All posts by laurahinnj

Whatever

That time of year

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My friend Debbie sent this along to me last weekend – her way of suggesting, perhaps, that I treat myself to a pedicure. My feet never look quite this awful, but I have very dry skin and go barefoot often.

The Open-Toed Shoe Pledge

As a member of the Cute Girl Sisterhood, I pledge to follow the Rules when wearing sandals and other open-toe shoes:

I promise to always wear sandals that fit. My toes will not hang over and touch the ground, nor will my heels spill over the backs. And the sides and tops of my feet will not pudge out between the straps.

I will go polish-free or vow to keep the polish fresh, intact and chip-free.
I will not cheat and just touch up my big toe.

I will sand down any mounds of skin before they turn hard and yellow.

I will shave the hairs off my big toe.

I won’t wear pantyhose even if my misinformed girlfriend, coworker, mother, sister tells me the toe seam really will stay under my toes if I tuck it there.

If a strap breaks, I won’t duct-tape, pin, glue or tuck it back into place hoping it will stay put. I will get my shoe fixed or toss it.

I will not live in corn denial; rather I will lean on my good friend Dr. Scholl’s if my feet need him.

I will resist the urge to buy jelly shoes at Payless for the low, low price of $4.99 even if my feet are small enough to fit into the kids’ sizes. This is out of concern for my safety, and the safety of others. No one can walk properly when standing in a pool of sweat and I would hate to take someone down with me as I fall and break my ankle.

I will take my toe ring off toward the end of the day if my toes swell and begin to look like Vienna sausages.

I will be brutally honest with my girlfriend/sister/coworker when she asks me if her feet are too ugly to wear sandals. Someone has to tell her that her toes are as long as my fingers and no sandal makes creepy feet look good.

I will promise if I wear flip flops that I will ensure that they actually flip and flop, making the correct noise while walking and I will swear NOT to slide or drag my feet while wearing them.

I will promise to go to my local nail salon at least once per season and have a real pedicure (they are about $35 and worth EVERY penny).

I will promise to throw away any white/off-white sandals that show signs of wear… nothing is tackier than dirty white sandals.

I do not consider myself a member of the *cute girl sisterhood* nor do I have any desire for such, but a pedicure is a nice treat once in a while. I treated myself this afternoon and have pretty pink nails and less offensive heels. For a year or two I had my nails done every two weeks, but it started to seem silly to spend the hour and the money only to go home and submerge those pretty fingernails in pond muck. Nowadays, mostly I just try to make sure not to go out of the house with too much garden dirt beneath them. I wonder about the rest of you – are you *high maintenance* or something in between?

Garden, Pond

Blooming this week

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I had wanted to brag a little last night about my peonies; aren’t they nice? I prefer single peonies, rather than the doubles that flop all over the place, even though the singles don’t last in a vase. All of those white flowers you see are on one plant! Right next to it is another peony that never gets any buds. The foliage is beautiful, but no buds. I’ve read that’s because either there’s too much shade or it’s planted too deeply. Neither explanation makes any sense to me because the one next to it is doing so beautifully. Any ideas?
I bought this pond plant a few weeks ago and love it! Problem is I don’t know what it is, but I do think it may be the same flower that Susan was wondering about yesterday.
This is a flower on the Sourgum Tree we planted this spring. Not much to look at, but the birds and I are hoping for fruit this year. The tree is leafing out nicely, and the new foliage is tinged with purple.
The viburnums are blooming, too. This one gets the most sun so it blooms first and the most heavily. These are Linden viburnums; the Winterthur is struggling to put out leaves and I doubt there will be any blooms. There has got to be some problem with the spot it’s planted in because this is like the 3rd or 4th Winterthur I’ve planted there and every one of them dies. Maybe I’m just not meant to have that particular viburnum as much as I like it. The Cranberrybush Viburnum we planted this spring bloomed very early because it was greenhouse raised, but it was pretty while it lasted.

So what’s blooming where you are?

Birds, In the neighborhood

Purple martins

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I’ve only this random photo to share today – a few of the purple martins at the small colony maintained in a local park by a volunteer. I drive by the park on my way to and from work, but never had the time to stop and see if there were any martins occupying the apartments. I was glad to find them instead of starlings. It surprises me because I’ve always had the idea that martins will only nest close to water – sure there’s a reservoir within a few miles – but it’s hardly close. I love that all of the apartments and gourds are numbered so that each couple knows its’ own address.

😉

I’m off to sulk about the end of my vacation now.

Birds, Wanderings

Follow me

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The other day I went for a walk in the woods to see birds. Other than being temporarily distracted by a singing scarlet tanager, I didn’t actually see very many birds at all. There were a few cuckoos who kept taunting me, the ever present and wonderful ovenbirds, and a gazillion blue gray gnatcatchers whose song became little more than background static once I gave up trying to spot them.
Instead I followed the chipmunk’s chatter and he led me to find some special things…
He scampered about under the cinnamon ferns…
and helped me see the Pink Lady’s Slippers that I’ve been searching for everywhere…
When I got over finding those, I noticed that the Mountain Laurel was just about ready to burst into bloom.
Then I met up with a few of these garrish beetles patrolling the sandy paths. None would let me get close enough for a nice pic, despite my dusty knees.
Finally I took a break and sat on a bench beside a swampy pond with the chipmunks still chattering at my back. My binoculars were focused on the yellow bladderworts blooming on the far shore when I noticed these tiny flowers at my feet. I think they may be Canada Mayflowers?

On my way out of the woods, the scarlet tanager was still singing and I watched a few bluebirds hawking insects from the grass. I’ve not had any luck with photographing birds this spring, and little luck with finding wildflowers when I go out looking for them, but I seem to do better with one when I’m paying attention to the other. Does that make any sense? Maybe this day I can credit my better luck with following the chipmunk’s antics.

All photos from Allaire State Park, another local warbler hotspot.

Garden, Pond

Send in the clowns

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We bought one of those gazebo thingies to put out by the pond and I need some convincing that it doesn’t look like a circus tent. It doesn’t, does it?

We have a nice-sized yard and the pond is a beautiful area, but it’s in the blazing sun and surrounded by rock and stone and is really the last place on earth that you want to spend any amount of time on a hot summer’s day. So my thinking is that this way we can have some shade and a few comfortable chairs and even some protection against the famous Jersey mosquitoes if we want to sit out there in the evening. Based on a test run late this afternoon I can also tell you that it’ll be a fabulous spot for a nap, with the sound of the water lulling you off into dreamland.

I think this is our sixth summer with the pond and we’re still not finished. Each year we tweak a little something to get it to where we want it to be. This gazebo is another step in that direction, I think. You might have noticed that we removed most of the fence from around the pond – except for the bit that faces the street. I’m nervous about that, but both my husband and I hated it and it really detracted from our enjoyment of the pond, plus it stuck out like a sore thumb. This way we have an unobstructed view from inside the house and from the screen patio. Anyone who is inclined to wander too close to the pond will have to walk through the middle of our yard in order to do it – hopefully no one will. We live on a quiet street, but have a lot of visitors parking beside our house because of a luncheonette on the opposite corner. The pond is something of a magnet, but I hope people’s better sense will prevail and they’ll stay on the street side of the fence.

The weather here has been much more like the 4th of July than Memorial Day. We went ahead and put up the awnings, which help to keep the house cool, but make it dark like a cave. I miss the sun streaming through the windows, but it’s been uncomfortably hot these past few days. I have just a few days left of vacation and intend to be very lazy and put the new circus tent to good use!

Birds

Swift rescue

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I know the photo is awful, but that sooty black blob in the middle of the towel is a chimney swift that was caught in our furnace today. I was down in the basement late this afternoon changing pooty boxes when I heard this odd scratching sound coming from the furnace pipe. Sure enough when my husband took the pipe leading from the chimney off, down under the cover of the furnace lay this very quiet swift. He scooped it out and we went outside and set it free.

We usually have a half-dozen or so chimney swifts chattering away over the neighborhood and just yesterday I was wondering alound to my husband about where they nest and roost for the night. Not many people have chimneys they can use anymore. Chimney swifts aren’t able to perch like other birds because of the way their feet are arranged – they cling to vertical surfaces and build their half-saucer shaped nests from twigs and other materials glued together with their own spit. Neat! The DH will get a cap for our chimney so another doesn’t find its way in, but I do wonder what it was doing in there in the first place. I may have to have a look and see if I can spot the beginnings of a nest in our chimney.

Wanderings

Some bog plants

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I spent yesterday hiking in the Pine Barrens looking for neat plants. I didn’t find many that I was hoping for, but thought I’d share those that I did find. I ended up at Webb’s Mill Bog and was glad to see that it was safe from the recent wildfire. Quite a few rare plants can be seen here, but the trick seems to be knowing when to go looking for them, which I’m still learning.
The Pitcher plants were blooming; these are carnivorous plants and insects are drawn to the cluster of leaves (the pitcher) that are below the flower. These pitchers hold water and when an insect falls in, they can’t crawl or fly out and are then consumed by the plant.
I was happy to find the first of three closely related bog orchids in bloom – this is Arethusa, which is also called Dragon’s Mouth. The lip of the flower serves as the landing pad for insects, usually bumblebees, who come to pollinate them. These grow only in bogs, peaty meadows, and damp places where sphagnum moss grows. There were maybe a dozen in bloom from my vantage point, and most were growing in close association with small cedars.
My favorite find of the day were the sundews – this is a Thread-leaved Sundew – nothing much to it, but these are cool little plants that have hairs tipped with sticky glands to attract and trap insects. This is another carnivorous plant that relies on insects for extra nutrients that can’t otherwise be obtained because of the nutrient-poor environment in which it grows. If you enlarge the pic, you’ll see that there are two flies trapped already in the sticky hairs. They’re tiny things, maybe just three inches tall, but they glisten in the sunlight. They’ll bloom late in June.