Spoils from a Chittenden Raid
My good friend Glenn Levinson came over the other day for something of an impromptu visit with our family (Uncle Glenn!), and I had just come back from a grass, flower, and other types of plants raid at Chittenden Park in Guilford. Now, I hadn’t seen Glenn in some time, and I was so happy to see him and be able to spend time with him, but precious sunlight was slipping away, and I had all these lovely things from Chittenden that were crying out to be photographed before it was too late. Fortunately, there were other family members on deck to keep the conversation going, and Glenn had to watch while I dragged out a Canon 5D Mark III (a non-descript-but-I-mean-business-sort-of-looking-camera), my very favorite 1.4 50mm lens, and an extension tube for close ups (all of these things given to me by my father). I started shooting, but it just wasn’t cutting it. I dragged out a tripod. Then a table. Then a backdrop. You might as well go all out. Let’s iron the backdrop! Glenn just kept saying, “Wow!” I felt a bit rude, but it had to be done.
Glenn! I’m so sorry if it was rude, and let’s have dinner together soon, but I hope you can enjoy the results.
I found ALL KINDS OF FREAKY THINGS at Chittenden that I had never seen or heard of before!
All this time, I thought I was collecting things against the law, but I read just this moment: “Wild flowers According to Dominic Price of wild plant protection charity Plantlife, “it is not normally an offence to pick the ‘Four Fs’ – fruit, foliage, fungi or flowers – if the plants are growing wild and it is for your personal use and not for sale.” I’m SO HAPPY!
I formatted three photos for use as wallpapers for 1920 x 1080. Please download to your heart’s content.
Here are the goods:
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Throwing Myself In Front of the Lawnmower
If a person is going to be excited about spring and the plants that come to life at that time, then it would seem natural to be happy about the obvious things in the Northeast like forsythia and crocuses. And then the cherry blossoms. I think I missed them. I seem to be late to the spring party this year. I was just thinking the other day, “If only the grass would start to come up, now THAT would make it spring for me.” And then yesterday, upon driving up my driveway, I noticed that this certain patch had sprung to life. It only grows in one, ten-foot square spot in a triangle between three trees in the front yard. I was SO HAPPY because last year I spent considerable time, to no avail, trying to identify this grass, and I haven’t seen it anywhere else. Something about it draws me to it. I think it’s the wild, scrawly bits of it. Like it needs a haircut. Like it has an attitude about being wild and crazy. Like “Why aren’t you wild and crazy too?”
After getting out of the car and inspecting it thoroughly, I was greatly satisfied that spring had finally arrived. I purposed in my heart at that moment to take pictures of it the next day, on Sunday, my day to give in fully to my ADD and “Projects That Make No Sense.”
It being Saturday, with a long list of unfinished web development projects for clients, I parked myself in front of the computer and committed my heart to servicing my clients. While deep into the machinations of how to make WordPress send blog posts automatically to Mail Chimp, I heard a loud noise outside. It was getting louder. It started to really bother me. IT WAS THE LAWNMOWER! OMG!!! Is Bryan really MOWING THE LAWN RIGHT NOW! MY PRECIOUS PATCH OF GRASS!!! Fortunately, he is used to my addiction and only chuckled slightly when I threw myself in front of the mower just as he was going around the corner next to my precious patch. I’m sure you will all be glad to know that I saved all but one clump.
The photo you see here is the result of way too many hours on a Sunday trying to capture my feeling about this grass. If anyone can give me any help with identification, I would be ever so grateful.
My friend Jil Grey came over later and at least feigned interest enough to ask to see my other photos. LOL! I mean, that is a seriously good friend who can even scrounge around enough to ASK to see more photos of grass. HA HA! My favorite moment was when she said, “Well, that one sort of looks like they’re having a conversation. Like it’s a cocktail party.” HOW COULD SHE KNOW THAT?! I had set up that shot to convey that very idea.
Collecting in Maine on a Four-Wheeler
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Can you tell which ones are rushes, which ones are sedges, and which ones are grasses?
My stepdad, Carl Johnson, lets me use his four-wheeler to explore the logging roads across the road from where he lives in Waltham, Maine. Today was a beautiful day, and I had a great time by myself driving a little too fast and finding cool additions to my collection. (I think I owe you an entire tank of gas, Carl!)
Here are my findings. Some day I will be able to tell you what they’re all called.
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A Photo of Poales Dedicated To My Son, Zachariah
This morning, Abigail, Zachariah, and I accompanied my mom and stepdad for the half hour haul into Ellsworth. A trip into town from their house (Thrush Cottage) in Waltham is a big deal around here. The town of Waltham is so small my mom says she hasn’t even been able to find it in all the years they’ve lived here. You better have a full tank of gas before you ever leave town, cuz there ain’t no getting any between getting home and getting back to town.
But I digress.
We dropped off my mom and Abigail at the hairdressers for my mother’s ungodly 8:30 am appointment. (Mom! What were you thinking? 🙂 ) Zachariah and I accompanied Carl to Home Depot and the bank. As Zach and I waited in the car at the bank, I spotted a big patch of what looked like a lot of grasses I’d never seen before next to the parking lot. I told Zach, “Tell Carl to come pick me up when he’s done.” Zach rolls his eyes.
As I suspected, there was A LOT OF GREAT STUFF in there. I was a little scared of snakes since the horsetails made it difficult to see the ground, and I was sort of wading waist deep in tall grasses, but I persisted and got handfuls of grasses and sedges to bring back with me.
As I got into the car, Zach’s only comment was, “Mom! All of that stuff looks the same.”
Zachariah, this photo is for you.