Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Weekly Photo Challenge: Edge

I wandered around Lincoln Park this morning looking for shots I could take for this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge: Edge. I took so many interesting photos and wasn’t certain which I would use for the Edge challenge.

Then, just before I left the park, a tree stump caught my eye. I knew I had found my subject! That stump contained so many different types of edges.

And here is a view of the stump as a whole.

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The Fascinating Fruit Fly

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My kitchen is filled with fruit at the moment- fruit that I am dehydrating, fruit that I am eating and fruit that I will either can or use to make jam. Today, fruit flies showed up in my kitchen in force. When I was frustrated with these tiny insects last year, I decided to learn more about them. I shared the information I learned on this blog. Since I assume that I’m not the only person who is dealing with fruit flies right now, I am going to reprint that post below. Continue reading “The Fascinating Fruit Fly” →

End of the Season and More

It is near the end of the season for most of the plants in my garden, but it isn’t over yet!

It was an interesting year for the blueberry bushes. Four years ago, I planted three blueberry bushes, of different varieties. One died the first year and half of another one died last year. Neither had ever produced any blueberries. The third bush had a few blueberries the second two years. This year it there were many more, but they were very tiny. A few weeks ago it started producing fruit again, and they were full size. I wonder what will happen next year? Maybe I will be able to enjoy eating lots of blueberries!

A few days ago, I noticed some flowers coming out of the play chips in my back yard. I had never seen flowers like them before. Do any of you know what they are?

The other day it occurred to me that it is almost the end of the summer and I have never mentioned my worms. Normally, I would have written several posts about them by now.

I have a small worm bin close to my kitchen and a large one in the back yard. These creatures are very special to me. In fact, I consider them to be my pets!

In addition to providing me enjoyment, they also make vermi-compost, a high quality fertilizer, that I use in my garden. This year I had so many worms in my bins, even after I gave a lot of them away, that I had trouble keeping them fed. My problem was solved when I discovered that the nearby grocery store was more than happy to give me lettuce and other produce that they normally discard.

As the garden season ends, another season begins. This coming Sunday, the Seahawks have their first regular season game. After a life-long dislike of football, I became an avid Seahawks fan in the autumn of 2012. Since then Al, Ramana and I have often come together to watch the games and enjoy a meal. Last year, I told my friends if I am not somewhere that they think I should be, they should assume that I’m watching a Seahawks game. Same thing goes for this year!

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Wordless Wednesday

May A Solution Be Found

I read this morning that three million bees in one South Carolina bee farm died this week due to the Zika spraying. When I read the article, I remembered the post I wrote two years ago, We Need the Bees. In it, I included the link to an article where Whole Foods showed what their produce department would look like in a world without bees.

Such a tragic situation the Zika crisis is- for humans, bees and many other creatures. May a solution be found soon.

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(Click on the galleries to enlarge the photos.)

(Click on the gallery to enlarge the photos.)

More About The Guardian

Yesterday, I wrote a post about My “Frame” Adventure. During that adventure, I discovered a tree that I named Guardian. When I first walked close to the tree, I noticed that part of its bark was very feathery.

I took a small piece of the feathery substance and looked at it with a microscope when I returned home.

I also used the microscope to examine one of the tree’s dried leaves I had picked up from the ground.

When I went back to the park today for my Tai Chi class, I visited the Guardian first. I noticed that the base of the tree has a circumference of about 20 feet. I touched the tree and had a sense of “home.” Such power and majesty it radiates.

I love having the Tai Chi class in the park. I hope the weather permits us to keep meeting there throughout September. Two days ago, some of the students made a Yin Yang symbol out of leaves before the class. Today they made this one! No wonder I feel at home with this particular group of people. A sense of home twice in one day, and both of them prior to 8:30 a.m. I knew this was going to be a good day.

My “Frame” Adventure

When I walked into Seattle’s Lincoln Park for my Tai Chi class yesterday, a dark green tree caught my eye. (It looked MUCH bigger in reality than it does in the photograph.) I wondered if the tree might be a possible subject for this week’s The Daily Post challenge- Weekly Photo Challenge: Frame. After the class, I returned to that area to take a photo and see what was on the other side of the foliage.

What I discovered when I walked into the foliage was that the dark green wasn’t from a single tree, it was from many. And there was indeed a frame. The frame made a complete circle, a circle that included the dark green foliage as well as the leaves from many trees that had lighter leaves.

Walking inside the frame was like walking through a magical land.

Soon, I noticed that there was a frame within the frame. It was comprised of a group of trees surrounding a pile of raked-up needles, branches and leaves which in turn were framed by the green foliage on the perimeter.

I continued to walk the magical land. Moments later, I found another frame in a frame. This time it was a tree that was being framed by other trees.

And then I saw another tall tree that was framed by smaller trees.

After leaving that segment, I saw a sight that took my breath away. I felt like I was viewing the Mother/Father/Guardian of the whole area. It stood like a giant, towering above all of the other trees.