Today we decided to enjoy a little time outdoors.
It was an election day in Connecticut, so after we voted, we rambled on, as I will with this blog entry.
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The Ramble
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I took this picture a couple of years ago at the White Memorial Conservation Center in Litchfield. I liked it as a lead-in for this post. This is the area where we spent the day.
We headed out just after lunch. It seems to be a time of day when the birds and wildlife are generally out of sight, so I concentrated on shapes and shadows for awhile.
Stone pillar at White Memorial
Shadows of a fern on a rock
An old New England stone wall.
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Reflecting...
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I love discovering old stone walls and foundations. Some of them come as a surprise, as they are hidden deep in the woods. My mind wanders to a place in time when our ancestors developed the communities where we now live. I try to imagine the landscape back then and what their lives must have been like. Some of the roads that they once traveled are now overgrown and the land has transformed back into forest. People who lived back then would, no doubt, be shocked by the changes in the landscape. Who knows what it will look like in a couple of hundred years from now? Very different, I would imagine.
A Favorite Tree - White Birch.
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Mothers Know Stuff...
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Thinking of the changing landscape and the rapidly changing world, just before my mother passed away in 2013, she said to me with a serious expression on her face, "Lin, I think this is going to be a very important time in the world." She sensed something in her final days and she wanted me to pay attention. My mother was often right about things, so I'm paying attention.
The Loosestrife is in bloom now
I need to look this flower up to identify it.
We came to a pond and saw some adorable little ducklings. There was no sign of an adult around. I'm guessing mama duck was tucked away in the nearby grasses and watching closely. They were precious - and so is life.
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Paying Attention...
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Back in March, I deactivated my Facebook account. I decided I was spending too much time there. Four months later, I checked back in for a couple of weeks. Upon returning, it was wonderful to be greeted by friends, but I found that I was just pushing myself to engage in all the looking, liking, and clicking. I just wasn't enjoying it anymore, so I decided to leave it entirely. I've been online for twenty years now, and for ten of those years, I was on Facebook. That is a long time. At 68 years old and looking ahead, I realize that time is slipping by and I need to pay better attention to what's around me.
We were driving along and stopped by a small stream. This brilliant Cardinal Flower, growing among the cattails and weeds across the water, stood out against the green. I don't think I've ever before seen this plant in Connecticut. The first time I saw one was while visiting Acadia National Park in Maine, probably more than a decade ago.
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Speaking of Maine...
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Years ago, my parents had a house in Maine. It was one of those old rambling houses that you can find mostly in the northernmost regions of New England. It was built in three sections, each part in a different century - the 1700s, 1800s, and 1900s. That house was fun to explore. I haven't been to Maine since my father died in 2014. I'm going to try to return this year.
I finally saw butterflies today! I was so pleased to see Monarchs fluttering around in the field. They are beautiful and I've missed seeing them this year.
We returned to the community garden. We saw a lot of American Goldfinches moving from Sunflower to Sunflower.
There was a woman there tending her space. It looked like she had collected a good bounty from Mother Earth.
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A Missed Encounter...
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We talked for a few minutes. She wanted to know what kind of pictures I was taking. When I replied that I was hoping to find some flowers, butterflies, birds, and bees, she told me that we had just missed seeing a bear by ten minutes! She said that the bear had been standing a mere twenty or so feet from where we were talking.
I looked around in the direction the bear had apparently gone, but it was nowhere to be seen. Only once in my life have I seen a wild black bear, so it would have been fun to see this one. I moved on and the woman returned to her gardening.
I snapped a few pictures of the flowers
Another flower I need to look up.
Today was like a butterfly celebration
Two brothers or sisters of a different mother and a different father. 😉
And that was my day. As we drove home, the thunderheads were building in the sky. The road was wet, so it had already rained in some places. The thunder let loose when we got home, but there was no rain at my house. It was a good day.
Until next time.
Ramble on.
Ramble on.
