Black Silk Stove Polish

Photograph taken on Thursday, October 04, 2018 by Henry
Black Silk Stove Polish

Black Silk Stove Polish

How often do you polish your stove? Here’s what you need. I’m pretty glad that I don’t have to cook on a wood stove or in a wood fired oven. That being said, there’s something nice about a wood oven in a large, country kitchen. I’m not sure that I’d appreciate it so much if I had to polish it, though. Note that this product has a warning on the side that says, “CAUTION: This polish contains naphtha, unsafe when exposed to heat or fire.” That’s certainly a worthwhile caution. Make sure the stove is cool before using.

Here’s an interesting exercise. Can you name three words that are pronounced differently when they are capitalized as a proper noun? One, obviously, is polish/Polish, with the capitalized version being the adjective related to or the language of Poland. I know of two other such words.

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Mile-a-Minute Vine (Polygonum perfoliatum)

Photograph taken on Wednesday, October 03, 2018 by Henry
Mile-a-Minute Vine (Polygonum perfoliatum)

Mile-a-Minute Vine (Polygonum perfoliatum)

Mile-a-minute vine, also known as devil’s tail and tearthumb, is an herbaceous annual vine in the buckwheat family. If you’ve ever encountered it you will know where the name tearthumb comes from. It is native to Asia but has become naturalized throughout the area and is a serious pest. Think of bindeed on steroids and with seriously barbed stems but without interesting flowers. It does have interesting fruit, I have to admit. These little berries are less that 5mm across but they are such a clear, beautiful blue, I cannot help but enjoy them. That’s not to say I would ever consider growing this for the ornamental value of the berries, of course. But they are still pretty.

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Funnel Weaver (genus Agelenopsis)

Photograph taken on Tuesday, October 02, 2018 by Henry
Funnel Weaver (genus Agelenopsis)

Funnel Weaver (genus Agelenopsis)

The funnel weaver spiders are out in huge numbers at this point of the summer. Especially on damp mornings, when the dew is heavy on the ground, their webs are obvious (but they can be seen pretty well at all times). Outside our front door is a concrete bench (that we call The Stone Table) on which Cathy has various and sundry potted plants and various ornaments. This spider has built a fairly elaborate web along the side of a blue pot. I’ve had a hard time getting a good photo that shows the funnel in their web but I think this one does it pretty well.

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Turkeys in a Cemetery

Photograph taken on Monday, October 01, 2018 by Henry
Turkeys in a Cemetery

Turkeys in a Cemetery

As we left our AirBnB this morning, heading for home, we passed this little cemetery and saw a flock of wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) among the grave markers. We stopped and took some time to walk around the cemetery a little and enjoy the quiet, as well as the birds. As I walked across the top of the cemetery, they moved slowly towards and then through an opening in the fence behind them. We used to see turkeys a lot more often than we do now. In Pennsylvania we would see them somewhat regularly and also ring-necked pheasants (Phasianus colchicus, the common pheasant of Asia, introduced into North America in the late 18th century). We almost never see them any more, so this was a treat for us.

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Red Dragonfly

Photograph taken on Sunday, September 30, 2018 by Henry
Red Dragonfly

Red Dragonfly

We had a good day with Dorothy and a few of her friends today. We went to church and then to lunch. It was nice to spend some time with Jonathan (who lived with us the summer before last) and Andrew (the other half of Kindsman), as well as Taylor and Rachel.

We hung out with Dorothy at her dorm for a while and I went out into the woods next to it to take mushroom pictures. When I got back, Dorothy called me over to get some pictures of this beautiful, red dragonfly. I haven’t had a chance to identify it yet, but I’ll probably start with red skimmer and go from there.

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Chicken Coop Dedication

Photograph taken on Saturday, September 29, 2018 by Henry
Chicken Coop Dedication

Chicken Coop Dedication

It’s homecoming weekend at Gordon and although were weren’t attending a lot of the scheduled activities, this is one we couldn’t miss. Dorothy and two friends, John and Bobby, submitted a proposal for a chicken coop to be built and maintained behind the road halls and it was approved. The run and coop were built a couple weeks ago and the hens arrived last Sunday. Today was the official dedication of the Village Chicken Coop, also known as the R. Judson Carlbnerg Memorial Chicken Coop.

Admittedly it wasn’t the most attended event of the day but it was on the official schedule and those who came all seemed to have a good time. The chickens got a pumpkin, freshly chopped into pieces and there was cake and sparkling cider for the humans. It was also a beautiful day for it. Yesterday was rainy and chilly but today was pleasant and sunny. We couldn’t have asked for anything more. They are already producing eggs so the project is off to a good start.

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Cathy at Gull Pond

Photograph taken on Friday, September 28, 2018 by Henry
Cathy at Gull Pond

Cathy at Gull Pond

Our first full day visiting Dorothy was a busy one. We had breakfast in Beverly at Cityside Diner, then back to the campus for a convocation in the chapel where Dorothy was one of the students being presented an award (and yet we still don’t know, specifically, what she did to earn it!), and then a walk in the rain while Dorothy was in class. We visited the chicken coop that Dorothy and two friends got approval to build behind the road halls. After that we walked to Gull Pond and back and the color of the light was very nice. As you can see in the reflections, the trees are just starting to turn colors. It was also quite a bit cooler than what we’ve been having at home, barely getting up into the low 60s.

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Tappan Zee Bridge

Photograph taken on Thursday, September 27, 2018 by Henry
Tappan Zee Bridge

Tappan Zee Bridge

We drove up to Massachusetts today to see Dorothy for Homecoming weekend. We were there at Homecoming weekend her freshman year although we didn’t actually go to any of the scheduled events. She was just getting used to being away at college and wanted to show us some of the places she had discovered and to introduce us to some of her new friends. As a senior, this year is quite different. We still don’t have plans to attend a lot of the scheduled events, but we’ll do a few. Some of the friends are the same and there are a plenty of new friends.

Anyway, I prefer to take the slightly longer (by about 14 miles) route up the Garden State Parkway and across the Tappan Zee Bridge and the Merritt Parkway rather than taking the George Washington Bridge and sticking to Interstate 95 across New York and Connecticut. When we drove up in August of 2015 they were building the piers for the new bridge. Now we’re driving across the new bridge and you can just see a part of the old bridge on the right. This new bridge is officially named after former New York Governor Mario Cuomo but I think its name will always be the Tappan Zee Bridge, to me.

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Monarch (Danaus plexippus)

Photograph taken on Wednesday, September 26, 2018 by Henry
Monarch (Danaus plexippus)

Monarch (Danaus plexippus)

I had a short break in the usual busyness at work today so was able to get out to take a few pictures. I got a few of a great blue heron (Ardea herodias) and a belted kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon). I was able to get photos of both of them in flight but they were both pretty far away and they pictures aren’t all that great.

Before I came back inside I walked past some buddleia growing in a flower bed in the front of my building. There were a few monarch butterflies ((Danaus plexippus) flitting around on them. Although the garden was in the shade of the building, there was enough light to get some pretty reasonable photos.

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Anthurium andraeanum

Photograph taken on Tuesday, September 25, 2018 by Henry
Anthurium andraeanum

Anthurium andraeanum

The Anthurium genus contains about 1000 species—the largest genus in the arum family—but only two of them are grown for their bright red spathes. This is Anthurium andraeanum, a native to Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuelan Antilles, and the Windward Islands. Common names include flamingo lily and painter’s palette, although I’ve only ever known it simply as Anthurium. Like many plants in the Araceae family, Anthurium species contain calcium oxalate crystals (CaC2O4(H2O)x) and are therefore poisonous to humans. They’re pretty, though.

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Sunflowers

Photograph taken on Monday, September 24, 2018 by Henry
Sunflowers

Sunflowers

These were given to Margaret for her 92nd birthday and are quite pretty. We have them in a tall, blue vase that we were given as a wedding present and they are photographed here in front of the cherry china cabinet that I’ve used as a backdrop a few times since we moved it to our dining room. Sunflowers are great, not just because they last so long in a vase, but that certainly is a useful trait. Their combination of ray petals and the small flowers that make up the center of the flower head are just really pretty. And the color is nice, too.

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Widewater Sluice

Photograph taken on Sunday, September 23, 2018 by Henry
Widewater Sluice

Widewater Sluice

As mentioned in the previous post, we went for a walk on the C&O Canal this afternoon. It was raining very lightly as we walked out from the parking lot across from Old Angler’s Inn and up to Widewater. This is a sluice used to drain the canal when necessary, about half way up the Widewater section of the canal. There is a footbridge over the section of water and you can just make out the sluice in the center of this photo. After this was taken the rain started coming down quite hard so we made our way back to the car and were quite drenched by the time we got there. But it was really lovely being outdoors and not too hot.

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Cathy

Photograph taken on Sunday, September 23, 2018 by Henry
Cathy

Cathy

It was raining quite hard when we left for church this morning. So hard, in fact, that we used umbrellas to get to the car. Generally we don’t bother for such a short walk but it was hard enough that we’d have been quite wet if we hadn’t used them. After church it was still raining but we decided we wanted to be outdoors. We parked across from Old Angler’s Inn and walked up the tow path to Widewater. It was raining lightly as we went and we stopped fairly often to look at wildflowers and other plants as well as rocks and the river. This was taken on a rock beside the path high above the Potomac River just a little way up the tow path from the Angler’s Footbridge.

I took a pair of photos like this and then switched to the wide angle lens. Those pictures show the river as well as lots of trees and rocks but aren’t as good of Cathy. I like this picture quite a bit better.

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Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)

Photograph taken on Saturday, September 22, 2018 by Henry
Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)

Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)

I took pictures in the yard this evening. I started with pictures of this butterfly, a painted lady (Vanessa cardui) on the buddleia just into our back yard. It was moving about, skipping from one flower cluster to another but I was able to get a few nice shots from the side (head-on photos of butterflies aren’t very satisfying). I took some pictures of an eastern bumble bee (Bombus impatiens), also on the buddleia. I took pictures of two different purslanes growing in a hanging basket by the back patio.

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Small Cricket

Photograph taken on Friday, September 21, 2018 by Henry
Small Cricket

Small Cricket

As you walk through a lawn, chances are there are insects jumping away from you much of the time. We often walk through life not noticing things like that. Many of the insects are too small to be of any note. Slightly larger insects, like this cricket, might catch our eye but still not attract much attention. I went out today specifically looking at the little creatures all around and was able to get fairly close to this one before it hopped away. I haven’t had a chance to look it up to get any sort of identification beyond “cricket” but that’s probably good enough for now.

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Hortiboletus rubellus

Photograph taken on Thursday, September 20, 2018 by Henry
Hortiboletus rubellus

Hortiboletus rubellus

I stopped at Rockville Cemetery on the way home from work today and took a few pictures. I got a few nice shots of grave markers and thought about posting one of those but I decided to go with the fungus among us. This is, I believe, a ruby bolete (Hortiboletus rubellus). It is not terribly poisonous but not really considered to be edible, either, as it has a soapy taste. I’m not about to trust my identification skills enough to eat it, in any case. It’s a pretty mushroom, though, and happily growing in the shade of a few large oak trees.

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Callicarpa americana (Beautyberry)

Photograph taken on Wednesday, September 19, 2018 by Henry
Callicarpa americana (Beautyberry)

Callicarpa americana (Beautyberry)

The American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) in our back yard is covered with purple berries. The blooms are pretty insignificant but the berries are quite striking. There are some beetles that I see on it occasionally but today there were none that I could find. I also took some pictures of the rose growing outside our front door as well as some glass fish-net floats in a bowl on the stone table, also outside our front door. Technically, this is a weed, as we didn’t plant it, but I don’t mind it where it is and it’s not terribly aggressive, so I’ll leave it to grow in peace.

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Peck’s Skipper (Polites peckius)

Photograph taken on Tuesday, September 18, 2018 by Henry
Peck's Skipper (Polites peckius)

Peck’s Skipper (Polites peckius)

It was dark and raining this morning and into the early afternoon but by 5:00 PM or so the sun was out and it was a beautiful day. I wouldn’t actually have minded the clouds staying around because our air conditioner has called it quits and a little less direct sun would have been welcome. Still, it was nice to get out and look for insects to photograph. This little fellow, a Peck’s skipper (Polites peckius), was on some blue mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum) in the front garden. I also got some pictures of an eastern tailed-blue (Cupido comyntas) but they weren’t very sharp. Quite shy, those little blues.

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Crap Aftershave

Photograph taken on Monday, September 17, 2018 by Henry
Crap Aftershave

Crap Aftershave

Seriously, would you buy an aftershave called “Crap”? I mean, what would you expect it to smell like? I understand, it’s meant to be a reference to craps, the betting game played with a pair of dice. But really, an aftershave, which is meant to evoke a mood by way of an odor, using the name crap? I don’t think so. But apparently someone thought this was a good idea and got it all the way through the corporate process to a finished product. We found this in the back of the closet in Cathy’s parents’ house. I’m not going to comment on the fact that someone obviously bought this. I should also note that it doesn’t appear to have been used. Anyway, maybe it doesn’t smell as bad as it sounds.

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Black-and-Yellow Argiope (Argiope aurantia)

Photograph taken on Sunday, September 16, 2018 by Henry
Black-and-Yellow Argiope (Argiope aurantia)

Black-and-Yellow Argiope (Argiope aurantia)

Beside the hose faucet on the front of our house is a largish spider web. It’s been there for quite some time and I took a picture of this lady a few weeks ago. She was much smaller then and I might have thought it was a different spider, except Cathy’s been watching her, every time she uses the hose. Needless to say, she comes in from the other side and does her best to keep her distance. The spider, a black-and-yellow argiope (Argiope aurantia), is a good inch or more in length, not counting her legs. She’s a beauty, don’t you think?

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