Lunch Walk, Supper Walk

Today Jonathan and I went to a deli a couple of blocks from the office for lunch. We walked back via the back allies. I wasn’t intentionally looking for blooms, but once you’ve trained your eye to do that, it’s hard to shut it off. I found an American nightshade (Solanum americanum).

American nightshade (Solanum americanum)

I had always thought this plant to be deadly poisonous, but a new book I received this week – Nature’s Garden, by Samuel Thayer, says otherwise. Thayer holds that the ripe berries and the leaves are both edible and quite palatable. I will have to test his assertion later this year!

We soon ran out of alley and went back onto Main Street which has a row of Basswood (Tilia americana) trees. They were in bloom, so I stopped and snapped a shot.

Basswood (Tilia americana)

We finished off the day, and then headed home. Penny was very excited (as she always is) and was more than ready to go outside and chase sticks and/or balls. I put down my laptop and headed out the back door with my camera bag still slung over my shoulder.

First I went to the woods in the back where I found that the partridge berry (Michella repens) had bloomed sometime during the past several days of rain.

Partridge berry (Michella repens)

I took several shots. It was still very cloudy out so the light was dim. This is not normally a problem except that the tripod mount on my camera is stripped. I packed it full of Quicksteel (a steel-infused epoxy) so that I could drill that out and re-tap it later. But later hasn’t come yet! Also, I’m not sure where I put my set of taps. As a result of this shameful state of disorganization, I had to take these photos with the camera either held in my hand, or sitting on a rock. Some of them turned out pretty OK:

Partridge berry (Michella repens)

I also checked in on the Pipsissewa (Chimaphila umbellata). The flowers have still not opened for me, but they must soon!

Pipsissewa (Chimaphila umbellata)

These unripe blackberries are growing at the end of my driveway.

Blackberry (Rubus spp)

Then Beth called out to me with an irresistible question, “Dad! What’s this flower?” I rushed right over and saw my first Heal-all (Prunella vulgaris) bloom of the year:

Heal-all (Prunella vulgaris)

While I was taking that shot, she also found some birdsfoot trefoil, but I’ve already taken shots of that this summer. I may even have posted them. Instead, I spotted some white campion (Silene latifolia) growing amongst the sweetfern (Comptonia peregrina):

White campion (Silene latifolia)

and some sort of wild mustard (Brassica spp):

Wild mustard (Brassica spp)

These are supposed to be good to eat as well, and mustard can indeed be made from the seeds. I’ll have to try that one of these days.

I then looked for some cow wheat (Melampyrum lineare) that has a habit of growing nearby. I’ve been looking for it already this summer, but hadn’t seen any until today:

Cow wheat (Melampyrum lineare)

And just for good measure, I took another picture of some whorled loosestrife (Lysimachia quadrifolia):

Whorled loosestrife (Lysimachia quadrifolia)

By then Penny had chased her ball into the catchment pond (which is quite full again, thank you). When she saw that I was not going in after it, she did. And even though she was good and wet, I was ready to come in.

Luckily, she was just wet and not too muddy!

 

Dalibarda repens

I went back to work today. When people asked how I was feeling, I told them I was 74% better. I was asked then if I could be more specific, so I said, “I’m 73.84% better. (I rounded).” Ha ha.

I am feeling much better than I was, but I’m still not all the way back. I was exhausted by lunch time, but I pressed on and was actually somewhat productive.

When I got home I went out looking for blossoms, specifically, for some Dewdrop (Dalibarda repens). I wrote a couple of days ago that I had found one in bloom, but that it was in bad shape. It had only two of its five petals, and that’s still the case. But I also found another today:

Dalibarda repens

This is one of the nicer photos I have taken, and it is certainly the best I have ever taken of this species. This is another flower with white petals that blooms in shady places, and for me, those are very challenging to photograph. I had the camera in the fully manual mode so I could control the aperture and exposure time. I also had it mounted on a tripod and gave it the two-second delay so that it could settle once I let go of the “take the picture, please” button. I maxed out the f-stop so I could get the stamens and the rear petals in focus simultaneously, and I think it came out pretty OK. I uploaded it to the Commons and then used it as the main picture in the Wikipedia article. Then I did the one thing I should know better than to do. I nominated it as maybe a quality image on the Commons. If this is a decent photo, it will get approved. Otherwise (and more likely), I will be told with brutal honesty why my photo sucks so bad. Why on earth did I nominate it?

I also was surprised to find the Cow-wheat (Melampyrum lineare) in bloom today.

Melampyrum lineare

This flower always seems to be white on the outside and a creamy yellow on the inside. Not much else to say about it I guess?