Space in the Trees

Funny how I can’t read my phone without my glasses out on a walk but I spot THIS on the packed gravel road. Spotted Salamander ahead of schedule. According to Wikipedia it shouldn’t be out for another month or so. I did my best to scooch it across the road in the direction it was headed and to a safe space near a sapling poking through the snow. Good luck little salamander!
Two photos of a black salamander with yellow spots. One photo from above and the other looking at eye level.

Fresh air feels good! A little snow, some mosses, and the beautiful texture of White Pine bark. How are you enjoying your Sunday?

Winter can be beautiful! Photos of bubbles frozen in the ice on a stream, the stream and its snowy banks.

I feel blessed to have these beautiful tall White Pines always there watching over me. Makes for a beautiful sunrise.
Photo of tall pine trees with bright blue sky and the sun shining between their branches and trunks.

Yesterday the trees were coated in frozen fog. The birch trees looked especially beautiful. Photo of young Birch coated in ice, looking shiny.

There is nothing like a winter sunrise in New England. I love the beautiful big white pines across from us, and they make a beautiful silhouette against the pink sky and little fluffy clouds.

It’s very cold and quite windy but it was nice to get outside. The sun is shining and the snow is squeaky. Enjoy the sunshine through the branches of an Eastern Hemlock!

I love dusk in the winter with the snow. Some goldenrod dried from the fall and a little pine tree growing buds or cones.

I love seeing something in a new way. I’ve walked by these two big trees plenty of times and never noticed they where sort of entwined. The perspective changes though as you move around. The Hemlock is more in the space of the Oak it seems. I wonder what they say to one another. Do they feel safer when the wind blows, more than the large white pine or the other big hemlocks and oaks without anyone their daze nearby?

How it started, how it’s going.

A bit of love for Sunday evening. 🤎

It was frosty, but it’s beautiful!

Asters are underrated wildflowers. Look at these beautiful and subtle shades of color!

The rain made the leaves in the woods path so shiny!

How can you not love Goldenrod?! Don’t blame this yellow beauty for your allergies when it’s more likely the plain green ragweed setting it off. This bee was supper happy to find it too!

No words.

I found something new for me today! My plant id says it’s Whorled Wood Aster (Oclemena acuminata). It’s so decorate and pretty!!

I was excited to find a few of these Nodding Lady’s Tresses (Spiranthes cernua) in the field. They are so tiny! It’s a type of orchid apparently. Yay for native wildflowers!

I looooooove Spiraea tomentosa (Steeplebush, Rosy Meadowsweet). It’s kinda like a pink cousin to goldenrod - says my not at all a botanist brain. They are both sort of long, conical-ish and really made of lots of tiny flowers all put together. And they are native!!!
I have to admit I’m still a little hyper vigilant about finding more wasp nest since getting stung in the face last week. So far so good though.

Caught sight of this Hawk Moth (sphinx moth?) when I was grabbing the recycling barrel back in. I haven’t seen one of these in a long time. So cool! Definitely thought it was a hummingbird first.

Soooo may have had a near panic out for yesterday’s walk with when I saw this very pretty flower. It’s near a marshy area. Not a field or dry roadside. So… I was pretty sure it wasn’t Queen Anne’s Lace (I also forgot to look for hairy legs!). Was this Water Hemlock?! Because I learned from that Cicuta maculata is suuuuuper toxic. Like I’m not touching it, sure doesn’t belong in a bouquet toxic. I was also not wearing my glasses. I did manage a few photos though and tonight remembered to look it up. WHY must common names be so confusing? Because Hemlock Waterparsnip sounds pretty close! Thankfully my plant app says this is Sium suave and “Like most hemlocks, parts of this plant can be poisonous, and it is also very similar to far more toxic plants. Care should be taken around any species of hemlock.”
I’ll stick to Queen Anne’s Lace and the completely unrelated Eastern Hemlock (my favorite conifer). 🌲 Botany can be scary and fun and also exciting. Thankful for amazing folks on here teaching me more and more about native plants!

I am stupidly excited to find this native wild mint growing up back! My plant app says it’s American Wild Mint
Mentha canadensis

It’s now pouring rain and pitch dark out. This is as it got going before the rain. From 8:00 to 8:15pm. The wind has really picked up and my weather app keeps saying the lightning strikes are closer. Stay safe if you’re near the storms tonight.

Conifers are so cool. This one looks like a bottle brush. The remaining photos are a native plant called Common Avens or Geum aleppicum. I love the little bristly bit.

Mood. Photo of deep green tree line with puffy clouds and the sky going from orange to pink to blue.

The violets are so beautiful right now! There’s also these pretty little buttercups - called little-leaf buttercup.

Tiny flowers growing in the lawn. There are purple and white violets all over! The other little flowers I’d never noticed before.

When your 16 yr old son tells you to come look at the sky. 🧡

May you be as happy as a cat in a box!

Just one of the crochet & felted bags I donated to the 2023 Mascoma Project Graduation Auction. It ends tonight at 8pm Link in the comments!