Author: girl

first daylilies of the year

girl, , Leave a comment

After weeks of anticipation, the first of the daylilies are blooming in our front bed. We have yet to see any flower stems in the row of the larger orange variety, but the smaller yellow ones are off to the races. I’ve heard that daylilies are edible, but I haven’t tried them yet. I’m pleased that the bed has filled in so nicely, compared to when we planted it last spring. It was, at first, a bit scraggly. The aster in particular should be really nice this fall, as it’s already quite tall and lush.

This year, pre-blooming:

Last year, freshly planted:

first daylilies of the year

Something Rotten, by Jasper Fforde

girl, Leave a comment

Something Rotten is only the second book I’ve read by Jasper Fforde. The other was The Big Over Easy, which I liked quite a bit (it was one that I picked up from the ‘3 for the price of 2’ table, where I can invariably find two books that I’ve been wanting to get for ages and can’t for the life of me find a third, so I end up rounding it out with one that I’ve never seen before in my life). It wasn’t, however, in the Thursday Next series, so I lacked a bit — well, all, really — of the context and background of Something Rotten.

That being said, it was a fun and easy read. It’s the kind of book that is best enjoyed, at least for me, by giving up on trying to figure it out and just going with the flow. I’m not sure that I could tell you much about it that would help clarify anything related to plot or structure or characters even now after having read it. But I can say that I enjoyed it and it made me laugh out loud once or twice, which is not as easy for a book to accomplish as you might think.

I’ll request the previous three books from the library, which will allow me to clarify which parts were jokes I just didn’t get and which confused aspects were a result of having read the book out of its sequential order.

Something Rotten, by Jasper Fforde

early morning birding at Lake Artemesia

girl, , , , Leave a comment


Lake Artemesia under early morning mist.

This morning I rode with an acquaintance up to Lake Artemesia for some birding. Once there, we walked our bikes, and just enjoyed being out on the path (nearly) alone. The lake was beautiful, and we spotted a female Wood Duck out in the middle just after we arrived. Our next sighting was of a couple of baby rabbits, and shortly thereafter, of a tree absolutely crawling with Cedar Waxwings. While I’d seen a Waxwing twice before, I hadn’t seen them in the large groups they travel in, nor had I been able to see them so clearly without binoculars.

A short way down the path, we found the place in the sun where the warblers were hanging out and spotted several in quick succession, including two new life birds for me. I found a Yellow Warbler in a treetop, and then, a bit farther along, a Blackpoll Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, young Oriole, and male Wilson’s Warbler all flitting around the same vine-laden tree lakeside. We hung out watching them until the Waxwings descended en masse, and then moved on.

Once my friend continued on to work, I biked slowly around the rest of the lake before heading home. I saw a couple of other familiar birds—Kingbirds and Tree Swallows—and found a Blackpoll Warbler again, after hearing its call in shrubs quite close to the path. I was just thrilled to have seen the warblers, and happy to head home for breakfast at that point.

My trip home was somewhat marred by having to have another ‘f* you, it’s an g-d crosswalk, *hole!’ ‘conversation’ with a driver while crossing Paint Branch Parkway. I don’t mind (that much) when drivers don’t stop to let pedestrians (or cyclists) cross when they’re waiting, but for the love of the baby Jesus, you are required to stop for me when I am already in the road because cars on the other side of the street have stopped to allow me to go. Also, just a thought: how about slowing down a bit and clearing me with no inconvenience? Or, maybe, just don’t speed? I see that you’d rather hit the accelerator and lay on the horn (scaring the bejeezus out of your passenger, I note), but maybe you’re not aware that it’s freaking illegal! One of these days, I am going to be not so blinded by rage that I will actually follow the car and take a photo of the license plate without fearing that it will lead to me instigating an, um, altercation.

Despite that unpleasantness, it was a great morning. I look forward to repeating it, and riding onward to the Patuxent Wildlife Center, on Friday.

early morning birding at Lake Artemesia

wild irises at University Hills pond

girl, , , , Leave a comment


Wild yellow irises along the pond bank.

On Sunday afternoon, I took my recently repaired and returned to me babycam up to the University Hills pond. This past week irises have popped into bloom all around the banks of the pond, which pleases me greatly. Irises are my favorite flower, and yellow is my favorite color, so I couldn’t have asked for a nicer development.

Besides the appearance of the flowers, things at the pond have been pretty status quo. The goslings haven’t hatched yet, and the two ducklings are nearly doubling in size each time I spot them. I’ve seen a couple of interesting birds—a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird visiting the irises and a Red-shouldered Hawk circling above the trees—but no new life ones. I’ve continued to see plenty of turtles on each visit, ranging from the large Eastern Redbelly Turtles sunning themselves out in the water to the small Musk and Mud Turtles, one of which I surprised at the edge of the reeds. And, every now and then I catch sight of a Bullfrog, but I have yet to spot any other frog species. I suspect the bullfrogs have totally colonized the place, and being cannibalistic bullies, they don’t coexist peacefully with many others.

No sign yet of the Snapping Turtle I saw there last summer, but I keep looking!

wild irises at University Hills pond

first peony of the year

girl, , Leave a comment

peony

This morning delivered the first peony bloom of the summer. The bloom is on the plant that came with the house, and there are a dozen or so more buds to look forward to. While the transplanted peonies seem to have survived, they are unlikely to bloom this year. My grandmother claims that peonies are hard to kill, which is heartening. I’m willing to wait a couple of years for them to start blooming; I’m hopeful that they’ll fill out into a nice drift against the fence.

In other garden news, weeding continues apace. Every single week I am newly amazed by how long it takes to clear each small patch of ground. This weekend a friend came over and helped us clear some stumps and liriope out from under the large holly tree. Once I get the remaining roots up, I’ll boost the soil and then transplant the lilies of the valley from around the yard into that area. That whole process should only take, oh, about 15 or so person hours of labor. After which we’ll start on the beds along the other fence. Each week, we are reminded of how hard the town public works staff labors, as they take away huge piles of roots and weeds and vines and branches each time we put in an hour of work on our yard. I really need to take them over some tasty baked goods one of these days.

Since it’s been raining, I put some indoor time toward creating an index of the plants currently in the yard, as part of my effort to track the progress on our house. Unfortunately my camera was out for repair when the spring flowers were blooming, so photos of those will have to wait until next year.

first peony of the year