Posting Some Quick Blues…

Well, folks, it’s that time of year.  Today is Greg’s birthday and it’s a big one!  We also have a graduation party to attend.  I talked to my sister Cindy this week and she reminded me that summer has only twelve weekends so it’s best to make the most of each one.  Well, we will be doing that today.

I want to get a little caught up on my “52 Weeks of Blue” project and post five more photos.  Meant to do it yesterday and to hook up with Willy-nilly Friday 5, but ran out of time.  So without further ado, here they are.

Week 16:  Here is a little bunch of Striped Squill.  I love these little flowers.  They are so cheery.  Even their name is cheery to me.

Week 17:  And here is the Striped Squill’s sister – the Siberian Squill.

Week 18:  I took this photo while floating through the car wash.  It is in memory of a friend, Steve Morse, who passed away in April from cancer.  Steve was the leader of our photo group at the Massasoit Art Guild.  Steve was a professional photographer.  His unbounded enthusiasm and willingness to share his photographic talents with us amateurs was so appreciated.  He is missed.

Week 19:  Periwinkle and ajuga from our yard.  Why is it that many spring flowers are blue, but few summer flowers are?  I wonder.

Week 20:  And here’s an ajuga up close.  I love seeing these come up in the yard, but the minute the grass is cut, there they go.  They are as fleeting as spring…

So there’s my next five weeks of blue.  In reality, I’m going to post week #23 on Flickr today.  I’m a little behind.  One of these days I will catch up with life, but I’m not holding my breath on that.  If I did, I might turn a bit blue.

It is spring – really, it is…

I got up this morning and felt the urge to put on a turtleneck and a sweater.  It just felt like the right thing to do.  At church today, a friend said that she thought about wearing a turtleneck, too, but jokingly said she was afraid people would make fun of her because it’s almost May.  Hey, I don’t care if I get laughed at.  It’s raw out.  They say on the local news that this is not really unusual for New England this time of year.  And I do believe that, but after the winter we had, it would be nice to feel the warm sun on the old face now and then.  Yet we haven’t cracked 70 here.  Even so, I’ve seen lots of signs of spring around.

Of course, I know it’s spring when I hear the spring peepers.  They have been chorusing for a while now.  And that means that the water on the ponds is ice-free and open.

And, of course, there’s the skunk cabbage showing up in its usual places.  That’s a sure sign.

I even found a little fern family coming up the other day.

And the squills.  We have Striped Squill…

…and Siberian Squill in our yard.  Aren’t they beautiful?!

Mr. Cheeky is wondering where that pile of snow went that gave him easy access to a free lunch.

A friend posted on Facebook today that he saw a black bear jump the guardrail on Route 49 and cross the highway.  That's not far from our house.  The bears are out of hibernation.  I think that this means that the birds’ days are numbered in the free lunch category, too.  Sorry, little friends.

Good PEI Fences...

“When weeds go to heaven, I suppose they will be flowers.”

  ~ L.M. Montgomery, The Story Girl

Finding the cottage we rented on Prince Edward Island was a bit of a challenge.  The cottage was located down a red dirt road.  On one side of the road was a field that was fenced in.  Inside the fence was a profusion of wildflowers, in particular Queen Anne’s Lace.   If you follow this blog, you know that I love Queen Anne’s Lace.  Okay, I know it’s a weed, but it’s a beautiful, graceful weed.  And seeing a field loaded with it is just breathtaking.  It may have been my favorite thing about the house we rented…even with the baby eagle and the gorgeous views.  I took a gazillion and one photos of the Queen and you will probably see a lot more of her on this blog, but for today, here are a few that feature the nice rustic fence that was holding her back.

Happy to be linking up with Theresa's

Run*A*Round Ranch Report's Good Fences.

Wilt, will you meet me among the Queen Anne’s Lace?

We have had a bumper crop of Queen Anne’s Lace this year.  It’s beautiful!  I’m glad it’s a wildflower that people leave alone to let it do its thing.   Around here it has been growing along the berms and in the medians just like it does every summer.  It makes me happy to see it.

I recently came across this poem by Joan Aiken called Midnight Is a Place that has such a wonderful , romantic feel to it  and does justice to the beauty of this ubiquitous wildflower.

Night's winged horses

No one can outpace

But midnight is no moment

Midnight is a place.

Meet me at Midnight,

Among the Queen Anne's Lace

Midnight is not a moment,

Midnight is a place—

When, when shall I meet you

When shall I see your face

For I am living in time at present

But you are living in space.

Time is only a corner

Age is only a fold

A year is merely a penny

Spent from a century's gold.

So meet me, meet me at midnight

(With sixty seconds' grace)

Midnight is not a moment;

Midnight is a place.

Meet me at Midnight,
Among the Queen Anne's Lace
Midnight is not a moment,
Midnight is a place—

But then, maybe the flower is beautiful because it has a beautiful name.  As Jarod Kintz says, “If our destiny stems from our name, then I weep for the flower named Wilt.”

Oh, the humidity…

After three days of rain, Olive and I were happy to wake up to sunshine this morning.  It would be a good day for picture taking for a change.  Off we went and here’s what we saw.

There is a great abundance of Jewelweed around.  Here’s what I can tell you about it.  It’s also called Spotted Touch-me-not.  Hummingbirds love it.  The juice from the stem is said to relieve poison ivy and athlete’s foot.  How about that?

It’s obvious that the bees love it.  Here’s a bee going about his morning business among the Jewelweed blossoms.

Here’s an interesting plant called Lady’s Thumb.  It’s not the flower that gives it its name.  There is a dark green splotch in the middle of the leaf that supposedly resembles a lady’s thumbprint.

This little beauty is a plant that for many years I thought was a common dandelion.  Seems I am wrong about that.  This is either a Rattlesnake Weed or a Two-flowered Cynthia.  I really want it to be a Two-flowered Cynthia because I think that is a very nice name, but I fear it is a Rattlesnake Weed.  I have to take a better look at its leaves the next time I spy one.

And of course, the woods are full of White Wood Asters now.  I read that the young leaves of this species can be cooked and eaten as greens.  Problem is, how do you know when they are young?

There are signs of fall in the woods these days, but I’m not complaining.

Within an hour of returning to the house, the sky clouded up again and the sun was gone.

  Olive and I got lucky.

LINKING WITH A RURAL JOURNAL'S

TUESDAY MUSE!

Thanks, Nancy, for the textures I used in a few of these pics and for hosting Tuesday Muse.

Weeds are flowers too...

I took a ride to another town near here where I often stop to take pictures of the pond -- Quaboag Pond.  Because I am doing my 365 Project on Flickr, I felt the need for a change of scenery today.  While I was wandering around there, I came across this pinkish, purple plant growing between the rocks of the jetty.  It just grows there on its own, so I guess it would be considered  a weed.  But isn't it jaunty and beautiful?  I took a few pictures  just to get to know it a little better.

Today I am linking up with A Rural Journal's Tuesday Muse.

And thank you, Nancy! I used your Coffee Break texture when I processed this photo.

It’s actually a different Queen Anne…

I just finished a book that I am going to recommend to anyone out there who likes historical novels.  The book is Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel and it is the story of Henry VIII from the viewpoint of Thomas Cromwell.  I liked this book very much and am looking forward to reading the next installment Bringing up the Bodies.  The first book Wolf Hall takes you through the machinations it took to get Henry married off to Anne Boleyn in 1533 but drops you before he drops her…and of course, before her head drops as well.

Well, it’s just a coincidence that I have always thought that Queen Anne’s Lace was named after Anne Boleyn.  I guess that’s because she was always the most famous Queen Anne that I had ever heard of.  But on doing some research, I found that Anne Boleyn is not mentioned at all in relation to Queen Anne’s Lace but some think “it was Anne (1574 - 1619), the first Stuart Queen Anne, who was brought over from Denmark at fourteen years of age to be a Queen to King James of Scotland.  Others argue it was Anne (1665 - 1714), the daughter of William and Mary, and the last monarch in the Stuart line.”  Both apparently were expert tatters and lace makers.

 

Well, regardless of which Anne is involved, it seems to me that we have more Queen Anne’s Lace around these parts this summer than I can ever remember.  It is a beautiful flower and it deserves to be treated like royalty now and then.

Heading out for a long weekend.  See you all next week.