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First Evening Of Spring
Along a trail, a ways up the mountain above my cabin, Common Blue Violets (Viola sororia) rise up to greet the evening. The first evening of the new season, spring 2023. There are 87 species of violets native to North America, or perhaps even more. Scientists are unsure of that number. Of those species, there…
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Ruby Slippers
A storefront in Roanoke and what do I see? A pair of RUBY SLIPPERS just waiting for me. (I can do it too, my dear amigo Gar-ee!) ________________________________________________________________ If you would like to receive my daily blog posts by email, sign up here!
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The Season Ahead
Flip the pages of the calendar ahead to June and this is what you’ll find in some of my gardens. Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) is a wonderful flower to attract pollinators, and what better example to find than a Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus). _________________________________________________________ If you would like to receive my daily blog posts by…
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March 17th
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Oxalis stricta. ____________________________________________________________ If you would like to receive my daily blog posts by email, sign up here!
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Early Spring And A Butterfly
The Mourning Cloak Butterfly (Nymphalis antiopa). One of the first butterflies that you’ll see in early spring, or during warm winter days. They’re able to accomplish this because they overwinter as adults in locations such as tree cavities or under loose tree bark. Emerging as an adult rather than having to mature from a larval…
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A Tiger Beetle
This one, the Six-spotted Tiger Beetle (Cicindela sexguttata), which I love to find along the trails up here. A lovely color. Metallic, emerald green, though some lean toward a blue-green. A beneficial insect, consuming insects and other arthropods that are pests in our gardens and woods. _____________________________________________________________ If you would like to receive my daily…
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3.14159265359
Happy Pi Day! Remember Heidi Bakery? Sponsor of The Pick Temple Show. I was on that program when I was in 1st grade. Ah, the memories! ______________________________________________________________ If you would like to receive my daily blog posts by email, sign up here!
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Blueberry Buds
Since autumn they’ve been waiting there at the ends of the branches. Waiting through the chill of winter. Biding time till spring. Now that spring is nearly here the buds are swelling. Oodles of buds. Blueberry bushes in front of the cabin, in front of the woodshop, in front of the vegetable garden. With just…
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An INCH!
Snow this morning. First a nice slow gentle falling. Then lots of graupel that made the ground look like it was covered by exploded bits of styrofoam coolers. Then snow, snow, snow. Lots of snow falling from the sky. It covered the ground with a serious, measurable, inch of snow. The most snow we’ve had…
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Time
Wikipedia says, “Daylight saving time, also referred to as daylight savings time or daylight time, or summer time, is the practice of advancing clocks during warmer months so that darkness falls at a later clock time.” Oh dear, it’s going to happen again. Don’t forget. Tonight. _______________________________________________________ If you would like to receive my daily…