Cattails and Horse Tails

  I didn't sleep much last night, and had a terrible time getting moving today. I did finally go paint for a while, and then Cathy and I took a short road walk.

These two beauties came over to say hello to us.

My brain was too groggy to process much, but I tried to get a couple of interesting pictures of last year's cattails. I do like this one with the reddish saplings behind.

Are the individual heads ratty or artistic?

Only walked about 3 miles, but it was good to do a little bit.

In other news: I did manage to pull my brain together enough to do a little editing, and run a couple of errands. And- just for an extra chuckle, there were some potatoes along the road, and we picked up a few... free food!

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High Five for Winter

  I walked my favorite of the close-to-home 5-mile road loops today. The trees on each side of the road are giving each other a high five! Or maybe they are dancing- one set of hands is high and the other low. What would that be? A polka?

Of the pictures I took, the theme seems to be "vertical." And these are all color photos. Without any sun, it was quite a monochrome day. Vertical trees in the woods

The vertical ridges in the bark on this tree are highlighted with something- I'm not sure what. Lichen? Fungus? Snow? Salt thrown from the road? But the vertical line is broken by the fence wire that the tree has grown around. What's the message there?

These cattails have resisted the pull of ice and snow and remain perfectly vertical. Only the hummocks at their bases differ.

In other news: I edited a lot.

See Moods of the Winter Woods

Five Mile Loop- Bad and Good

 
Got out to walk the five mile loop I like that isn't too far from my house. The bad news is that I forgot two miles of it are dirt which means there is ice on the road. This made the walking difficult. The good news is that there was ice on the road and I got more of a workout than I would have with five clear miles. A lot of this loop is straight and flat, but there are a few interesting dips.



It was foggy, and that made it a great day to get silhouettes of trees. I like these black willow tops.



Cattails often appeal to me, too. I liked how the ice was stained somewhat tan. It made a monochromatic background for the cattail stalks.



In other news: I finished up the interior of the book today. Just need to correct one trail name tomorrow in the text and index and add the credits for the cover photos. Spent the rest of the time on the cover. It will be very similar to North Country Cache, but with different pictures. They are all chosen and put in place. Now I just have to do the correct text for this volume.

Now I just need to do a longish walk each day until I head to Ester's on Wednesday.

See Five Mile Route

Oceana County Adventure

 
Loretta and I went out to just find an adventure today, with a little less walking. First I took her to the high point of Oceana County. The view from there was great, not hazy. This is looking east



Then we went to walk the short loop around Gale's Pond.




The marsh full of heavy-headed cattails was visually interesting.





Now, for the big find of the day for me. Drum roll... I've been trying to catch this orchid in bloom for years! I keep finding just the leaves, or the seed pods later in the summer. Today I found it in bloom. Downy Rattlesnake Plantain, Goodyeara pubescens. Here's the whole plant. Notice the interesting leaves.


And the flower head. This makes it a preeeemo botany day!


Caught an interesting angle on a common whitetail dragonfly.



Then, I quick checked another short trail (Loretta had enough walking, but she didn't mind waiting while I did the other loop), and we got a yummy dinner at the Big Hart Brewing Company in Hart.

The car needed to understand more about dirt roads so we wandered toward home on one of my favorites, 88th Avenue. Sadly, they've closed the bridge over the Pentwater River on it. You used to be able to drive through.



A wonderful afternoon!

In other news: I wrote in the morning, and did a few other odds and ends.

	See Gale's Pond, A Wonderful Day See Gale's Pond
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The Ordinary Things

 
Just want to share a great couple of lines from a P.D. James mystery, of all places. Quite profound. A boy asks a priest about his diary "It's just an ordinary diary then, Father? It isn't about your spiritual life?"

The Father answers," This is the spiritual life; the ordinary things one does from hour to hour."

Cattails are pretty ordinary- yet the rhythm in this spray of winter-bent stalks made me smile.



Today at work we shared a meal of "humble" vegetables (cabbage, carrot, potato, rutabaga) with a bit of sausage. Cornbread for counterpoint. There's a meal that's been ordinary for multiple centuries. But, with friends and the satisfaction of a rather crazy work morning (that stretched till 2 pm) behind us, the ordinary is elevated to something extraordinary.





Cattails or soup or printer's ink... if you are looking for meaning, you will find it. If you are working for Someone beyond your own fulfillment or paycheck or for praise, you'll always be satisfied.

Work again tonight- and I need to take my own advice.

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Are you Ribbing Me?

 
While I was walking yesterday, I saw this reflection of a broken fan of cattail leaves. I liked the way it looked, and it reminded me of ribs.



Not five steps farther, I saw this reflection. My first thought was of the ribs of a sunken ship. Then I did a double take. It is ribs. (a winter-kill deer)



Then I got to thinking about the words rib and ribbon. I wondered if they came from the same root. The answer is... probably not. "Rib" is pure Old English. "Ribbon" is more a diminutive of "band," from Indo-European "bhend," from which we get bandana, bind, bundle, bond, ribbon and more!

A busy day, but had an uncharacteristic migraine headache this afternoon. Thankfully, it went away.

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Sunlit

 
Just call me Pollyana. Everything looks better with sunshine on it. And who's to say that's not the true state of affairs anyway?

The common teasel becomes golden.



Cattails always glow. In fact, I need to go back and take some macro images of these. I am guilty of not looking close enough to find even more beauty. A glance a the photos, closer up, told me that. But I need better pictures to share.



And if you are looking for a skyhook to pull your thoughts upward, here you go!



It was just a nice day today. Nothing spectacular, nothing awful. I'll take more of those, please.

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Silvery

 
Worked most of the day. Tired. We are supposed to get freezing rain, sleet, other nasties tomorrow. Meanwhile, it's too icy to have much fun outside. I don't even have any pictures from today. Tried to find the energy to do something artsy. Rose almost inspired me. Well, she did inspire me, but I ran out of energy.

So I bring you some silvery icy pictures from other days in the past month or so that never made it on the blog.

Leaves frozen under a skim of ice on the cemetery creek.



Just two different areas of a frozen puddle on the shoulder of the road. Always something beautiful to be found!





Finally, a picture I took while hiking at Pine Valley, but there were so many beautiful shots that day, I never showed you this one.



I think an early bedtime is going to work for me!

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Cattails - Death and Birth

 
Went for another road walk today. Everything else is very icy and difficult (although I see on Facebook that some friends hiked the Manistee River Trail). Nevertheless, it's good for me to save my gas money for my big hike of the year in May.

I was looking for something of interest to picture. The common cattail, Typha latifolia, was just waiting for me. Is there anyone not familiar with its silhouette?



At this time of year, last season's stems are often broken, weighted down by snow and ice.



But of course, that's all part of the plan. The "sausages," actually the inflorescence, are breaking open and releasing their fluff.



Birds often use the fluff to line nests. And attached to each silky thread is a seed, just like in the dandelion or the milkweed.

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