Sunset~Bluff Point State Park

Its been very hot the past few days here in Connecticut.

Jeff and I wait until early evening to walk.

Its always a bit cooler at Bluff Point than inland..

We finished our walk with a nice sunset..

Just a few low clouds..

The sun sets..

lighting up the low clouds..

The mountain cloud..

Jeff and I are in CT just a few more days…

We head to Massachusetts where we will await the birth of our

first Grandchild :)

We are very excited…

We plan to be nearby our daughter and her hubby, so that we can be of help when the baby comes.

This is new for all of us..

We cant wait to meet her!

Weeds no more..

While parked at Mom and Dads we get into a few gardening projects.

I have been trimming shrubs. I planted the front bed with annuals and mulched it.

Our next project was to tackle the garden behind the house..

it was full of grass…

… impossible to weed..

The grass was growing in between the Primrose and Iris..

So…

Jeff dug out all the Iris and Primrose.

 

I then took the grass out from around the plants..

and put them into piles..

After separating the grass from all of the plants..I spread pine bark mulch over the entire area and then replanted everything except one small section that needed no weeding.

I hope the plants recover from the transplanting.

All done!

The garden looks better without the black fencing, but my parents Doberman would be walking through the garden without it.

Things should fill in and hopefully the mulch will prevent the grass from taking over.

Arlington Great Meadows

We went to Arlington, Ma this weekend to visit our daughter and her hubby, while there they took us to this little jewel in the middle of an urban area.

Arlington Great Meadows

Arlington's Great Meadows is a 183-acre parcel of land located in east Lexington.   It is the largest piece of undeveloped land in the Arlington/Lexington area.  It is part of the Mystic River watershed.  Once a glacial lake, it is now a wet meadow surrounded by uplands created by glacial outwash.  Great Meadows was purchased by Arlington in 1871 to serve as a supplementary water storage area, but was only briefly used for that purpose.   However, it remains a valuable buffer against flooding in the area.

Here is a link to a nice walking tour of the meadows..I just read there is a Woodcock Peenting area!

Its so nice that these areas stay undeveloped.

………………………………………………………………..

We had a Jeep led tour of the park…

Jeep meets Pink Lady's Slipper

I did not expect to see Pink Lady's Slipper.

 

There were many clumps of them..

I have not seen them in clumps like this in many years..

We also saw lots of..

Wild Sarsaparilla

Wild sarsaparilla is a 1-2 foot tall shrub common to the forest understories of southern New England. It produces tiny white flowers in spherical clusters beneath the compound leaves, which ripen into blue-black berries in mid-summer. The rhizome of wild sarsaparilla has a sweet, aromatic taste, and sometimes has substituted for sassafras in the making of home-made root beer.

 

Have any of you tried making root beer with the roots of this plant?

Grasshopper..

Anyone good on grasshopper ID?

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

We had a lovely walk in this green oasis..

Our daughter, who is pregnant, and due in just a few weeks had to take breaks now and then.

A very small turtle..

ID?False Solomon’s seal

This Poor tattered Mourning Cloak butterfly landed in the path.

I shot of few photos to ID it..

It had no blue left..I assume from the markings it still had that it is a Mourning Cloak.

A Great place to grab a bit of nature in the city!

Thanks for the Jeep tour Jeff C.!

Gray Catbird at the Dining window..

Gray Catbird at the Dining window..

Not this window…

This is our bedroom window..

We are parked close to a large Rhododendron bush.

Because of our proximity and our reflective windows we tend to get birds tapping at our window and acting territorial.

This particular catbird has been hanging out ever since we arrived in my parents driveway.

It was probably here first.

It sits on the shrub right outside of my dining window and stares at its reflection..

It sometimes taps at its reflection.

I am not sure if its being territorial or if its trying to attract a mate.

It has been pecking at the Rhodo buds..

Notice below..no more flowers!

I like to think it was pecking one off to bring to its reflection..

Probably not.

Do any of you have ideas as to why it is pecking at the flowers?

I don’t even know if this is a male.

I do hope it doesn’t peck all of the flowers off the Rhodo bush..

My mother wouldn’t appreciate that..

As it is Homey covers the whole

Rhododendron bush and she cant see it unless she comes to visit.

Guess she needs to come over for tea soon to visit her flowers.

 

Watch the video below to see the Catbird pecking at the flowers…

What do you think its doing?

 

Oh.

Look who I found!

Poor Waldo was lost…I found him in the crack of the seat of our car.

He is happy to be back in Homey!

Blackpoll woods and Dewdrops…

It was supposed to be another good migration day in our area according to Tom Auer’s blog.

Jeff and I set out early for Bluff Point to see what migrants may have come thru.

We stopped at the first pull off as we did the week before when we experienced an amazing morning of warbler filled trees.
This time we did not see warblers decorating the trees…

Instead, the woods was full of Blackpoll Warbler song.

"seet-seet-seet-seet-seet-seet-seet-seet."

It was fun to catch these long distance warblers in migration!

It was a foggy morning..and spider webs were highlighted with dew..

There were many cap like web structures..

With these spiders inside..

Does anyone know what type of spider this is?

I love what foggy mornings bring..

Dew..

and drops..

We followed the path to the inlet..

So foggy I could barely see the opposite shore..

Jeff was chilly and ran back the quarter mile to the car to grab his sweatshirt..

In the meantime I walked a small path that the fisherman take ..

Water on either side..

And fog..

A great combination..

for

Dew Drops..

Dewdrop

by nexusnovel

Honey’d with clear, golden and lavender,

Spring’s blossom bringing forth new beginning,

Dawn awakens and glistens

In luminous flux; Oh artist of birth

Your Universal light of incandescent glow

Dances within my body, mind

Heart and Soul; Oh auspicious dewdrop,

Like a pendant of crystal chandelier,

Shaped like a tiny pear…

I see you at play upon flowers of spring,

I behold you everywhere, even in morning’s

Drop of dew

Oh artist Divine, absolute in purity and Perfection

Behold me in your infinitely vast

Creation

Hear my heart’s deepest desire,

And answer me with your

Song of Love

I turned and followed the path back to the parking lot..

Stopping for more Dew filled delights..

      Dewdrops
  John Clare [More Titles by Clare]

The dewdrops on every blade of grass are so much like silver drops that I am obliged to stoop down as I walk to see if they are pearls, and those sprinkled on the ivy-woven beds of primroses underneath the hazels, whitethorns and maples are so like gold beads that I stooped down to feel if they were hard, but they melted from my finger.

And where the dew lies on the primrose, the violet and whitethorn leaves they are emerald and beryl, yet nothing more than the dews of the morning on the budding leaves; nay, the road grasses are covered with gold and silver beads, and the further we go the brighter they seem to shine, like solid gold and silver.

It is nothing more than the sun's light and shade upon them in the dewy morning; every thorn-point and every bramble-spear has its trembling ornament: till the wind gets a little brisker, and then all is shaken off, and all the shining jewelry passes away into a common spring morning full of budding leaves, primroses, violets, vernal speedwell, bluebell and orchis, and commonplace objects.

A beautiful Gem filled morning.