Pond Lobster

Another discovery. I was out by the pond looking for my husband’s missing sunglasses and was distracted into taking a little walk by the pond shoreline where it is mucked with mud. Spotted a least three different animal prints and when I looked down into the water over by some boulders where Lindley once spotted a muskrat, I saw the red carcass of a crayfish. Looked almost like a miniature lobster.
It took a while to get the stench out of my hands.

Fruitful plants

Our town has just completed a natural resource inventory. Every time my husband and I are out and about walking on the property we discover a new plant. Now many of the plants that flowered earlier in the spring are now bearing fruits (not edible to humans) of various sizes, shapes and colors. Ah! I wish I had my Uncle Paul’s botany skills. Uncle Paul was a botanist in Zug, Switzerland. I met him when I was eighteen and an au paire for the summer. He showed me pages and pages of his notebooks filled with pressed plants and notations. As I child I used to excel at memorizing the names of things, but now with a fuzzier memory it can be a struggle.
On our evening walk the other day I spotted this plant with white fruits that look like yogurt covered raisins.

Frogs at Night

The grasses by the pond are thick and high now, hiding a variety of low-ground life such as frogs. When you step you can see movement in the grass at the mud-level. This evening we went in search of frogs, hoping to see a Leopard Frog. We did find this Pickerel Frog.

Bubbling Through the Gardens

I read recently that bubble bees are on the decline in England. Overly intensive farming, gardening methods that has destroyed their natural habitats have contributed to this decline. On our land, however, the bubble bees seem to be thriving. I caught one resting underneath a sunflower early this morning. They buzz around our flower and vegetable garden and amongst the thistles at the edges of the forest.

I have always admired bubble bees and their docile quality and chubby yellow and black bodies.

I knew there was a reason I decided to let the clover flourish in our gardens.