Monthly Archives: April 2021

Daffodils

Photograph taken on Friday, April 02, 2021 by Henry
Daffodils

Daffodils

Cathy, Dorothy, and I went up to Pennsylvania today to do a bit of work in the front yard. There is a small garden bed along the front of the cabin and it had become very overgrown. At the work day on March 13 we cut the small trees that were growing in it but today I dug up the roots of some of them. It was hard work and made a little harder because I wanted to avoid killing the peonies, irises, and lilies that were starting to come up among them. I didn’t take many pictures on this visit but I did take a few of the daffodils growing on the dam.

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Black Snake

Photograph taken on Saturday, April 03, 2021 by Henry
Black Snake

Black Snake

Cathy, Dorothy, Abba, and I went for a bit of a hike this afternoon. We want to walk to a place we call Bluebell Island, although it doesn’t actually have a name. It’s an island and it’s covered with Virginia bluebells, though, so the name seems fitting. The trail we took was quite overgrown, though, with roses, briars, and all sorts of other things. We had brought clippers but between the weeds and the wet, we eventually gave up. We came back by a slightly different route and were just coming out of the woods when we happened to come across this black snake. I’ve never seen this before, but he ‘rattled’ his tail as though he were a rattlesnake. Apparently that’s something they do sometimes. It was a bit freaky. Dorothy and I especially enjoyed Cathy and Abba’s reactions. Let’s just say that they were not big fans.

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Dyeing Easter Eggs

Photograph taken on Saturday, April 03, 2021 by Henry
Dyeing Easter Eggs

Dyeing Easter Eggs

I bought a dozen eggs specifically for Dorothy and Abba to dye for Easter this evening. Dorothy wanted to try using natural dyes. She used onion skins (a mix of yellow and red onions) to make a brown color, beets to make red, red cabbage to make a surprisingly blue color, and turmeric to make yellow. They turned out quite well. Here you can see two of them, the turmeric and the onion skin dyes. She left the eggs in them overnight and when they came out, they looked amazing. When the dried they lost some of their intensity so she rubbed them with a very light coating of vegetable oil, which made them look remarkable again.

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Easter

Photograph taken on Sunday, April 04, 2021 by Henry
Henry, Dorothy, and Cathy

Henry, Dorothy, and Cathy

We didn’t go to the sunrise service today but did go to the 11:00 outdoor service at Fourth Pres. It’s the first time Margaret has been to a morning service since the shutdown began back in March of last year, although she’s been to an evening service. Dorothy went to the sunrise service and then got there early to get us a good spot in the parking lot for the 11:00 service. It was a good service and we were all glad we went. When we got home, we took pictures in the front yard before going in. We don’t have a lot of good photos of the three of us, so I’m glad to have one more.

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Easter Eggs, Part 2

Photograph taken on Sunday, April 04, 2021 by Henry
Easter Eggs

Easter Eggs

As seen in the post from yesterday, Dorothy dyed Easter eggs using natural dyes. This is what they looked like after soaking in the dyes over night, being allowed to dry, and then being rubbed lightly with a little vegetable oil. The colors were really very intense. I especially like the blue, which came from boiled red cabbage leaves. The other colors were from beets (the red), turmeric (yellow), and onion skins (a mixture of red and yellow onions, producing brown).

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Geum ‘Rustico Orange’

Photograph taken on Saturday, April 10, 2021 by Henry

Geum ‘Rustico Orange’

Geum ‘Rustico Orange’

Geum ‘Rustico Orange’

Cathy, Dorothy, and I went to Stadler’s and Johnson’s this morning and the girls bought a bunch of things. I mostly took pictures although I did buy one Santolina chamaecyparissus (lavender cotton) to put in a container. We’ve not had great success with Santolina in the ground because we don’t have good drainage but I thought it might do well in a pot. I like this little perennial and thought I’d share the picture, even though we didn’t actually buy it. There is a small garden at the entrance to our neighborhood and there are a few of these growing in that. They really catch the eye.

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Erythronium americanum (Yellow Trout-Lily)

Photograph taken on Sunday, April 11, 2021 by Henry
Erythronium americanum (Yellow Trout-Lily)

Erythronium americanum (Yellow Trout-Lily)

In our second attempt to reach Bluebell Island, we walked south on the Seneca Bluffs Trail from the parking area on Montevideo Road. Looking at the map, this comes close to the creek just below the island. We found, unfortunately, that when you get to that point, you’re on the top of the eponymous bluffs. We could have worked our way down to the creek but decided it wasn’t worth the effort. We could see that on the far bank of the creek the bluebells (Mertensia virginica) were blooming in great profusion. We saw other wildflowers and the hike was a success, in spite of the fact that we didn’t get to our planned destination. This yellow trout-lily (Erythronium americanum) is one of our prettiest spring flowers, photographed under some large Canadian hemlocks (Tsuga canadensis).

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Evening Light

Photograph taken on Thursday, April 15, 2021 by Henry
Evening Light

Evening Light

The hour or so just after sunrise and just before sunset are among the prettiest times of day. The light isn’t always special but when it is, it’s very special. Even a neighborhood scene like this, looking up the street from our house can be beautiful with the late afternoon light on the tops of the trees, turning them a wonderful orange green. This photo doesn’t really capture it completely but if you’ve seen it, then maybe it will be enough to remind you of what it’s like.

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Lavandula pinnata

Photograph taken on Saturday, April 17, 2021 by Henry
Lavandula pinnata

Lavandula pinnata

We met our newlywed friends Josh and Lizzie today for lunch. It was, we think, the first time we’ve eaten in a restaurant since the Covid lock down started. We sat outside and though it was a little cool, it was really nice to be able to sit and visit with them. On the way home we stopped at Fehr’s Nursery, mostly just to look around rather than to buy anything this time. I like this little lavender (Lavandula pinnata, sometimes called fern leaf lavender). It’s apparently a native to southern Madeira and the Canary Islands and I’m not sure how hardy it is, but it’s a pretty thing.

The lavender we have in our front garden, Lavandula stoechas ‘Anouk Supreme’, is starting to come back to life. I think we probably should have trimmed it before it started to grow, so it may not have as many blooms on it this year as it did last. It put on quite a show last year and I’d like to figure out the proper care so we can get that more regularly.

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Bluebells with Rob and Susie

Photograph taken on Sunday, April 18, 2021 by Henry
Bluebells with Rob and Susie

Bluebells with Rob and Susie

We met up with our good friends, Rob and Susie today and went for about a three mile walk through the woods. We were heading towards where we knew there would be Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica) and it was a lovely walk. We came upon a patch of yellow trout lilies (Erythronium americanum) as seen on Saturday, May 15, 2021. We had to walk further than I expected to get to the bluebells and we could have parked closer, but the walk through the woods was really nice, so it wasn’t a waste.

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Seneca Bluffs

Photograph taken on Sunday, April 18, 2021 by Henry
Seneca Bluffs

Seneca Bluffs

As mentioned in today’s earlier photo, we walked on the east side of Seneca Creek today, on the Seneca Greenway Trail from Seneca Road to a little ways past Berryville Road. Actually, we went off the main trail shortly after Berryville Road and walked along a smaller trail just beside the creek. That’s where the photo of Rob, Susie, and Cathy was taken and also where this photo of the Seneca Bluffs was taken. There is what appears to be a wier or the remains of a small dam across the creek a little below where this shot was taken. You can see the Canadian hemlocks on the bluff, which doesn’t look nearly as high as it did from the top.

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Josh, Julia, and Lupin

Photograph taken on Sunday, April 25, 2021 by Henry
Josh, Julia, and Lupin

Josh, Julia, and Lupin

We visited our friends, Josh and Julia today and met their new dog, Lupin. They’ve moved into a nice house and it was great to see them getting settled in. They also helped us with some furniture moving, which was really nice. We’re trying to get a few things moved out of a storage unit and they got a couple other guys and provided the muscle (to go along with my brains?). Seriously, it’s really a lot easier when you have more people. Coming up on their third anniversary (and it’s already past by the time I’m actually posting this). Happy new house, kids!

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Columbine

Photograph taken on Friday, April 30, 2021 by Henry
Purple Columbine

Purple Columbine

This columbine (Aquilegia) is growing in a container just outside our front door. It’s a almost certainly a hybrid of some sort but I really don’t know anything about its parentage. It’s a pretty, pale purple color that looks especially nice in the shade. The purple goes very well with the bright yellow centers. Any time you can combine purple and yellow, it’s a winner. These are very hardy plants and grow in relatively poor conditions, which makes the ideal for a garden, especially in a shady spot.

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