serenity

I forgot how long it takes me to try to figure out exactly what kind of bud, bug, bee or tree I have photographed. So while I am spending time consulting various field guides, I can at least upload some recent scenery shots. It’s not hard to identify nice views.  

meeting up with Summer

Winter was supposed to be a time to catch up on indoor projects like identifying and posting pictures of lake inhabitants; however, winter dissappeared right along with spring and here I am a couple weeks into summer with dozens of new pictures waiting for their chance to be posted.

In this picture, I was trying to get a shot of the dragonfly that had landed on my oar. Not until I looked at the picture after it was taken did I notice a damselfy had flown into the picture as well.

winter scenes

went to the lake to pick up some old photos that I want to eventually scan and include in this blog regarding the history of the lake. We just had a half foot of fresh snow.

where did fall go?

this was taken a few short weeks ago lying in a row boat looking, basically straight up. with the currently, unseasonably cold weather (highs around freezing, lows in the teens), I am missing the fall weather.

English Yew

While moving rocks around this weekend, I noticed a twig of needles on the ground. They were similar in appearance to the Eastern Hemlock I had identified last weekend, but, without doubt, different. I looked up to find the source of the needles and to my surprise saw these cool red "berries" all over. The seed is inside the red aril (no cones on this evergreen) and except for that red skin, all parts of the tree are poisonous to both human and animal. I tasted the aril and as the book says, it's kind of sweet (trusting soul aren't I?).


This little find just fascinates me. We have two rows of 5 trees each of this particular evergreen. They are behind my sister's backyard and my mom has always referred to them as hemlocks.

They had to have been planted at some point as they are certainly not native and in fact, our area is colder than that where these trees are known to survive, but they've been there for a least 50 years. It's like I just got to know a long time neighbor.

Eastern Hemlock

One success I did have in tree identification last weekend, was the Eastern or Canada Hemlock.

The inverted, row of needles on the twigs was very helpful. I like when nature provides an obvious, differentiating characteristic that even an amateur could notice :)

woodwork

Sometime after its' creation, the lake became known as Beaver Lake. Here is some evidence of the appropriateness of the name. While, as a nature lover, I don't like the idea of intentionally killing animals, I have little problem knowing that beaver trappers are allowed on the property given the increase in the beaver population and the damage they've been doing to some beautiful trees.