KOALAS

Phascolarctos cinereus

A far cry from Wild New England,

these Koalas were observed in the manna gums, Eucalyptus viminalis,

as we drove along an old road in Ottway National forest, Victoria.

I was disappointed in the quality of my photos -
blaming it on the Koalas as they perched themselves so high in the branches (instead of my poor eyesight.)

Look at those sweet little incisors,
used to grasp the Eucalyptus leaf before it's passed to the premolars for snipping,
then on to the molars where it is shredded...
then swallowed...
then perhaps regurgitated for re-shredding...

Since they sleep about 20 hours per day, we were thrilled to see them moving about.

Unfortunately, the shots of them reaching out, swiping for leaves were way too blurry.

I hate to get all cute, but they are irresistibly adorable furballs.

 Check out those ferocious-looking claws. 

The forepaws have two opposable digits - all the better to grasp small branches.

 I think she's ready for us to move on so she can go back to sleep.

day one

Hey Ma, Look what I almost didn't see in Australia!

Three Small Quilts




Hey Ma! Look at these - I've been spray-painting on old sheets to make three small quilts for the "old folks."

First, I tried maple leaves.

 

 


 



The middle one is done with poplar leaves, large-tooth aspen -

 and the end ones are made by spraying over spread-out gravel from the drive.







The smell of the spray-paint is awful but after a good washing, the fabrics were soft and sweet.




I put them together (all machine-stitched)
and, for the backing, used really old (but still good) fabric
from the 40's we found in the attic on High Street.

 






The Blue One

 



The Oak One





And The Triangle One



SO, what do you think? I can't wait to get my hands on some more old sheets.

and thank god for imperfectionism!



spring patchwork

Spray-painted leaves, seeds and gravel.

Well Ma, within this rather scrappy collection of sightings from recent wanderings, there seems to be no story, no rhyme or reason in their relation to one another - so I'll just lay them out for you like the yet-to-be-stitched pieces of some crazy patchwork quilt. I love the way my real patchwork came together and gave it to August for her birthday last week.

The first flower to really catch my fancy this year was Claytonia virginica. I'd never before found it, maybe because in wetter times I was unable to walk across the riverbed to that part of the floodplain where they flourished. I was quite taken by their sugary pink stamens - and the tiny yellow bugs which I didn't even see 'til the pictures were enlarged back at the computer.

Claytonia virginica, spring beauty

Remember, if you double-click a photo, it will enlarge
Press "ESC" to return to regular view.

Berberis vulgaris, the barberry that crowds out our native woodland plants, harbors hoards of deerticks, and pricks at your legs, has an interesting flower and edible berry. I've seen wild turkeys nibbling on them.

Is this an Antennaria plantaginifolia pussytoes growing in the woods?
 What are the white bracts?
 Below are its basal leaves.

I walk and walk sometimes in the woods without seeing a single flower
 so it's such a pleasure to cross one's path now and then,
a delightful break in the grays and browns.
The Erigeron was nearly hidden between two rocks. 

pretty unopened buds

An exception to the above observation
 of not seeing many blooms in the deep woods
 are the Canada  mayflowers which are prolific
 - though many are without inflorescences.

Nipmuck Trail  runs along Basset Bridge Road before cutting back in by Mansfield Hollow Lake.

The Solomon's seal, Polygonatum,  in black & white.

I call these "bones" - old washed out tree roots beside the lake.

She's TRYING to get her ducks in a row.

Trientalis borealis - gotta love that name.

In the bog-waters at Natchaug are lots of Chamaedaphne, leatherleaf.

and along the edges I find the black (I think) chokeberry, Photinia melanocarpa. 

I never get tired of looking at them.

Maggie spotted this lonesome-looking rhodora, Rhododendron canadense,
on the far side of Willington's quaking bog.
I rarely come across this twiggy, still-leafless gem.

In the moat surrounding the bog lives our gorgeous native Calla palustris.

And the ladyslippers seem to like the outer edges 

as do the young wild cherries, Prunus serotina,  below.

Back in the neighborhood with Flora Jo, I got to smell the wistaria.
We don't see it much in these parts but then you don't have our lilacs.

The hickory leaf-bud looks like a flower. From a distance I thought I was seeing a tree full of red blossoms!

Sassafras is a very cool tree in my humble opinion.

I hope you've enjoyed these snippets of wild New England -
 for me, they could only be improved upon by your company.
Oh - Flora just wanted me to remind you
and anyone else that might be listening that
 dogs are people too.

Long Wave - Winter 2012

2012 has been an odd one so far. These leaves lie beneath a thin sheet of ice in the first week of January.

There had been no snow since the end of October, and while we had nighttime freezing, most days were above freezing, many in the 40's.  

Since the middle of the pond wasn't frozen, I let Flora play on the icy edges.

 She yanked out a frozen-in stick.

It really did seem strange to be in the winter woods with no snow cover. I looked at mosses and liverworts that would have otherwise been covered. Below is a leafy liverwort, Lophocolea, growing on a barkless old log. They are so so tiny - the leafy branches are less than 1mm wide.

I checked on them regularly and finally found them fruiting on April 6th. Again, I can't say exactly how tiny these are but invisible to my naked and glassed eyes. Only with the loupe could I see the sporophytes. And my wonderful 105mm macro lens.

If not for the early (5pm) setting sun and rising moon, I'd hardly believe it was January.
I walked nearly every day in these same woods near my house, the days gradually lengthening, on the lookout for new life.

In late February I heard the hoo-hoo-hoo-hooooot of the barred owl and saw one alight as I passed under a grove of hemlocks. They are absolutely silent when they take off. If not for their huge wingspan, it would likely have flown unnoticed. I did not get a picture!

In March, AT LAST, I find blooming - the Corylus (hazelnut). The soft, buttery yellow catkins caught my eye at first

and then the bright red spots of their pistillate blooms.

Though the long wait for spring seems just as long as previous years, I find, in looking at older photos, that the hazelnut usually blooms almost a full month later. A few days later I find skunk cabbage in full stink and that's about two weeks earlier than last year.

One week later, March 22, I find some lovely willows - both a male

 and a female

These I photographed last year on April 8th, so that's about a two-week difference.

In the first week of April, this year, I find the Carex pensylvaticum and

and not a whole lot else - so I look at the mosses

 and some of the thallose liverwort, Conocephalum, which I'm so fond of.

The next day, sitting atop a rocky outcrop, I'm delighted to find some dwarfed-looking chickweed, saxifraga and bluets thriving in the crevices.

Before getting back in the car, I like to sit on a stump in the meadow while Flora mucks around.  I really hated that my memory-stick ran out as she lept to capture the cattail tops.

 and this is Flora (highly saturated!) She was swaying back and forth on the tussock sedge before losing her balance.

A good time was had by all and now I leave you with this message from the marsh:

Let me know if you decipher it! Thanks for browsing my blog.