Monthly Archives: October 2019

10,000 Afghani Note

Photograph taken on Monday, October 07, 2019 by Henry
10,000 Afghani Note

10,000 Afghani Note

I’ve recently been going through some scanned photographs and putting labels on them. These were taken by my father-in-law in the 1950s and early 1960s in Afghanistan, a place many people could not have found on a map until the last 20 years or so. I’ve gotten so I have a pretty good idea where the different photographs were taken and I recognize some of the important personages, such as King Mohammed Zahir Shah, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran, Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolai Bulganin of the USSR, and Vice President Richard M. Nixon. I also have gotten familiar with many of the landmarks. On this 10,000 Afghani note (sadly not worth much) is a detail of the Great Mosque of Herat. On the reverse is the Arch of Qala-e-Bost, outside Lashkar Gah.

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Eupeodes americanus (American Hover Fly)

Photograph taken on Sunday, October 06, 2019 by Henry
Eupeodes americanus (American Hover Fly)

Eupeodes americanus (American Hover Fly)

Cathy and I worked in the yard this afternoon. As I’ve mentioned before, there’s a lot to be done in the yard but I think we’ve made progress, at least. I took a break and took some pictures in the back yard. There are some bracket fungi on the ground above where there used to be a silver maple. They come up every year as the roots rot. I also took some pictures of some butterflies on the flowers around the patio. Then I saw this American hover fly (Eupeodes americanus) on the begonias growing in a pot on the patio. I was able to get some pretty decent photos of it as it moved from flower to flower.

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Margaret, Shaima, and Inez

Photograph taken on Saturday, October 05, 2019 by Henry
Margaret, Shaima, and Inez

Margaret, Shaima, and Inez

We drove to Virginia today and Margaret met two friends for lunch at a Persian restaurant called Shamshiry. The name comes from comes from the Farsi word for a curved sword from the Middle East. While they had lunch, Cathy and I ran some errands. We tried to go to a bakery but were stymied by an Octoberfest that had some streets closed to auto traffic. We made our way around that and headed back to pick up Margaret. I took a few photos of her with her friends, Shaima, and Inez, one of which is my photo for today.

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Cupido comyntas (Eastern Tailed-Blue)

Photograph taken on Friday, October 04, 2019 by Henry
Cupido comyntas (Eastern Tailed-Blue)

Cupido comyntas (Eastern Tailed-Blue)

I went outside today and walked around a bit in the lot next to my office. The weather was fine and it was nice to be out in the sunshine. I startled a belted kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) as I walked towards a vernal drainage pond. It’s often completely dry by this time of year but it had more water in it than in previous years and it hasn’t all evaporated yet. Above it, I was able to get close enough to get a pretty good photograph of this eastern tailed-blue (Cupido comyntas). They are pretty common but easily missed, as they are fairly small and flit around near the ground. They’re worth looking out for, I think.

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Chrysanthemums

Photograph taken on Thursday, October 03, 2019 by Henry
Chrysanthemum Mix

Chrysanthemum Mix

Although chrysanthemums (a.k.a. mums) are fairly hardy herbaceous perennials, most of us grown them as annuals, bringing them out in the fall to add color to an otherwise less colorful garden. The Rudbekia are done blooming and even the Buddleia are starting to fade. There are still roses on the more ever-blooming varieties, but most of the summer flowers are done for the year. Enter the humble and yet lovely chrysanthemum. We have a few in pots that have been given or that we bought. This one is sitting outside our front door and greeting us as we leave and again when we return home. Who could ask for anything more?

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Sunset

Photograph taken on Wednesday, October 02, 2019 by Henry
Sunset

Sunset

I looked around for something to photograph this evening and settled on a flour canister. It’s made of brushed metal (probably aluminum) and has the word FLOUR in a nice, mid-century modern font running vertically down it. I took ot out onto the patio and got some nice photos.

Relaxing on the patio after that, I watched the western sky begin to color and I realized I wasn’t going to use my flour canister photo today. I had to move around the yard to get a good angle between the trees, but I think you’ll agree it was worth it.

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Crataegus viridis ‘Winter King’

Photograph taken on Tuesday, October 01, 2019 by Henry
Crataegus viridis ‘Winter King’

Crataegus viridis ‘Winter King’

When I got rid of the nearly dead Colorado blue spruce (Picea pungens) in our front yard, we wanted to replace it with something small but with a little more interest. We decided on a hawthorn and last week I ordered this Crataegus viridis ‘Winter King’ and it was planted yesterday. The leaves are a little dry but it seems pretty healthy and I’m looking forward to the white blossoms in the spring as well as the fruit that you can see is on it now. The green hawthorn is more disease resistant than most hawthorns and ‘Winter King’ was selected, among other reasons, for that reason. This variety is also “noted for its profuse bloom of flowers, larger fruits, silvery-barked stems and more attractive fall color (purple and scarlet).”

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