A Little Less Colorful

After the last fairly colorful post, I thought I would share some of the subtler discoveries from our recent wanderings. 

First up is a flower that has no chlorophyll, so it's sort of a pale and ghostly bloom on the forest floor.

I always called it Indian Pipe as I was growing up, but it is also known as the ghost flower or corpse flower. It is a parasitic plant that depends on fungus feeding on trees to survive, since it lacks the chlorophyll that would allow it to generate its own energy. Sort of a parasite's parasite, I guess. They're really quite delicate and pretty, even though 'corpse flower' doesn't sound very appealing.

I believe this is a young chipping sparrow. The babies can be a little hard to tell apart at this stage, but I'm cheating, since I watched a pair of chipping sparrows nest in this area earlier in the season.

It seemed to be as interested in us as we were in it. But, we had to go home and get things done, so we moved on.

Baloo lodged his formal protest about having to go back indoors. It was a beautiful day to be outside!

The Morning Loop

Taking one of our typical morning loops the other day, Baloo and I enjoyed the visual (and for him in particular, the olfactory) stimulation along the way. 

We almost always pass one of the vineyards in the neighborhood as we walk. The grapes are ripening and looked so luscious in the morning sun, almost appearing to glow from within. 

They have begun putting netting over the vines now, so the birds don't eat all the grapes before they're ready to harvest for wine.

Then, as Baloo was investigating a chipmunk burrow, I noticed this interesting plant. It looks like a holly bush, but it has blue berries!

Since I belong to the ranks of the terminally curious, I did some research and discovered that it is an Oregon grape or grape-holly, depending on the source. It was fascinating to learn that while it is not a native to this area, it is a well known and respected medicinal plant in the Pacific northwest, using both the berries and woody stems and roots for different purposes.

And then, the sun illuminated these beautiful lilies!

It was an absolute riot of vibrant color! The picture doesn't come close to doing the effect justice, but it's the best image I was able to capture. 

I'm so happy Baloo takes me out to experience the world every day! It's a joy to watch the seasons change. I'm not sure I'm quite ready for winter yet, though.... 

Cosmic Finches

The cosmos in my back garden are flourishing in a big way this year.  I keep finding volunteers sprouting in my yard, so I pull them up and transplant them into the garden bed. So far, every one of the transplants has taken.

When I looked out the back window, I saw this lovely lady enjoying the seeds on the flowers that had finished blooming.

Her mate joined her in foraging and I thought that the combination of pinks and yellows was delightful.

She might not be as dramatic as he is with respect to color, but she had a greenish tint that made her almost disappear in the foliage. Subtle is beautiful, too!

The pair would land on the stalks and their weight would bend the plants so that they had to keep fluttering around to get to the seeds they wanted to munch.

I obviously had fun watching them for quite a while.

And as a special treat, I was finally able to catch them together. 

Fire in the Sky

I have Baloo to thank for taking me on many amazing walks. He has an uncanny sense of timing, particularly when it comes to sunset strolls. 

One moment, he'll be happily snoozing on the couch (yes, he's allowed on the furniture...) and the next he is insisting that it's time to hit the trail.

This sudden desire for perambulation happens almost every day at sunset.

One recent evening, we walked along the road by the shore and watched the sun sink closer to the horizon.

The sky just kept getting more dramatic.

And we ended up with this. No, there is absolutely no color enhancement at all involved in this picture. I took it vertically rather than horizontally like the rest, because the fiery orange rose high into the sky with the blue-gray clouds adding their own intensity to the light show and I wanted to capture both.

So, thanks, Baloo, for making me go enjoy another beautiful sunset!

Wild Plums and Pommes

As Baloo and I walk along the various trails we frequent, we like to watch how the changing seasons affect the world around us.  Baloo takes particular note of things he might be able to eat. One of our regularly traveled paths leads us along an area that used to be cultivated as orchard land. There are cherry trees, peach trees, apple trees and plum trees that have all gone wild over the years. 

On one trail, there is a big tangle of plum trees that has become so overgrown and dense that deer and other critters hide in it (Baloo always stops to see who has been there).  In the spring, the whole thicket is covered with beautiful, white blossoms - the deer have a very special bower to sleep under.

As the season progresses, the plums begin to mature as they turn from green to peachy yellow and, finally, to - well - plum.

I have to keep a close eye on Baloo, since he loves to eat any fruit that falls into his path. This wouldn't be a problem, except the pits can cause obstructions in puppy intestines. So, he doesn't get to eat them, no matter how good they smell.

I do, however stop at one of the crab apple trees and let him crunch a couple apples. These not only have a beautiful red skin, but the flesh is rich red on the inside as well. They are tart, but tasty!

Summer Snowflakes

While walking with Baloo along one of our favorite trails, I started really noticing the Queen Anne's Lace blooming all around us. These wild carrots are often classified as 'noxious weeds', but since they weren't taking over a farm field I was able to appreciate a different dimension of these abundant wildflowers (invaders, though they are).

As I observed their blossoms, it struck me that, not unlike snowflakes, each of the flowers had a slightly different pattern to it.

Some very open and lacy, while others were more dense or even had sort of spiral effects going on in the petal arrangements.

Some were flat and others were dome shaped.

All of them stood out brightly against the green of the the field looking a bit like snowflakes balanced atop long stems. The effect was quite pleasing.

The Thieves of Tarts

On the way to one of Baloo's favorite walks is a very young tart cherry orchard. The saplings were planted just last year, so they're still very small and not in full production mode.

Since people weren't in the orchard harvesting the crop, a murder of crows moved in for the kill.

This is just part of one row, but the birds were just as numerous all over the field.

While the harvest may have been too meager for humans to collect, it was a feast for the flock and a treat to watch them fly back and forth as they jockeyed for position.