Walk at Mt Pleasant – Part 2
/Continuing from yesterday’s post…..
I took the wide path across the meadow toward the rock wall. I wanted to photograph the tree within a tree – a maple that has roots halfway up the trunk. I came to the shady side first. What a difference the sun makes! I think the early morning sun on the other side made for the best picture I’ve ever taken of the tree.
I also took pictures up and down the stone wall from that point…uphill (the way I was heading) and downhill (where I had come from….the path I’d used to cross the meadow being the break in the vegetation on the upper right side of the second picture.
The rock wall is always an opportunity to talk about local geology…and lichens and mosses…and what might live in a rock wall. Of all the places at Mt. Pleasant, the rock wall was where I missed the field trips with children the most.
I got back to the gravel drive and walked toward the Honors Garden. I stopped to photograph the flowerpot people in summer garb and remembered hand made ‘hook’ on the black smith shop.
The witch hazel that was blooming back in December (yellow petals like streamers) now has green immature seed pods. I’d never though to look closely at the small tree in front of the main building this time of year…so it was the first time to photograph the seed pods at this stage.
I got to the Honors Garden. The small pond near the entrance almost always has frogs. This time of year, they are green frogs. They were visible in and near the water. I walked around and then started hearing them – a rubber band chorus of 2 or 3 frogs. I went back for more photos.
There were lots of flowers, of course. I was somewhat disappointed that there were not a lot of butterflies. Maybe it was not quite warm enough for them to be active. The Joe Pye Weed was not quite blooming yet. The light was still great for photography. I liked a backlit fern; the stems contrast dramatically with the fronds.
And then I spent time trying to photograph an orb weaver spider web! It was a good finale to my morning walk.
Unique Activities for Yesterday:
Air quality alert. I’m glad I enjoyed some extra time outdoors yesterday because today there is an air quality alert and I will stay indoors. It turns out that the alert is not about ground level Ozone….it’s particulates (PM2.5) based on the Maryland Department of the Environment site. Our alerts come from Maryland now rather than the EPA because of Maryland’s higher standard of air quality – the desire to warn groups that are susceptible to air quality health issues. It seems like during the pandemic, everyone would need this type of information.
