Monthly Archives: July 2012

Church In The Yard

Outdoor Church Meeting

Outdoor Church Meeting

Because of the damage from the storm Friday night much of the area is without power. When our church is without electricity it is not only without light and air conditioning, it is also without running water and toilet facilities. Rather then “forsaking the assembling of ourselves together” (Hebrews 10:24-25) we met in the back yard of one of our families. Special thanks to Amanda and Dave for their hospitality and willingness to host us all. Thanks also to everyone who came, in spite of the heat, and worshiped with us.

We are not a particularly formal church to begin with but as you can see, everyone was quite casual, dressing for the heat. Dave and Fiona were spraying water from spray bottles, which felt wonderful. Thanks also to those who adjusted the service to the situation and to Mike for his message to us from the Word. It was a special time and one we will remember with fondness.

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Weaving Lights

Weaving Lights

Weaving Lights

I was pretty absorbed in work today and didn’t get out to take any pictures. On the other hand, I got a lot done. This evening when I picked up Dorothy from Driver’s Ed I was messing about with long exposures of car lights. This is my favorite of the bunch. Not terribly exciting but I’m supposed to be taking pictures and it’s a picture.

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Surprise!

Timothy

Timothy

There was a surprise birthday party today for Timothy. Unfortunately it started while I was still at work so I wasn’t there for the “SURPRISE!” part. When I did get there I asked Timothy to look surprised for a picture and this is what I got.

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A Hot Fourth

Roasted Chicken

Roasted Chicken

It’s not particularly uncommon for the Fourth of July to be a very hot day, often with a thunderstorm thrown in for good measure. There was no thunderstorm this afternoon but it was certainly hot, about 100°F here. We are thankful that we did not lose power in Friday night’s storm. We pretty much stayed in indoors all day today. I decided to roast two chickens, stuffed with a rice pilau. They turned out quite well, if I say so myself. They were basted with a garlic and lemon sauce and were very flavorful. The rice had currents, almonds, and onions and was flavored with allspice.

Making Ice Cream

Making Ice Cream

Although the chickens were very good, there’s no question that the highlight of the evening was the homemade ice cream. Normally it’s something you’d do outside but it was so hot, we figured we’d stick to the inside for that, too. Our power went out just as the ice cream was getting good and thick. We decided it was close enough to being done that we’d take the paddles out and cover it with ice to harden up a little more. Thankfully, the power was only out for a few minutes, so all was well. The ice cream was as good as I remember it. Family members will know what I mean when I say it tasted like 1414.

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Iris domestica

Iris domestica

Iris domestica

I still think of this as Belamcanda chinensis, as it was called until 2005 when DNA evidence proved it to be an iris. In any case, the common name, blackberry lily, while less accurate, is still fairly allowed. I brought some seeds of this home about ten years ago and have had it in the garden ever since. We brought it to this house in 2006 and this particular plant is a seedling from that one. It’s doing very well and is certainly cheerful this time of year. The blooms are very interesting in that when they are finished, the petals curl up into little spirals before they drop off. The seeds are large and black and form in fruits that (not surprisingly) look like the seed pods of other irises.

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Dorothy, Simone, and Lexi

Dorothy, Simone, and Lexi

Dorothy, Simone, and Lexi

We got to have lunch with some of our best friends today, including Simone and Lexi. What a treat that was.

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Crushed Car, Close Call

Crushed Car, Close Call

Crushed Car, Close Call

I was driving home yesterday and noticed this downed tree. It’s only about 8 blocks from our house but I hadn’t been this way since before last week’s storm. As you can see, the car is finished. What’s amazing, though, is how close the tree is to the house and how little damage there is. To the left of this, there is a bit of house that sticks out to the front and the tree is less than two feet from it. From what I could see, though, there was not serious damage at all.

The neighbor happened to be outside and I chatted with her briefly. Apparently no one was home at the time, so no one was hurt, which is the most important thing. She commented that it would probably be a long time before anyone got to this. Later in the day I went by again and to my surprise, there was a crew working on the tree, about half of which had already been removed. I was able to confirm that there was literally no visible damage to the house. Amazing.

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Turk’s Cap Lily

Turk's Cap Lily (Lilium superbum)

Turk’s Cap Lily (Lilium superbum)

One interesting thing about Turk’s cap lily (Lilium superbum) is that they form little mini-bulbs called bulbils in their leaf axils. These can be taken off and planted and will grow into new bulbs. That makes them one of the easiest of perennials to divide and spread throughout your garden. Cathy collected bulbils from lilies my dad planted in his garden and planted them here. Now they are large enough to have their own bulbils and are doing very well, growing about six feet tall with lots of flowers. Oh, and the flowers are quite lovely.

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A Pair of Wasps

Great Black Wasp (Sphex pensylvanicus)

Great Black Wasp (Sphex pensylvanicus)

It was a much cooler day today. I woke up to 70° and a very light rain, which was wonderful. I opened doors and windows and enjoyed the freshness of the morning. It got much warmer as the day wore on but nothing like the 95+ degree temperatures we’ve been “enjoying” for the last eleven days (and four over 100°F). In the early evening I went out back and enjoyed all the bees and wasps that are gathering around the mountain mint (Pycnanthemum muticum). There were dozens upon dozens of them, far too many to count, and of course they are constantly on the move, flitting from one flower to the next. The flowers on mountain mint are quite small but they bloom over a very long period and they seem to be very popular with the Aculeata (bees, ants, and stinging wasps).

Katydid Wasp (Sphex nudus)

Katydid Wasp (Sphex nudus)

I have tentatively identified this first wasp as a great black wasp (Sphex pensylvanicus). It certainly fits the name as it’s about 2cm long and very black. The wings are a deep blue-black when it is viewed from the back and you can see a little of that in this picture.

The second wasp, also on the mountain mint, I believe is a katydid wasp (Sphex nudus). This wasp is about the same size as the first one but as you can see it has a bit of color on its legs. They are both fairly shy and don’t like to get too close to my camera. Others are much bolder or at least less concerned with my presence. Both wasps use katydids as food for their larvae, laying their eggs on one that they have killed and buried.

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Butterfly Weed Seeds

Butterfly Weed Seeds

Butterfly Weed Seeds

I generally think of this as a winter type picture. Back on May 22 I posted a picture of Asclepias curassavica (Mexican Butterfly Weed) flowers. Now, seven weeks later, it has gone to seed. This isn’t a particularly good picture but I think the seeds themselves, with their fine tufts of gossamer, are very pretty.

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Bicyrtes quadrifasciatus

Bicyrtes quadrifasciatus

Bicyrtes quadrifasciatus

Another afternoon around the mountain mint. This is a fairly common visitor and a dangerous looking wasp. Actually, none of the wasps around the mountain mint seem particularly concerned by my presence. Some move away from whatever side I’m not but none bother me in the least. The bumble bees seem to be the least concerned, letting me get quite close without flying away. These are probably next in terms of boldness, coming right in close under my lens. This photo is full frame, not cropped at all, so you can see I’m pretty close. I took quite a few of this one and some of the others are better for identification but I like this one best as a photograph. It isn’t anywhere near as sharp as I’d like but this fellow is moving around quite quickly.

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Baby Noah

Ryan, Melissa and Noah

Ryan, Melissa and Noah

We were fortunate enough to have our good friend Diana over this evening, along with her first grandchild (oh, two of her sons and her daughter-in-law were there, as well). Actually it was great to have them all over, along with Krystal and Mike. But it was especially nice to meet baby Noah, who is an adorable little boy.

I got a pretty good picture of him with Diana, as well, but I figured she’d prefer to see Ryan and Melissa instead of herself. What a beautiful family.

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Setting Up Camp

Cathy and Our Tent

Cathy and Our Tent

After work we went up to Pennsylvania and met some friends to camp for the weekend. I hadn’t taken any pictures today so after we got our tent up, just as it was getting dark, I took a few. This is Cathy in front of our tent. What you cannot see in this picture is the 31 foot RV just out of the picture on the right. I don’t know that I can quite consider that “camping” but that doesn’t mean I don’t see the advantages. I see the advantages in staying in a hotel, for that matter. Having the RV there was a nice in terms of refrigeration, stove, and water and of course, if it rained too hard, we could have gotten in out of it.

Oh, wait…

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Sphecius speciosus (Eastern Cicada Killer Wasp)

Sphecius speciosus (Eastern Cicada Killer)

Sphecius speciosus (Eastern Cicada Killer)

On the sandy shore of Pinchot Lake, where we camped last night, there was a sign warning campers that there were cicada killer wasps laying their eggs. As you may have figured out by now, I’m not particularly scared of wasps and I thought I’d see how close I could get for a picture. As you can see, I did reasonably well. This wasp is a good 3 to 4 cm long and pretty formidable looking but they didn’t bother me as I walked among them, being careful not to step on their burrows, of course.

As their name implies, they sting and paralyze cicadas, bury them in the sand, and lay an eggs on the last cicada. When the egg hatches, the larva has a nice source of food.

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Gifford Pinchot State Park

The hiking group on a large boulder near Lake Pinchot

The hiking group on a large boulder near Lake Pinchot

We spent the night at Gifford Pinchot State Park with some friends. Since Kimia was with us, we had a bit of rain, but since she helped plan the trip, it’s not like it was unexpected. Some got fairly wet but Cathy and I were dry enough. After breakfast we decided to take what turned out to be an 8.5 mile hike around Lake Pinchot. Here’s what the park web site has to say about the trail:

Lakeside Trail: 8.5 miles, most difficult hiking
This is the longest and most scenic trail in the park. It may be accessed from all major use areas of the park. Walking time is five to six hours. Many parts of the trail are easy walking with gravel surfaces, but some of the remote sections are narrow with uneven footing and wet in other places. Many hikers combine portions of this trail with other trails like Alpine, Gravel, Oak and Quaker Race to make shorter loops.

We had thought it was only about 6 miles, so that extra 2.5 was not particularly welcome. Still, it was a pretty hike and except for the bit where we got off onto a fisherman’s track instead of the main trail, it wasn’t particularly difficult walking. There were some ups and downs but nothing very steep or long. After about 6 miles, when we were starting to get a tired, we got to the Quaker Race Day Use Area, which is across the lake from the campground. We had been around the long end of the lake and had the near end left to go. We bought cold treats and rested a bit. My legs were a bit tired but the real problem was that my back was bothering me quite a bit. I decided, discretion being the better part of valour, that I would wait there and have someone come back and pick me up. Thanks for having pity on an old man, Nancy.

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Dinner Out

Cathy, Brian, Ginger, and Sam

Cathy, Brian, Ginger, and Sam

We had a nice dinner out this evening with Brian, Ginger, and Sam. Since I hadn’t yet taken any pictures and since I didn’t take any others before the day was done, this is my picture for the day. Thanks guys. It was nice visiting with you all.

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Another Turk’s Cap

Turk’s Cap Lily

Turk’s Cap Lily

Yes, I know, I posted a picture of a Turk’s cap lily (Lilium superbum) only eight days ago (Sunday, July 08, 2012) but they are so pretty and I decided to post another. At least this is a different plant in a different part of the yard.

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Momentum Youth Conference, Day Zero

RCC Team

RCC Team

Donna R. and I took these nine teens to Richmond, Kentucky today for the Momentum 2012 youth conference. We left at about 5:30 and covered 520 miles in just over 10 hours including a few brief stops. Traffic was light, the weather was hot but otherwise nice for driving and the kids had a good time on the ride. I have a picture of the whole team but this is a picture that I took with just the kids. The church collected school supplies, which is what the boxes are. More on that later this week.

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Momentum Youth Conference, Day One

A Mustache with Appeal

A Mustache with Appeal

It was a very busy day today. One thing about us going to a conference for the first time, especially one that’s been going on annually for so many years, is that while a lot of people know what’s going on, we didn’t, really. We managed to get everywhere when we needed to but it takes a while to get the rhythm of things. By the end of our first full day, I think we are in much better shape than we were yesterday or this morning.

One of the sponsors/partners of the conference is Lancaster Bible College. They had a friendly little competition this week where people would put on fake mustaches and send them pictures. This was Dorothy’s submission. It was good enough for a free t-shirt and it flashed on the big screen later today as a plug for the competition.

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Momentum Youth Conference, Day Two

Stephanie, Autumn, Kim, Jared, Ted, Danny, and Donna

Stephanie, Autumn, Kim, Jared, Ted, Danny, and Donna

On the second full day of the Momentum Youth Conference I took a picture during the morning staff meeting of our table. Donna’s niece and her husband were at the conference with four other adult leaders and we sat with them each morning. I’ve labeled them clockwise in this picture but I’m not 100% sure of all the names.

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Ninja Skills

Timothy

Timothy

I think most of us know a ninja or two but we may not know that we know them. I know a few people with ninja skills and Timothy is one of them, running on an almost vertical wall as though it were flat ground. It’s nothing to him.

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Some New Friends

Craig, Vicky, Dorothy, and Eli

Craig, Vicky, Dorothy, and Eli

On day four of the Momentum conference, Dorothy made some new friends from Ohio.

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Tachopteryx thoreyi (Gray Petaltail)

Tachopteryx thoreyi (Gray Petaltail)

Tachopteryx thoreyi (Gray Petaltail)

Driving home from Kentucky we stopped for gas just west of Hancock, Maryland. This huge dragonfly was sitting on the pavement and at first I wasn’t sure it was alive but it was moving and it flew away after I took a couple pictures.

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Maserati GranTurismo

Maserati GranTurismo

Maserati GranTurismo

This is one of two Maseratis that are parked in my office parking lot from time to time. I thought perhaps they were owned by the same person because I hadn’t seen them there together until a few weeks ago, when they were parked next to each other. So, I guess there are two different owners. I like the color of the blue one but this two-door model is nicer over all.

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Cathy and Black-eyed Susans

Cathy and Black-eyed Susans

Cathy and Black-eyed Susans

I know I’m a bit behind posting these but I’m trying to catch up from being away for a week. Anyway, I didn’t take many pictures on the 24th of July but Cathy posed behind some black-eyed Susans for me so that’s what you get.

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Jaguar XJ XF

Jaguar XJ

Jaguar XJ

Actually, I don’t know if this in an XJ or some other model but it looks a bit like the XJ so that’s what I will label it. If you know better, please let me know.

Like the two Maseratis that I see parked in my office parking lot, I believe the owner of this car works in the law firm on the ground floor. I try not to park my car near any of these because it might get an inferiority complex. Another nice ride.

Update — 08/07/2012 — I looked on the back of the car and it is an XF, not an XJ.

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Chops

Pork Chop, Tomato, Rice and Beans, Peas

Pork Chop, Tomato, Rice and Beans, Peas

Dad would say, “two legumes.” Not that there is anything wrong with two legumes. It would just be a comment.

I didn’t take a lot of pictures today and I thought two car pictures so close together might bore some people so here’s something very different, if equally boring. This is what I whipped up for dinner this evening. The peas were a bit overcooked but still go. Cooked tomatoes are a family favorite and go well with the chop.

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Stephen Moves Back

Stephen and Dorothy, Empty U-Haul

Stephen and Dorothy, Empty U-Haul

My nephew, Stephen, moved back from Boston today. He and Maya will be staying with his parents until they find a more permanent place to live as Stephen begins his post-doc. It’s nice to have them in town again.

Welcome home, Steve and Maya.

After work I went to help with the last of the unloading and took this picture of the newly minted Dr. Hartley and Dorothy, sitting in the empty U-Haul.

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James Madison University

Karlee, Dorothy, and Duke Dog

Karlee, Dorothy, and Duke Dog

I’m over a week behind posting pictures but rest assured that I have pictures from every day and will post them here, hopefully two or three a day until I get caught up.

On Friday, July 27 we left at about 9:00 AM for a week at the beach. Normally we go on Saturday but we decided to leave a day early and visit Glen Orchard on the way. I’ll make a separate post about that, with a picture or two, but because of that change of route, we decided to stop at James Madison University on the way. Dorothy and Karlee posed with Duke Dog. Not being one who follows college sports to any great extent, I didn’t even know that their team was called the Dukes nor that their mascot was Duke Dog. Apparently, the name came from the president of the college, Samuel P. Duke, in 1947.

R and M

R and M

We spent about an hour walking around the beautiful campus, going through a few buildings, and listening in on but not actually joining up with the “official” tours that were being led around the campus. It really is a nice looking school and even for non-Virginia residents is a reasonably priced school (if any school can be called reasonably priced these days — personally, I’d be happy if the higher education bubble would burst already).

As we were walking by the stadium, we noticed that two letters were missing from the “Bridgeforth Stadium” sign so Dorothy and Karlee volunteered to stand in for those letters.

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Glen Orchard

Ominous Rain Clouds

Ominous Rain Clouds

In the other post for today (James Madison University) I mentioned that we decided to drive to the beach by way of the mountains. Between JMU and the orchard, though, we stopped for gas just as some pretty impressive storm clouds were rolling in. The first picture here is taken from a gas station on Interstate 81 near Roanoke, Virginia. As we pulled back onto the highway the clouds opened up and it poured for about ten minutes. After that there was light rain off and on but nothing that affected traffic significantly. During the heavy rain, though, traffic thankfully slowed to about 40 mph.

Great Grandmother's Cabin

Great Grandmother’s Cabin

We got to Glen Orchard, know more publicly as Levering Orchard, in the middle of the afternoon. My great grandfather’s brother, Ralph, started the orchard in 1908. It is now run by Ralph’s grandson, Frank. In 1936 or ’37 my great grandmother retired from her position as a dorm matron at Guilford College and her family built a cabin at her brother-in-law’s orchard. It is now owned by some of her grandchildren (Frank’s and my mom’s generation).

I have lots of good memories of the orchard from when I was young. We would either sleep in the attic of the cabin or camp in a flat area just past the cabin and next to the pool. The pool was a roughly made concrete pool fed by a spring and always very cold, even during the heat of summer. An early morning dip was a great way to start the day.

View From The Cabin

View From The Cabin

One of my two favorite memories was a time when I was in high school when second cousins from my grandfather’s side (the orchard is on my grandmother’s side) came and spent a week there with us. I recently came across a slide taken then and it brought back a lot of pleasant thoughts.

The other favorite memory was when my Uncle Bobby and two cousins, Dana and David, took a camping trip out from the orchard. We walked along and over and up the mountain, finally coming back down to the orchard from the Blue Ridge Parkway.

My third picture here is the view from my Aunt Virginia’s house, above the cabin (which is in the trees near the pole on the right of the picture). I can’t tell you how many pictures have been taken of that view and none of them really captures the feel. Montana is known for having “big sky” but this view is pretty big and on a clear day you can see about 50 miles. It was a bit too hazy for that today but still a great view.

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Wake Forest University

Taylor and Efird Halls and Wait Chapel

Taylor and Efird Halls and Wait Chapel

After spending a night at the cabin (see Glen Orchard) we stopped to buy a few apples and some damsons from Frank before heading to the beach. Since we were going right past Winston-Salem, and since Cathy and I both spent some time at Wake Forest, we decided to stop and let Dorothy and Karlee see the campus.

It has grown a bit since were where there with a fair amount of construction being done right now, but the central quad hasn’t changed all that much (except there are no large trees on the quad any more). I lived on the second floor of Taylor, the building at the left in this picture. Cathy lived a few years later in Efird, which is attached to Taylor and between it and Wait Chapel.

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Loggerhead Turtles

Loggerhead Turtle

Loggerhead Turtle

We arrived at the beach and got settled in. We had rain between Lumberton and the beach and some of that was very heavy and there were flashes of lightening all around. Not a lot of wind, though. At one point we saw a flash of lightening straight ahead of us, probably a mile or so away. Shortly after that we came upon a small fire on the edge of the woods, presumably lit by the lightening. I can’t say I’ve ever seen that before, although I know it’s fairly common. With the rain as heavy as it was, I don’t think the fire was a particular threat.

Loggerhead Turtle

Loggerhead Turtle

In any case, the real excitement of the day was a turtle next just a few houses up the beach from where we were. The bulk of the turtles had hatched and headed out to see the previous two nights but there were some unaccounted for and we were told that they would be dug up as it got dark. A half dozen or so loggerhead turtles were found and most of them were able to crawl to the surf. Volunteers used red lights to guide them down the sand. With my camera set to ISO 6,400 and with the lens wide open at f/2.8 I was able to get an exposure of 1/100 second. Because of the red lights they are much more natural after I converted them to black and white, so that’s what I am posting here.

These two images are of the same turtle, making its slow trek to the ocean. It’s only about three inches from head to tail and I have no idea what its actual chances of survival are. I can’t imagine they are particularly high, but it made it to the water, anyway.

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The Beach

Ocean Isle Beach

Ocean Isle Beach

It rained a fair amount today so even when I did go out I didn’t have my camera with me most of the time. I did take the camera out for a short while but of course I had to wait for it to warm up a bit after being indoors. It’s so humid here that it fogged up immediately. After that, mom and I left them out on the deck most of the time each day so we could use them at short notice.

This is a view from just in front of our house on the beach. As you can see, it wasn’t exactly crowded today. Still hot but less so after the rain. Very humid, but it’s the beach.

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Laughing Gulls and Royal Terns

Laughing Gulls and Royal Terns

Laughing Gulls and Royal Terns

It was another mostly grey day at the beach today. We did go in swimming but of course I didn’t take my camera for that. We took a walk down the beach and I enjoyed watching the birds that were gathering on the sand bar. I didn’t spend a lot of time chasing birds this trip but these let me get reasonably close before they flew off.

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Green Swamp

A few years ago I happened to read and article in Smithsonian magazine about Venus flytraps. It mentioned the Green Swamp in southeastern North Carolina as one of the best places to go to see them in their native habitat. In fact, the area around Wilmington, North Carolina (and into South Carolina) is the only place the plants natively grow.

This year was our third visit to the Green Swamp, managed by The Nature Conservancy. Last year it had been very hot and very dry and was not as rich an experience as the year before. This year was another good one. It has been a very warm summer but it has also rained enough that there was a lot to see.

Drosera sp. (Sundew)

Drosera sp. (Sundew)

Milesia virginiensis (Yellowjacket Hover Fly)

Milesia virginiensis (Yellowjacket Hover Fly)

Dionaea muscipula (Venus Flytrap)

Dionaea muscipula (Venus Flytrap)

Sarracenia purpurea (Purple Pitcher Plant)

Sarracenia purpurea (Purple Pitcher Plant)

Libytheana carinenta (American Snout)

Libytheana carinenta (American Snout)

Peucetia viridans (Green Lynx Spider)

Peucetia viridans (Green Lynx Spider)

I’ll start with the sundews. There are a number of Drosera species and those we found were just off the parking area beside the partially dried pond. They are small and if you were not looking for them, you might not notice them at all. An entire plant is only a few inches across and tall and the red hairs that hold the drops of mucilage are not obvious against the dark earth. Once you know what to look for and where to look, however, they are easily found. Getting a good picture isn’t all that easy and basically means lying on the damp ground. Still, I’m please with what I got.

My next image is a yellowjacket hover fly (Milesia virginiensis). Between areas of long-leaf pine savanna are pocosins, or shrub bogs. In one of these we came upon this fly, which I mistook for a wasp of some sort at first, until I realized it only had two wings (order Diptera, the flies, literally means “two wings”). In fact, this fly mimics the southern yellowjacket (Vespula squamosa). It was fairly dark under the trees so this isn’t as sharp a picture as I’d like.

The third picture is what brought us to the Green Swamp in the first place. We didn’t see Venus Flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) at all last year. I assume they were still here but with the drought, they were not nearly as obvious. Also we walked a different route, which may have been the reason. In any case, these are pretty hard to spot until you know what to look for. They are small, only a couple inches across, and blend in well with the other vegetation. Just after we found these, we met another couple who were walking back out and who hadn’t seen any. We pointed them out and they were glad to have met us.

In the open traps on this plant you can see reddish spots, which is where the tiny trigger hairs are located. Two trigger hairs must be touched in succession or one hair touched twice in rapid succession before the trap will close. Once it closes on an insect, the insect is digested, which provides nitrogen for the plant growing in this nitrogen- and phosphorus-poor environment.

I really like the pitcher plants in the Green Swamp. There are at least two species here. This photo is of the purple pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea). This plant has short pitchers, only about four inches tall, but their dark color makes them fairly easy to spot. They also have flower stalks that are about a foot and a half tall. In this photo you can see the water that has collected in the pitcher on the right as well as the hairs on the upper portion to “guide” insects downward into the trap. Since these are so happy here in the hot south, I find it interesting that the other place we have seen pitcher plants growing is in Newfoundland.

I’ll finish with a couple insects. First is an American snout butterfly (Libytheana carinenta, one of the brushfooted butterflies, Nymphalidae). It perched nicely for me on the panicle of a small shrub. I actually got some closer images but its snout was hidden behind one of the flowers. In this image you can see, if you look carefully, the coiled proboscis.

Finally, but not least by any means, is the Green Lynx Spider (Peucetia viridans). They are fairly easy to find in the Green Swamp. All you have to do is look for a yellow pitcher plant (Sarracenia flava) and there is a good chance one of these beauties will be waiting atop the operculum (the cap over the pitcher).

They are a little shy so if you touch the pitcher they are liable to run away, but they will generally come back fairly quickly. Also, there are enough of them that if you want a good picture you shouldn’t have too much trouble. These pitcher plants are a foot or 18 inches tall, making them perfect for photographing the spiders.

I did actually get some pictures that are a bit closer than this, including some where the spider didn’t quite fit in the frame, but I thought this image was more illustrative. They are such a beautiful green color and so fierce looking with their spiny legs. The lynx spider doesn’t spin a web but is a hunting spider, catching insects that are drawn to the pitcher plant on which it lives. They are not only found on pitcher plants, but live in lots of other areas but this is the only place I have seen them. They are certainly well suited to it.

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