Everything seems to be taking twice as long to accomplish these days. Mostly because I’ve forgotten just how much work a puppy is and how much general chaos they can bring about in a normal day.
I haven’t properly responded to your comments here in months, it seems, and I feel badly about that. I barely find time to surf by your blogs before it’s time for another walkie or play session.
The pressure is on at work with just a few weeks left in my training period. I’ve three tests ahead of me in the next two weeks and then a final week of waiting to hear if they’ve decided to keep me on in this new job. The world won’t end if I have to go back to the old one – I’ve come to that conclusion here lately. There’s something to be said for the comfort of the familiar, be it the *old* job or the old dog content to sleep at your feet.
So, in an effort to get caught up with all of you and maintain my sanity (and friendships) I’ll be taking something of a summer vacation from blogging everyday. Please don’t think me disinterested for not having been in touch lately. When I’ve found a minute to appreciate the wonder of something, I’ll be sure to share it. Please be here with me when I do.
Common as it is, Queen Anne’s Lace is a beautiful wildflower, I think. I found a nice patch backlit by the sun a few weeks ago and lost myself for a while in the varying forms the flowers take. As pretty as the tops of the flowers are, I think they’re much more interesting from below.
It’s said to attract more than 60 insects, beneficial pollinators among them, and makes a wonderful pressed flower. It’s easily confused with other poisonous members of the carrot family, like water-hemlock or poison hemlock, so be very careful before ever sampling the root.
I was ready to say that this is probably my favorite of the late summer wildflowers, but then I thought of Joe Pye and New York Ironweed. Both are just coming into bloom in my garden now and attracting swallowtails and monarchs. It’s August suddenly and the summer is waning.
Remember the new purple waterlily I mentioned in this post, well, here’s one open. Nice, huh? I like the color combination, but wish it would bloom a bit more. I feel like I ought to fertilize the pond plants, but with so many fish at the moment, it’s probably not necessary!
We had an odd frog incident: I found a smallish bullfrog dead on the slate floor of the gazebo next to the pond. At first I thought maybe it had hopped out and baked itself somehow on the oven-hot slate, but then I noticed one of its’ legs was a few feet away and half-chewed up. This afternoon brought a possible explanation: my husband startled a cat from the pond area this morning. That explains how yesterday’s dead frog moved itself a foot or more by this afternoon! I also found a black swallowtail dead on the floor of the gazebo – wings only! I expect cats to hunt birds and baby rabbits, but bullfrogs and butterflies?
I wish my neighbors were more responsible with their cats. I could never get away with the same behavior with a dog – why should it be any different for cat owners? At any rate, my husband set a trap out – I would hate to see a neighbor’s beloved pet end up at the pound, but we won’t have a well-fed housecat using our garden as a hunting ground.
If you need a break from puppy antics, be sure to stop by Via Negativa for this month’s Festival of the Trees. There’s nothing more refreshing on a hot August afternoon than the respite found under the canopy of a great tree, like the shade of these weeping hemlocks in the rockery at Deep Cut Gardens.
Dave’s got lovely katydid pics to accompany his post and I can hear their scritching outside the open window now; a sort of late summer lullaby. If only that cricket hidden away somewhere in the house wouldn’t insist on piping up now and again.
Yes, it’s soon, but really I’m surprised we lasted the few days we did. I found my husband surfing the SPCA websites this morning and that was that. We hadn’t spoke of it yet, but I guess we were both thinking the same thing: the house is lonely, it’s too quiet when we come in with no one to greet us, the bag of dog food is going to waste in the closet, etc. (insert other lame excuses).
So now there’s this puppy. Crying and mouthing and being utterly adorable. I’m not looking forward to the next few nights; his first away from his parents and littermates. But the house didn’t feel right without a dog. We’re taking the easy way out of our mourning for Buddy, I know. There is no distraction from sadness like a puppy. We do what we have to to heal a broken heart.
I apologize for being away for a few days, but I didn’t have anything to say that wasn’t pathetic. I appreciate your concern and the love you sent our way. Thank you.
Lance-leaved sabatia; at least I’m calling it that! In comments on Saturday’s post, Patrick reminded me of a helpful website for Pine Barrens plant ID. That, combined with all six of my wildflower guides, helped me decide what this flower is. I think so, anyway.
I’ve said it before, but learning wildflowers really makes me feel for people who are just starting out with birds. You can have all the best reference material at your fingertips, but it’s all a waste if you don’t put it to use. I’m easily confused and overwhelmed with all the possibilities, so the few books I have that say what’s blooming when are the most helpful because they narrow down the choices of what’s possible. Yet, no book can compare, in my opinion, with having an experienced person by your side in the field.
There’s only time tonight to share this pic of a new waterlily; it had already closed for the day when I got in from work, so I’m not so sure what it really looks like. So far it seems similar to the purple and yellow one I had last summer, but the flowers are much smaller. What’s really fantastic about this lily is the leaves – they’re large and splotched with purple. I’ll have to work on a better pic to share that includes the lilypads and maybe a sunbathing frog.
Just me rambling about birds, books, bunnies, or whatever!
Everything seems to be taking twice as long to accomplish these days. Mostly because I’ve forgotten just how much work a puppy is and how much general chaos they can bring about in a normal day.
