There were also stands of white turtle's head. We have pink turtle's head at the site. I don't know which one is rarer. 

The bog was filled with blue lobelia, some over five feet tall. 

Woods and Swamps and Bogs

Yesterday I went swamp stomping. It was drizzly, cold and gray as I drove to work, trying to decide whether I should tackle a huge project (rennovating a large bed) or several small tasks (collecting seeds, deadheading). When I arrived, Ed (long time friend, now my boss) asked if I wanted to go with him to scout out a nearby swamp for a high school field trip on Friday. I grabbed my waders and camera and had such a great time. I love swamps! What these pictures cannot capture is the buzz of insects, "the place that smells of sweetness and rot," the hummocks hidden by the tall vegetation that make walking difficult and falling easy, the humidity that soaks my clothes and leaves me wiping stinging sweat from my eyes and pushing back damp curly locks, and the black "sucky" ground that reminds me that there is quicksand in the area. To enjoy a swamp, you need to adopt an advertureous mindset, actively searching for the beauty.

We walked through hardwoods and then pine woods, working our way down the ravines, first to a true swamp (defined as having running water) and then into a quaking bog (which Ed demonstrated by jumping up and down which rocked me five feet away). The bog was covered with tall wildflowers. We were in search of fringed gentian, grass of parnassus and pitcher plants but it is too early for their blooms and we didn't find the right conditions. That means we must go back soon.

Traveling long, traveling lone

Tomorrow morning I'm leaving for a week's visit with my aunt in the high desert of Oregon. Who goes to the desert in August? But the day temps are about the same as northern Indiana and the nights are about 20 degrees cooler. Aunt Katherine has planned many side trips, including one to the coast. At 90, she is still active and alert and she's so educated and interesting. My cousin has a mule trip planned and a fresh salmon to cook. I'm not taking my laptop and I won't have (or search out) access to a computer. Life will be wonderful...

except I miss my husband and sons already.

Ron on the riverboat with his music. It's hard to see proof of how close he is to being a man,  

The F150 nest created by a sloppy and somewhat dim robin. (Spring photo but I haven't posted much this summer.)

My new compost bin at Gene Stratton-Porter site, all it needs is a little grading around the outside and it is ready for use. Three bins with the largest used for the raw stuff, the one next to it to build layers and the final bin for the final cooking. Steve built most of it with some help from the community service workers.  

Tacky Garden Stuff

Remember those tacky garden signs showing an old woman bending over with her undies showing? Perhaps you even still have one. (haha) Anyway, Ron was taking black and white photos in the garden at the site when I walked into his scene and he snapped this.

Shhhhhh

Ricky decided to try out for soccer this year, despite playing only one season in the 7th grade in a community league. He has been enthusiastically giving it his all (as is the norm for him), but I have been hinting that the competition is tough as the other boys have been playing for years on travel teams and I also know this high school is very competitive in all sports. Ricky has not been on any athletic teams in high school and is entering his junior year. When he was younger, we supported his desire to pursue interests even if the skills weren't there yet. As he enters the late teenage years, this is more of a dilemma, but we decided to support his interest in trying out because at least he would have fun this summer.

Tonight was the Code of Conduct meeting with players and parents. After the meeting, the head coach wanted to talk to me in private. Bracing myself for what he was going to say, I learned that he will be putting Ricky on the varsity team and he wanted to warn me that Ricky would not get much play time. He said Ricky works hard, has improved and is enthusiastic. He talked to some of the key players before making this decision and the stars want Ricky to be on the team. I'm still processing this. And I'm still processing the idea of becoming a soccer mom at this late date.

(The teams are not going to be announced until Thursday, so that's the reason for the shhhh.)

Modified Farmer's Tan

I am working outdoors for the first time in my life and I am not real disciplined about sunscreen since I don't burn. This has resulted in some unusual patterns on my body. Starting at the top, I wear a hat, so my forehead is white and lower face is tanned. I wear pastel polo shirts with the site's logo on it to identify myself as a site employee and I usually wear gardening gloves. The result is a extremely white upper arms, berry brown lower arms and slightly tanned hands. I usually wear shorts, so my thighs are white, my knees are dark brown and my calves are tanned. And my feet are the most unusual. Crocs are my indispensable garden shoes, so I have a distinct tan line on the top of my feet and little round tan marks where the holes are.

How can I be back if I didn't go anywhere?

I can't believe it has been a month since I last posted. I should be regaling you with all of the exciting things I've been doing that prevented me from posting the entries that I write in my head every day, but I've just been doing the busy things that a mother, a gardener and a naturalist do during June. (I can use the naturalist moniker because I am close to becoming a Master Naturalist, just 19 more volunteer hours.)

So on Independence Day, I will show you one thing that has occupied our family, mostly my husband and sons. It has been the Summer of Aesthetics for the Loony Toons, our sidewheeler pontoon boat, even though my husband has been dreaming and researching how to convert it to a steam-driven boat. Do you know how much a boiler and steam engine cost? Think 5 figures and you will know why it hasn't been the Summer of Mechanicals.

We will be taking the boat downriver for the fireworks in Leo tonight. This is the first year in decades that we are on Daylight Savings Time (the effects which are worthy of another post), so it will be a late night. Today I will be getting provisions ready for the trip: food, drinks, blankets for the cool ride home. This has become an annual pilgrimage.

I am also posting the "before" picture so you can be amazed at the transformative powers of paint and new handrails.

Garden update

I have time for only a quick post before I leave for work. This is the first full day of summer vacation for the twins. They have been trying to find a summer job without luck, so I'm taking one boy with me to work in the gardens today and the other boy will come tomorrow.

At home, most of my spare time has been spent in the garden, although you wouldn't be able to tell by the weeds, at least they are still wee weeds. We've claimed more of the grass this spring. In the front yard, we incorporated the purple maple tree into the beds with mulch. The result is that I need to redesign the garden somewhate to make it look unified and this may be the year of paths. In the backyard beside the deck, Steve built me a 3' by 10' raised bed for a kitchen garden last week and the boys partially buried six clay drain pipes ( 15" wide) for herbs. On Friday, he and the boys filled the planters with soil and spread mulch. On Saturday I filled it with plants. On Sunday I checked to see if there was any produce (nada).

It started to rain heavy while the boys were burying the tiles. Since I'm so unreasonable, I made them continue working. (No lightening.) Everything was a muddy mess, but they seemed to enjoy it. I would go out and stand under the eaves to supervise, I mean encourage them. When do the frontal lobes kick in? Since I was joking with them, Ricky thought it would be funny if he hurled a mudball at me. Luckily, he missed, but I turned around to see mud dripping down the freshly cleaned patio door and the side of the house. Of course, this was the moment their father came home. You can complete this story.

I found this unusual wee flower in front of the yellow flags. I still need to key it out.

The delicate purple flower that combines so beautifully with the yellow flags is the deadly nightshade.

The yellow flags are in bloom beside the lake at work.

View from the paddleboat on upper St. Joe

Botanical Latin

I struggle sometimes pronouncing the the Latin names of my plants, until I found this site.

I really do know better

...than to rely on common names.

This is a picture of Hyacinthoides non-scripta. These beautiful blue and pink (bottom of pic) flowers in the arbor bed at the site have many common names: English Bluebells, wild hyacinths, wood hyacinth, nodding squill, and wood bells.

I identified the wildflower posted earlier as wild hyacinth but it is clearly a different plant from this wild hyacinth. In fact, the earlier picture isn't even a hyacinth, though its common name would indicate it. And I rambled on about how it differed from the cultivated hyacinth. The forced hyacinth bulb you can purchase at the grocery store in January was hybridized from a different species within the hyacinthoides genus.

Here is a closer view of the wild hyacinth. Note the dominant stamens, which are hardly visible on the cultivated variety. The stem is slenderer and there are fewer flowers on the wild species.

UPDATE: Camassia scilloides

I discovered this delightful blue spikey flower next to the the trail yesterday. It is wild hyacinth. As much as I love hyacinths, this delicate version is much prettier.

My lost Crocs, visiting Lake Michigan July 2005. RIP 

Mother's Day

The menfolk in my family were so sweet last Sunday. Steve grilled salmon, made a new mashed sweet potato recipe and prepared asparagus freshly cut from the garden. Ron set the table (properly!) with the china, crystal, silver, tablecloth and cloth napkins, and candles, with the comment, "Mom, why don't we eat like this everday?" They permitted me time to futz with a bouquet (lilacs, wild phlox, iris). And Ricky made me a card with this sentiment: A Mom that makes everyday a wonderful day of surprises and happiness! And they gave me a new pair of Crocs! Somewhere, somehow, I lost my Crocs from last year and I was sure missing them.

Herself, the fairest flower of all. 

Her last birthday. She's as intense about the candles as her great grandchildren. 

I absolutely adore the loving picture of Mom and the boys. Ricky is the middle sized grandson. And check her expression in the pie picture.

The top picture is from when she kayaked. The bottom picture is during Dad's final illness when Mom nursed him so tenderly. 

Here's another picture with my young sons.

Mom's extended family, my husband's paddlewheel boat and my favorite picture of me and Mom (with Ricky making a face) my last spring with her.

I have Mom's picnic basket which I cherish for all the memories surrounding it. The middle picture is the hike from Gunners Pool to Blanchard Springs mentioned below. Mom's ready to go while I'm holding myself up with my staff.

Weddings: her granddaughter's and her son's. That's a much younger me as a bridesmaid in the middle picture and I'm kind of buried as a bridesmaid in the bottom picture.