Spring – Splattered Brains

The United States National Arboretum in Springtime

This was our first ever visit to the National Arboretum in Washington, DC. It is hard to imagine that we have not visited this place in all the years that we have lived in the area.

Here is a gallery of some somewhat random visual impressions from the visit. It is the season of the azaleas.

Beside the Azaleas, we noticed an abundance of other flowers of the season. I hesitate to start mentioning names because I have already forgotten many of them!

The massive green fields that we walked through to get from one section of the park to another (and from one kind of garden to another) were full of wild flowers like buttercups, dandelions, and gill-over-the-ground. The Anacostia river that flows past the hills of the park in its eastern section, visible below you through the trees of the woods as one hikes the pathways of the park, is one of the many features that lends to the character of the place.

The arboretum is a very impressive place, and very popular with the denizens of Washington, DC. We will probably be coming back again!

The Music of The Birds, The Flowers, and Spring!

There were dark clouds in the sky, and it was threatening to rain, when we left home for our weekly walk in the park. We even considered carrying something extra to protect ourselves – just in case. Fortunately, the weather predictions by the experts turned out to be right, and the skies actually slowly cleared up over the course of the morning walk.

This was the view as we started our walk from the parking lot at the Monocacy Aqueduct.

This was the weekend of dramatic transformation of the woods.All of a sudden, everything has turned green around us! This was not the way it looked, or felt, even last weekend! What a glorious change! Everything in the woods has sprung to life. The combination of the wetness from the overnight rain and the rising sun attempting to penetrate and slowly vanquish the early morning clouds created some different and unique lighting conditions in these woods.

There were flowers everywhere. Different kinds of plants and flowers dominated different patches in the woods. There were the flowers we had seen in the earlier weeks of Spring, including Gill-over the-round, Periwinkle, Cutleaf Toothwort, Spring Beauty, Dutchmen’s Breeches and especially the Virginia Bluebells that were all over the place. And, then, there were other new flowers to be noticed, and even identified, including:

Violets,Squirrel Corn (which look very similar to Dutchmens Breeches),Nodding Star of Bethlehem,Yellow Violets (I think!),Purple Dead-nettle,and the super-invasive Garlic Mustard.

And the birds were everywhere, in many cases singing the sweet songs of the morning. During our walks, we usually find the birds only in certain sections of the trail. This was not the case last Sunday. Instead, we were entertained by birds everywhere, throughout the walk. We would stop and listen occsasionally, and look up into the branches of the trees to try to locate the source of the sounds. Most often, we would not see the birds. Here is a bird that I managed to spot:I think it may have been a Northern Flicker, but there is no way to be certain under the circumstances. We may be getting better at identifying some of these birds from the sounds they make – including the Northern Cardinal, the Carolina Wren, and the woodpeckers. Incidentally, the woodpeckers seem to make the least musical of sounds. They actually sound quite guttural.

Unfortunately, the conditions also caused a surfeit of millipedes to be present on the trail, and the danger of the regular squashing of these creatures underfoot. I grimaced every time I felt a crunch from my shoes. Thankfully, it was my imagination working overtime most of the time. There were also a lot of earthworms that had come out because of the rain.

We did see this tiny snail,and these unique mushrooms by the side of the trail.

The highlight of this particular outing was walking past the fields of bluebells. They have literally taken over the woods in some sections. There was a section where the trail was lined with these flowers. Unfortunately, my pictures may not serve the purpose of adequately informing the reader of the extraordinary impact of the sight of these flowers on the senses, and the sense of wonder that one feels in the midst of these fields of blue, but one must try!

The heartbeat and rhythm of the woods is unending. It is amazing.

From Spring into Summer

I am resolved to get this blog out expeditiously. If not, my current state of mind, which has to do with the weekly visit to the C&O Canal towpath yesterday, will begin to dissipate quickly. If that happens, the resulting blog could take a darker and perhaps more negative turn. The balance will be lost!

The thermostat indicated that it was 63° F outside when we woke up on Sunday morning. It felt very nice for a change. This being the tail end of the Spring season, the temperatures outside are trending towards the hotter side. We have even had some days when the use of the air-conditioner was needed. I was even forced to run indoors on the treadmill instead of outside last week because it was too hot. This Sunday was not one of those days. We opened up the windows early in the morning to let some cool air in. We left home early for our weekly walk on the canal, to try to get there before the crowds descended, and to also hopefully get to walk under cooler conditions. It turned into a very nice morning on the trail.

The flowers of Spring are mostly gone. There is thick green vegetation all around, including lots of tall grasses. Some mowing and clearing-out of the spaces next to the trail would be useful, but nobody knows when that can happen. Normal park services have not yet resumed completely. undefined

There were plenty of wild strawberries beside the trail! We talked about whether these could be poisonous. Wild strawberries and mock strawberries look very much alike, and can be distinguished by the color of their flowers. There were no flowers to be seen! undefined

There were different kinds of butterflies flying around. Here are a couple of pictures. A few of these butterflies would hang around you for a little while while you were walking.

The dragonflies and damselflies have also reappeared.

There were other, less-familiar, insects around. I suspect that if we had come later in day, we might have even been attacked by the gnats that are plentiful in these parts in summer. And after all, summer is officially only a couple of weeks away.

There were a lot of birds making a lot of noise. We thought we encountered call-and-response situations on at least one or two occasions. But I could not get a single picture of the birds, probably because of the dense foliage. Even the egret whose picture we thought we had gotten a few weeks earlier flew away from us.

The parking lot at Edwards Ferry was full. So was the one at Sycamore Landing when we returned after our walk. According to the C&O Canal Trust, there has been an about 50 percent increase in the number of people coming to the park in recent times. We saw both walkers and runners, bikers, a few dogs (running free), and a couple of horses (with people on them). undefined

There were also people in their boats on the river. Some of them were talking quite loudly. We could hear them all the way from the trail, and you could have clearly made out the details of their conversation if you were so inclined. undefined

All in all, we had a good day out in the park.

There has been a lot going on on the political front in our neck of the woods recently. The news from Washington, DC, is even worse than before. The president has finally built his wall, not on the border, but around his fortress (or bunker), a fortress whose boundaries seem to be ever expanding. We have a tinpot dictator doing his worst. Other, cowardly, politicians have willingly abandoned their responsibilities. The protests taking place in the streets of Washington, DC, and in other cities, still continue. It seems like the youth are not going away. We need to find a way to show solidarity, and to help make positive changes happen.

Beyond Our Species

Even though I know that all of this will go away eventually, with or without my presence, I get more and more discouraged with time as the scourge of the coronavirus continues to keep us in its stranglehold.

Even as we see acts of humanity and kindness, of cooperation, of people coming together, of heroism, in our midst, I find that, as a race, we are extremely discordant in our collective approach to tackling the global issue of the pandemic that has been unleashed on us. Generally speaking, we are on our own. Led by the example by the world’s wealthiest nation, we are not interested in a common strategy to minimize the impact of this contagion. The impact on less well-off people and nations with less resources is not for us to worry about. And some leaders – some political strongmen – are even taking advantage of the situation carry out other destructive agendas of their own, in other ways, while all of this is going on. Many of our leaders have blood on their hands for sure.

But, as is very obvious to me, life is still also going on outside of our selfishness and incompetence. I only have to look around my neighborhood. Spring is here! OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA The deer seem to enjoy the spring growth that falls to the ground from the maple trees.The cherry blossom tree in our backyard has blossomed.We encountered this little snake while walking in the neighborhood. It appeared to be basking on the pavement. I think that it is a juvenile that has not yet gotten its markings. (You can see the beginnings of some markings on the face.) The snake did not seem to know enough to get out of the way of the walkers on the pavement. I had to gently encourage it to get off the pathway. Whether one has really helped, one never knows.And then, the Sunday walk in the park only served to further confirm to me our own insignificance in the scheme of things. Life and death can go on in its own way without our interference, and this is very obvious in Spring. There is no need for human intelligence to get in the way.

You can make out the green beginning to reappear on the trees on the towpath. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA The Common Starling in the picture below was dancing in front of a hole in the trunk of a tree in a very odd way. It could have been the location of a nest. This is the time for many birds to mate. We saw two bald eagles flying around on the Virginia side of the Potomac. There could have been a nest in this area. Then, there was the Canada Goose that had parked itself on the trail. I was worried that there was a nest close by that the bird was protecting. Fortunately, the bird was not aggressive, and simply went into canal as we approached. I had a stick in my hand – just in case! OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA The early morning reflections in the ever-so-still waters of the canal were uplifting.Other curious and noisy birds were everywhere.The Virginia Bluebells were in full bloom.This is one of the many different kinds of woodpeckers in the park.I did not expect to see as many turtles are we did. This section of the canal contains water that is somewhat warm because of the runoff from the Dickerson Power Plant that is next to it. That might have been the reason.

These turtles seemed to be lining up to climb to the top of the branch that had fallen in the canal. To the eyes of this human, it looked like they were trying to conquer a peak. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA This turtle simply watched me as I took its picture. Many others slid into the waters at our approach.We even saw butterflies, including this swallowtail. It is a little early in the season for them.The Spring Beauty flowers had actually opened out to face the sun. Last week they were all folded up because of the cloudy weather. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Life goes on!

Getting back to the ways of the rest of us residents of this planet, a wise man who shall remain anonymous came up with the following prayer:

Dear God,
Trump and corona at the same time on Earth???
Why???
Let me know if you need advice on timing your challenges for us in the future….
Just saying…..
Peace be with you,
Amen

I think we all have to find our own way to keep the faith. Humor helps!

A Strange Month of April So Far

This is the time of year when things normally begin to warm up in our part of the world. This is the time of year we see signs of Spring all around us. It also becomes a season for allergies. But the early part of the month had us experiencing a snowstorm instead as we drove through the Midwest. This was the scene on the road in the morning the next day as we drove back home to Maryland after the storm. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Back east, the cherry blossom tree in our backyard looked miserable compared to past years. The blossoms looked thin and sparse. Things then started to improve as we approached the middle of the month. There was an awakening of the blossoms. There were even a couple of warm days to go with this. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA This phase of Spring did not last too long. A heavy snowstorm hit parts of the Midwest once again last weekend. It also got colder here in the Northeast, and we got a significant amount of rain that put an end to nature’s show. We now have white stuff on the ground and flying around all over the place, and it is not snow! Strange weather! I wonder what we have in store for the rest of the month.

It was the first day of Spring!

Not exactly the type of weather one was hoping to experience. It is still cold outside! Brrr…. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The Further Pleasures of Spring On The Towpath

It turns out that the wildflowers that I had posted pictures of from our travels on the C&O canal towpath earlier this Spring were only a fraction of what there was to be seen and enjoyed. Here are pictures of more flowers taken from our more recent visits.

Gill over the ground

Paw Paw

Black Locust

Rosa Multiflora

Buttercup

Field Chickweed

Strawberry

Unidentified

Golden Ragwort

Sweet Cicely

Fleabane

Unidentified

Dames Rocket

The Pleasures of Spring on the Towpath

Spring has returned with a vengeance to the C&O Canal towpath. One’s spirits are lifted at the sight of a trail lined with flowers. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA There are so many different kinds spring flowers to be seen, some of which I still cannot identify in spite of all the years I have spent on the trail!

Dutchmans Breeches

Virginia Bluebell

Bloodroot

Trillium

Yellow Trout Lily

Grape Hyacinth

Lesser Celandine

Serviceberry

Nodding Star of Bethlehem

Dandelion

Garlic Mustard

Violet

White Trout Lily

Spring Beauty

Mock Strawberry

Speedwell

Suffice to say that a walk along the canal is the spring time can do wonders for you!

Caught my Attention

Was it…

The spring flowers that lined the trail with different colors in different in sections,
Or the light tinge of green beginning to appear among the branches of the trees;

The big fat bird that I sighted in the distance,
That kept running away from me along the trail as I slowly caught up with it,
That eventually managed to lift its huge and somewhat ungainly body off the ground
and disappear into the woods around a corner;

The small turtle crossing the trail oblivious to the dangers posed by folks like me;

The big turtles perched on the logs in the waters of the canal warming themselves,
Or swimming in the clear waters with their backs sticking out above water level;

The incredibly bright red cardinals zipping across the trail in front of me;

The extremely loud pecking of the woodpecker ringing through the woods;

The fox crossing the trail and the canal as I approached;

The barred owl that rose from a tree just beside the trail as I went by,
Flying off to settle on a tree further away from the trail to stare at me;

The vultures that reluctantly rose from the trail as I approached,
Only to land on the trees above the trail to watch me go by;

The appearance of the two dogs that seemed to have no master,
One approaching me with an awkward and sideways gait,
Seemingly looking at me warily out of the corner of one eye,
And the other running away to the berm side of the canal to stare at me from the distance?

But the overall result was a great time riding my bike even though I did not stop to smell the roses, and even as I covered 20 miles in each direction along the towpath in preparation for the ride from Pittsburgh to the DC area happening later in the year.