FROGGY DAYS!

Gull yesterday, toad today!

"Where there are no swamps, there are no frogs."

~German Proverb~

"If we can discover the meaning in the trilling of a frog, perhaps we might understand why it is for us not merely noise but a song of poetry and emotion."

~Adrian Forsythe~

A group of frogs is called an "army".

You're going to grown at this one.

What kind of shoes does a frog wear?

Ready for it?

Open-toad sandals!

“Toad you!” 

Ribbit!

Thanks for looking friends. 

Have a great day! 

FEW PEOPLE KNOW…

“Few people know how to take a walk. The qualifications are endurance, plain clothes, old shoes, an eye for nature, good humor, vast curiosity, good speech, good silence, and nothing too much.”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson~

 Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 - April 27, 1882) who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist and poet who led the Transcendentalist/Transcendentalism movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of Individualism and critical thinking, as well as a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society and conformity. Friedrich Nietzsche thought he was "the most gifted of the Americans", and Walt Whitman called him his "master".

HUNTLEY MEADOWS CONTINUED - THE ALLEGHENY BLACKBERRY

 On our visit to Huntley Meadows I was happy to see these pretty flowers.

They were all along our walk through the wood. It is the Allegheny blackberry. Its other names are Common blackberry, Sow-teat blackberry, American blackberry and Mountain blackberry. Botanical name Rubus allegheniensis.

It is a deciduous shrub native to Eastern Canada and the USA, and is commonly found on clearings and woodland margins. The blooms are seen in late spring or early summer. Its fruit is edible and has a sweet, mildly spicy taste. Those fruits are most commonly eaten raw, but they can also be cooked or dried. 

In the garden, Allegheny blackberry is an ornamental shrub commonly cultivated for its edible berries. This shrub makes an excellent natural privacy screen when used as a border or hedge. It is commonly planted in butterfly gardens, pollinator gardens, meadows and more. The nectar and fruit of the plant attracts birds and a variety of pollinators, while providing valuable nutrients to local wildlife.

While this species of allegheny blackberry is commonly found in North America, it belongs to the larger genus of Rubus blackberries. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, it is considered unwise to eat blackberries after Old Michaelmas Day in the middle of fall. The legend goes that one should not eat blackberries because the devil has befouled them. It's thought that this myth originated because cool autumn weather can facilitate mold growth on blackberries.

The bark of this plant is dark red in color, and the leaves are green in summer and turn orange, purple or red during autumn. Its fruit is similar in appearance as a raspberry, but it turns black when it matures. Its specific epithet, allegheniensis, refers to the Allegheny Mountains, and that's why it is called Allegheny blackberry.

Indigenous peoples would eat the ripe berries fresh, ground with wild game meat to make pemmican cakes (recipe here), or dried and stored for later consumption. It was also used as a medicine for various ailments, whooping cough, colitis, toothache, anemia and sore throats to name just a few. An infusion of the roots was used as a wash for sore eyes. The blackberry canes were used for making baskets woven with the stems once the thorns were removed. You can read much more if you click on this link. It is all very interesting to find out about these plants.

I expect many of us have memories of picking wild blackberries along the hedgerows in our childhood.  For us it was part of our Sunday outings, and that evening my mother would make a blackberry pie. Blackberries even today are still an all-time favorite fruit of mine.

ARE YOU LOST?

Stand still. The trees and bushes beside you

Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,

And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,

Must ask permission to know it and be known.

The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,

I have made this place around you.

If you leave it, you may not come back again, saying Here.

No two trees are the same to Raven.

No two branches are the same to Wren.

If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,

You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows 

Where you are. You must let it find you.

~Lost by David Wagoner~

David Russell Wagoner was born on June 5th, 1926, in Massillon, Ohio. Raised in Whiting, Indiana, from the age of seven, Wagoner attended Pennsylvania State University where he was a member of Naval ROTC and graduated in three years. He received an MA in English from the Indiana University in 1949 and had a long association with the University of Washington where he taught, beginning in 1954, on the suggestion of friend and fellow poet Theodore Roethke.  Wagoner was editor of Poetry Northwest from 1966 to 2002. He was elected chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 1978 and served in that capacity until 1999. One of his novels, The Escape Artist, was turned into a film by executive producer Francis Ford Coppola. You can learn more about him here.

HUNTLEY MEADOWS PARK IN ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA - IT HAS BEEN A WHILE

 The last time we were at the park was in January at the beginning of this year. For our recent visit we picked the perfect day as the temperature was hot but there was no humidity. It was also easy to get a parking spot. There were several spaces available. 

Babies! Unfortunately, I couldn't get a closer shot as they were way too far out.  I have been reading some interesting facts about them. Goslings have been known to follow just about anything that moves, from dogs to humans, mistaking them for their mother. The impressionable young use this skill to mimic the adults, learning how to swim just 24 hours after hatching. At only one day old they can dive 30 to 40 feet under water.

Parent geese teach their young how to fly when the goslings are two to three months old. The goslings will stay with their parents for the first year of their life and even migrate with the adults that year.

As the goslings continue to grow and become more independent of their parents, they may group together with other young geese. These groups, called "gang broods," can consist of up to 100 goslings.

I have always enjoyed being around the Canada goose and, just like the squirrels in our back yard, find them very entertaining. It's important to give them a respectful distance, even more so at this time of the year.  

Canada geese aren't afraid to face a threat. If a parent goose feels a threat to their nest or goslings, they may attack. Stretching out their neck while hissing and honking loudly, serves as a warning to predators, along with biting and slapping with their wings.

We found these two later. They were rather sandy and I assumed that they had been ducking their heads under the water to feed. There were no goslings with them. Maybe later! An interesting thing I had not read before was that once a year, when the weather warms up, geese molt their feathers. During this 6-week period geese are unable to fly, leaving them vulnerable to predators including coyotes, foxes and raccoons. Water plays an important role in the safety of geese. They'll retreat into water if their warnings don't scare predators away.

More to follow later from our walk.

HAPPY SUNDAY EVERYONE - A CARDINAL WITH THE MUNCHIES

 Only one photo today, the cousin of the cardinal from yesterday's post, eating a tasty seedling perhaps. I will be sharing more from our trip to Huntley Meadows (Friday the 3rd). Our last visit was in January. I have a post here if you would like to take a look, or maybe you have seen it and wouldn't mind another look at Canada Geese photos and a poem. 

It was a glorious day on our latest visit and we had a wonderful walk, not too hot with a lovely breeze. It was a good job we chose Friday because yesterday, (Saturday the 4th) it was raining all day. We have more rainy days to follow. It is also on the chilly side and from 80 plus degrees Fahrenheit to 55 degrees Fahrenheit (yesterday), with similar temperatures all week. I am certainly not moaning. We will get the sweaters back out, for a short spell hopefully, and it will be a good time to do inside chores and restart the downsizing. No gallivanting off to the gardens!

Thanks for the visit and I hope your day is a great one.

A POEM - WINTER

 

Winter

When the geese are flying south

And the sky is grey, my dears,

Close your eyes, and lift your nose;

Listen with your careful ears.

Feel the winter coming on,

Hear it in the crackling trees;

Note the crisping, quivering wind

Sharply snapping at their leaves.

Feel it on the windowpanes –

Chilly glass on fingertips –

Mark the biting of the air,

Heated breath on numbing lips.

See it in the early eves,

In the glowing sunset where

Shadows of the naked trees

Rattle in the biting air.

Watch the nuthatch and the wren;

They know it is time once more

To abandon careful nests,

As they’ve done each year before.

Let it rest upon your face,

Let it reach and pull you in.

See how pretty nature is

When she ushers winter in.

~Barbara Vance~

HUNTLEY MEADOWS PARK IN ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA 12-5-23 WHAT I NOTICE IN THE WOOD

Before starting our walk we always stop at the signs to see what is going on at the park.

I am concentrating more on the trees and plants today as we walked through the wooded area, but the first thing I saw was a squirrel running up the side of a very tall tree trunk about 30 feet high. We don't see squirrels very often here, but we saw a lot of things today that we don't normally see.

He's eating something, perhaps a tasty acorn. I was surprised to find they were omnivores.  If I knew that originally, I have since forgotten. Aside from eating mostly nuts and acorns from oak, beech, walnut and hickory trees, as well as seeds, fruits, bulbs and flowers from other plants and trees, I read that they will also eat frogs, insects, bird eggs and farm crops such as corn and wheat.  And, of course, my daily feast of whatever I buy for the bird-feeding table!  They don't seem to be fussy eaters.

I am one of those people who enjoys looking at all the dead leaves as we walk by, to see what I can identify. The bright green leaf with all the veins drew me in. I identified it as English Ivy. European colonists introduced it as early as 1727 according to this website. Its origins are Europe, Western Asia and Northern Africa. There is a lot more information at the link. 

The smaller, lighter green leaf is Japanese Honeysuckle.  One little snippet I read at the previous link is that it was "introduced to Long Island, New York, in 1806, for ornamental, erosion control and wildlife uses."  I'm wondering if the plant app identified it correctly as I read further "It is a fast-growing vine that twines around stems of shrubs, herbaceous plants and other vertical supports.  In full sun it forms large tangles that smother and kill vegetation.  It can kill shrubs and saplings by girdling."  

It certainly looks like the kind we had in our garden years ago, but it didn't last and died off.  I was thinking I would plant more next growing season but the suggestion is to use native alternatives, "Coral honeysuckle, hairy honeysuckle, crossvine and trumpet creeper."  

I will be coming back to read this before I take a trip to the garden nursery. I remember the scent being incredible and I noticed it especially when the weather was warm.  Before it got too hot it was lovely to sit on the deck and just breathe it in.  I loved its scent, still do when I see it elsewhere.  

The Coral honeysuckle is what we had in our planter.  I don't remember any scent but then I didn't stick my nose too close to it and I couldn't detect any otherwise.  I think it was definitely Japanese honeysuckle growing in our garden, after looking at all the photos online.  If any of you are growing it, or have grown it, what do you think?  Would you plant it and can it be controlled with a lot of tender loving care?

"The red-leafed plant coming up is called the Burning Bush. It is native to northeastern Asia and was brought to North America around 1860 as an ornamental shrub.  It has been widely cultivated and planted through the eastern United States and Midwest.  Soon after its introduction, it escaped into the wild and has now naturalized in 25 states, including Pennsylvania and Delaware."  More at the link above.

Another pretty red leaf found was Arrowwood virburnum, botanical name Viburnum dentatum. It is native to the Eastern United States and Canada, to regions from New Brunswick to Minnesota and south to Georgia.  The name was inspired by Native Americans because of their use of the strong shoots which developed from the roots, for shafts of their arrows.

This is the time of year we see all the interesting fungus growing on dead logs. The one below is called Birch mazegill, botanical name Lenzites betulina

It is commonly found on decaying coniferous or deciduous woods. While its natural color is a yellowish brown, it may sometimes appear to be green due to its propensity to host algae.  It is said to be inedible because of its touch and leathery texture.  I found very similar photos of the following fungi that looked like the above photo, but my plant app kept identifying this as Turkey tail, botanical name Trametes versicolor.

Its meaning 'of several colors', versicolor in its Latin name reliably describes this fungus that displays different colors.  

Because its shape and multiple colors are similar to those of a wild turkey, it is commonly called Turkey Tail. 

Next we have a plant called Winterberry, botanical name Ilex verticillata. These bright red splashes of color were everywhere.  The berries were used for medicinal purposes by Native Americans, especially during fevers, so it is also called Fever bush.

Though I have several more photos from the park, I'll finish here for now with two photos of the Canada Goose.

They were all very quiet this time.  I hardly heard a honk!

Thanks for looking and I hope the weather is treating you well in your part of the world.