few other scenes where the zoom on my camera was appreciated: Canadian geese on an island in Centennial Lake (Do you see the one asleep on the nest keeping the eggs warm?),

The occasional early insect,

And the quivering of the water in the overflowing bird bath during a light rain (taken from my open front door so that I wasn’t out in the rain).

Dogwoods and Jack-in-the-Pulpits at Brighton Dam Azalea Garden

Azaleas are not the only plants I look for at Brighton Dam Azalea Garden. The dogwoods and jack-in-the-pulpits are blooms at the same time. The dogwoods are understory trees. The older ones that are the understory to the big oaks and tulip poplars are native dogwoods – white with notches on the outer edged of the ‘petals’.

Newer hybrid dogwoods are planted in the same area as the new hybrid azaleas in an area to the left of the garden entrance. There are white ones – without a notch…and pink ones. They are easier to photograph because the trees are smaller and more flowers are at eye level.

Jack-in-the-Pulpits are harder to notice because the flowers are almost the same color as the leaves. See if you can see the flowers before scrolling down to see more enlarged views. One of the enlarged views has a lot of aphids (yellow).

National Arboretum – Dogwood Blossom Sequence

When we visited the National Arboretum last weekend, it was a little too early for the dogwoods to be in full bloom – but I did find a tree that had buds in various stages of opening. After seeing the bud popping at Mt. Pleasant last week (thumbnail at the left), I was looking for tree to capture a sequence of the flowers developing.

I found it near the parking lot for the Dogwood Collections at the Arboretum. The first think I noticed about the buds just a little further along than the Mt. Pleasant tree, were the pink tinge at the tips. The flower will retain that different coloration as it develops.

Some of the flowers are in groupings of two or three…and all the buds in the group are not at the same stage of development. The center of the flower seems huge compared to the petal-like bracts just after the bracts have opened enough.

The petals expand. They will eventually turn white…but evidently stay green during the early part of the growth. Noted that the pinkish area on the middle edge of each bract is still pink!

More about what I saw (and photographed) at the National Arboretum in tomorrow’s blog post…

Mt. Pleasant Farm – March 2017

Last week, the group of volunteer naturalists for the elementary school field trips met at Mt. Pleasant Farm for a walk around the hiking routes for all the programs. I have been doing the hikes for several years so was paying attention for changes but that left time for some photography. There were scilla bulbs blooming on the lawn in front of the farmhouse (non-native and maybe invasive too); they are small but the touch of blue draws the eye.

I was more pleased with catching a dogwood bud just opening. I sought out a dogwood tree when I walked around the National Arboretum this weekend…more about that in tomorrow’s blog post.

The expansion of the Gudelsky Center is on schedule although it won’t be available for the spring field trips.

Further long the hike, we were along the stone wall and I was looking at the rocks – typical of this part of Maryland – and the lichen. Sometimes the patches of symbiotic algae and fungus (maybe with some yeast too) look like squashed flowers to me.

The stream restoration is nearing completion. There are small plants coming up through the mesh along the banks. The upside down trees (roots up!) will be habitat for little creatures. The riffles had water trickling through them. The rain from the previous day had left puddles along the banks…just like it is supposed to (will they last long enough to produce tadpoles?).

Further along the lightning scared standing tree has obvious wood boring insect and woodpecker holes in the scar.

After walking the route for the hikes, I went off in the other direction to check a place where I’d seen skunk cabbage precious years…but not when we did the hike back in February. It’s up now although the hoods over the flowers are past prime…and the leaves are unfurling.