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Here and There…Now and Then |
Mushroom
As promised in my last post, here is another photo of the mushroom in my back yard, without any flying menace distracting from the fungal beauty. The mushroom appeared a few days ago and this morning it was lying on its side, exposing the gills on the underside.
Mosquito on a Mushroom
I went out this morning to take some pictures of a mushroom in my back yard. It had fallen over and that gave me a nice easy view of the gills on the underside of the cap. So, I’m lying in the wet grass with mosquitoes buzzing in my ears when I notice that one has landed on the mushroom. So, I took a few of that. Later I’ll post one of just the mushroom.
Did you know that there are some 3500 species of mosquito worldwide? Also, both male and female adults feed on nectar and plant juices but it is only the females that feed on blood because a blood meal is usually required for development of eggs. How about this: Carbon dioxide, expelled in the breath of animals, attracts female mosquitoes that are looking for a blood meal. They detect carbon dioxide in the air and travel upwind to the source. So, want to stop attracting mosquitoes? Then stop breathing. Mosquito facts taken from BugGuide.net.
Colored Pencils
When I got home from work today I noticed this bundle of freshly sharpened colored pencils. They were sitting on the dining room table with the afternoon sun shining in on them and making the colors bright.
Danaus plexippus (Monarch)
Across the street from the kousa dogwood in yesterday’s post there is a large buddleia hedge. I couldn’t resist stopping to take pictures. In addition to this female monarch (I guess that makes it a queen?), there were eastern tiger swallowtails (Papilio glaucus) and a huge number of Painted Ladies (Vanessa cardui. This monarch only flashed her wings at me once when I was ready. All the other pictures show the underside of her folded wings.
Cornus kousa
The kousa dogwood is a nice alternative to our native flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) for a number of reasons. One is that it is less susceptible to dogwood anthracnose (Discula destructiva). On the other hand, it flowers later and there are not as many good pink flowered varieties. When it comes to fruit, I think the kousa wins, though. This is a tree in our neighborhood and it is absolutely covered with fruit. I marvel at it every time I drive by. The fruit are edible, by the way, in case you are in the woods and need something nutritious and don’t care if it has no real flavour.
Clouds
I almost didn’t take any pictures today but when I realized that, I quickly shot a few of clouds. Sorry, not really much to look at but they were actually kind of pretty in real life. I did also take some dashboard-cam pictures later but none of them are worth much so you’re stuck with clouds.
Dorothy, Hannah, and Kendra
There isn’t a lot that can be said about this picture other than it’s so nice that Dorothy has such great friends. Since there isn’t a lot else to say, I won’t say a lot else.
Chrysoperla (Lacewing) Larva
Cathy found this little thing (it is about 5.5 mm long) crawling on our kitchen counter. I didn’t recognize it so I figured I should take its picture. I convinced it to crawl up onto a piece of paper and then put it in the freezer. I sort of wish I had known what it was, though, and put it outside. This is the larva of a lacewing and one of the most voracious aphid eaters around. So, if you find a little think that looks like this, don’t freak out. Carefully move it to your garden and be glad.
Mug Shot
Dorothy wanted to go to Ikea to pick out a bookcase this evening. She’s finished painting her room and is ready to move back in so we decided a bookcase was a reasonable request. Off we went. We did find a bookcase and Dorothy picked out a mirror but the mirror was out of stock.
I brought my camera, as I do much of the time now and found that Ikea is a great place to look for patterns.
Eumenes fraternus (Potter Wasp)
I see these fairly often but this is the first time I’ve gotten a decent picture of one. This is on the tiny red flowers of painter’s palette (Persicaria virginiana) in our back yard. it’s also one of the first good pictures I’ve taken of these little flowers, now that I think about it. They really are small but add a red haze over the variegated foliage.
Cathy, Dorothy, and Margaret
We had our wonderful friends, Krystal and Mike, over for dinner this evening, along with Cathy’s mom (who is much more than a friend, of course). They don’t like having their picture taken, however, so, although I took a few pictures of them, I’m posting one without them. So, if you know them, just imagine them off to the right, ready to eat.
Junonia coenia (Buckeye)
This is a buckeye butterfly. Seen with its wings open it is particularly beautiful. The underside of the wings are not nearly so nice but it’s still a pretty little thing. It fluttered away from me a few times and then landed here and let me get quite close, but only with its wings held together. This was taken in the late evening so I had to use flash to get enough light.
Asclepias tuberosa
On August 16 I posted a picture of large milkweed bug nymphs (Oncopeltus fasciatus) on a milkweed seed pod. I was out in the garden again this afternoon and see that they are still there, although the seed pods have opened up and are spilling their seeds.
Condiments, Bombay Bistro
Dorothy and I went to Bombay Bistro for dinner tonight and enjoyed a meal of chicken tikka makhani and paneer matar accompanied by garlic nan and sweetened with mango lassis. A very nice meal and a nice time with my lovely daughter. I took a few pictures of the meal and some of the decorations at the restaurant but I like this one of the condiment tray best. The green is the one I ate most of.
Papilio glaucus (Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, male)
It was a bit late in the day before I went out to take pictures so the light was a bit low. I didn’t take a tripod but the problem was more with the subject moving than anything else. Butterflies don’t often sit still when they are feeding. I managed to get reasonably close to this tiger swallowtail but his wings were fluttering and he was moving about the whole time. I also saw a sphinx moth (most likely genus Hemaris) but the pictures of that are too blurry to be worth much.
Lyla, Eshe, and Stephanie
It was nice to have a few of our college-age students with us at church this morning. Here are three of them who will be heading off tomorrow — Lyla, Eshe, and Stephanie.
Treetop Adventure
We spent the morning today with my family at the Go Ape course at Lake Needwood in Rock Creek Regional Park. I was fun and everyone had a good time, although I won’t deny that there were a few moments when some of our group were less sure they really wanted to be there. Here is a picture of Dorothy, having crossed one of the longer bridges and ready to move on to the next, which as one of the trickier crossings with hanging platforms that swung a bit. That’s not to say any of it was really hard. Since you are firmly attached to an overhead cable, you can always just sit down and pull yourself across. But you can make it more challenging by taking your weight off that tether and pretending it isn’t there.
Iris
Since I posted a picture of Stephen, I thought I’d post one of his sister Iris, as well. With Ph.D.s for parents and older brother, she decided to change things up and is well on her way to an M.D.
Sir Stephen
Have you heard of the Society for Creative Anachronism? According to the blurb on their web site:
The SCA is an international organization dedicated to researching and re-creating the arts and skills of pre-17th-century Europe. Our “Known World” consists of 19 kingdoms, with over 30,000 members residing in countries around the world. Members, dressed in clothing of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, attend events which feature tournaments, royal courts, feasts, dancing, various classes & workshops, and more.”
Well, our nephew Stephen is one of them. This is him, sporting the armor he made (the metal helmet was purchased) working with his slapping dummy (see The Master of Disguise). I think I’ll leave it at that, except to say that his armor, while not necessarily enough for actual edged weapons, was pretty impressive. Oh, and perhaps it should be pointed out that in addition to dressing up like a medieval knight, he recently earned a doctorate in biostatistics.
Honeysuckle
Flowers of one of the prettier ornamental honeysuckle vines. This one is growing in my brother’s back yard and, I suspect, drawing hummingbirds.