The Traveler

I'm referring to the loose dock. Hope it stays where it is and won't wander around the corner and bang into mine! Not all homeowners are permanent and I don't know if it has been identified and the owner notified. It is a hazard. Perhaps one of the other residents will be able to tow it away soon. The good thing is that the water level is low and not flowing over the spillway and I don't think this traveler will blow over and down into the sparsely filled creek below. My rideabout today was not at all interesting but I plan to take another trip tomorrow. The sun felt good.

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don't fall over the railing

Nice Friday

I finally got up enough energy to see what is new in the neighborhood. My volunteer sunflower has bloomed. The one in the back had its top blooms bitten off but is recovering with more lower blossoms opening. This one is in front and seems to be a different variety - only one blossom. I have never had sunflowers in my gardens all these years. Maybe it is there to support Ukraine.

The Mullein still has not opened but the top is stretching up higher.

A lady from our neighboring lake took a short video of a buck swimming in their lake! We wonder if is the same guy. No closeups to compare though!

I rode around over there and saw a large track excavator in action scooping some of the black mucky stuff from an old dried up pond this morning. I wonder if it will be used for gardeners. It must contain a lot of nutrients, I'm guessing. I liked watching the large machine in action scooping and dropping the black gold into a heap.

Two of these things do not belong!

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Drastic Change of Images

First of all, since I'm still healing and not out and about as much as last year, I'm testing myself with new ways to change images on the computer. Yes, I know — I sit too much. I did take a short ride but everything is dust-covered  and dull and dried out (like me) and that buggy ride was a fail.

After going into the catacombs of this computer I found two old images with which to work. I killed them but did learn a few new techniques with trial and error. The end result isn't awful but it isn't my favorite either.

If you look it in larger size the iridescence comes through.

Yesterday I made a slide show with the laptop application. I do not like this application. The one on the big iMac is easier to use and understand - or maybe it is me?  BUT that computer is no longer able to connect to the internet as its general system is so old. Its sound system is the best ever for playing my music files though. Well, I was finally able to upload the 'iffy' slide show to my personal YouTube channel. The images I used are some of the ones my neighbor at the lake took and they struck me as inspiring and lovely views. Yes, she did give me permission to use her images. It's not my best work but not my worst. I think if you click on the link you will be able to view it. 

Slide show

Dusty Rider

The wildflowers in this area are dying from lack of rain. I rode for almost two hours and didn't take but a very few pictures of just one.  People were watering their flowerbeds, but the hills and dales are bone dry and brown. I was disappointed, BUT...when I uploaded my shots became happier. You see, there were just these yellow fellows, but my pictures were satisfactory. Of course I had to research as I didn't know what they were. I only knew what they weren't! Would you have stopped for these? Probably not.

They looked better as I got closer...

Below is an internet picture of the back. I 'fixed' the background so it would show up better.

It is known as a Field Sowthistle. Its history is interesting - to me, at least. The below information is from one of hundreds of pages I found concerning the perennial.

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Crepis vesicaria

Native to:

Albania, Algeria, Austria, Baleares, Belgium, Canary Is., Corse, East Aegean Is., France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kriti, Madeira, Morocco, Netherlands, Portugal, Sardegna, Sicilia, Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkey-in-Europe, Yugoslavia

Introduced into:

British Columbia, California, Connecticut, Great Britain, Hawaii, Ireland, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Poland, South Australia, Victoria

Well, I learned something today.

They're Here........!!!!!

As you might remember, I save seeds every year, my local daughter sows and starts the plants. She keeps some, sends some to her sister in NJ and then we have the wonderful Oxheart tomatoes. We have been doing this for many years - so far so g00d!! Today she brought me three of these beauties! 

"The Buck Stops Here"

Yep! Harry Truman said that. Little did he know how true it became last evening when I was alerted by a neighbor that I needed to grab my camera and go out on the porch to take pictures. He was mowing grass just down the road when he spotted something in the lake. Neither he nor I have ever seen this before and I did my best to not shake when shooting with some zoom. So here are my results! If you look at all of the different backgrounds you can see that he was all over the lake, deciding where to come ashore. 

I waited and waited for him to appear but as soon as I turned off the camera - he did! He crossed the road and went up into the woodland, moving slowly. Seeing this beautiful and exhausted creature finally safe, was a heart-warming sight.  

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Good With Ice Cream...

...preferably vanilla!

I found a zip-lock bag in the big freezer yesterday that was marked, "Four Honey Crisp—10/4/2020." I had sliced and dehydrated them, bagged and stored in the freezer and forgot all about them. Actually there is another bagful there as well. I brought them in and they sat on the counter teasing me about how I would use them after the work it took to preserve them.

I decided to make a gooey concoction to go with a bowl of vanilla ice cream. This is what I did: 

1. Rehydrated (took 2 hours)

2. Drained excess juice into a container 

3. Added some granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon juice

4. Prepared crumble topping with brown sugar, flour, butter, salt

5. Lined baking pan with non-stick foil

6. Poured apple mixture into pan, along with some dehydrated black cherries I also found

7. Dumped crumble topping over all and spread around. Poured excess juice over top

8. Baked in oven one hour at 350°

9. Cut into 9 sections - ate one (plain) - stored 8 into one-cup containers and froze 

10. Did major cleanup of kitchen dishes and countertops

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Ooey Gooey! YUM!

Up! Up and Away!

“Oh, grey hill,

Where the grazing herd

Licks the purple blossom,

Crops the spiky weed!

Oh, stony pasture,

Where the tall mullein

Stands up so sturdy

On its little seed!”

– Edna St. Vincent Millay

I have written about the Mullein growing nearby previously, but still am preoccupied with its growth! So much so that I even had a neighbor take a picture of it with her smart phone for me. I haven't been able to take my buggy ride past for over 3 weeks! Yesterday I bit the bullet and did and am still waiting for it to come to full bloom! I don't know why his plant fascinates me so much! I do know that my love for it started in June 2014 in the SC campground when I saw one growing at the edge of the road right in front of the laundromat. I was probably the only one who even noticed this strange weed there and didn't know a thing about it until I did some research.

June 5, 2014

June 16, 2014 and two below

Here is the progress of my 2022 PA fascination.

June 14

June 29

July 3

July 9

Aug 6 Neighbor's image

August 7

August 7

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As the buds open I plan to follow their growth! From the internet I learned that the flower is used to make medicine. It is used for cough, whooping cough, tuberculosis, bronchitis, hoarseness, pneumonia, earaches, colds, chills, swine flu, fever, allergies, tonsillitis and sore throat. It is traditionally used for its ability to promote the discharge of mucus and to soothe mucus membranes.