Cottage Renovations

[OT from cottage renovations]

a few weekends ago a working party in the East Woods provided the opportunity for some incidental photots -- incidental because by the time I wandered over there it was mostly over. 

(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

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East Woods

let the chips fly	slow release

L:	bark chips are flying as volunteers spread mulch along one of the trails
R:	nearby, a different species of volunteer is doing its bit to bring about the slow release of nutrients into the soil

[OT from cottage renovations]

our invasive species problems aren't limited to the likes of English ivy, garlic mustard, honeysuckle and wisteria.  once again the Gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) population is on the increase and the State and the Town are intervening to protect our trees from this threat. 

(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

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East Woods

this morning a helicopter chartered by the Maryland Department of Agriculture passed over the East Woods and part of the town, applying Bacillus thuringiensis.  a second application on behalf of the Town will follow in a week's time. 

they come through just a few inches over the treetops, making a tremendous racket in an Apocalypse Now sort of way, but are often difficult to spot through the tree canopy they have come to protect. 

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[edit:

it turns out that not all Gypsy Moths are harmful: one variety is known to be beneficial though their numbers have been in decline due in part to habitat loss though primarily to predation from the starboard.]

[OT from cottage renovations]
[select images crossposted to texture]

things warmed up some after the ice storm passed through but Saturday was still overcast in a dreary rather than restful sort of way.  today was another story: the sun came out, and what a difference it made. 

(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

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the Circle

out in front there's the sawn off section of a hollow log, left there by Town maintenance forces after a nearby tree had to be taken out.  the cats love to perch on it and the squirrels eat nuts there. 

a bit of the ice was still there, caught in the morning light along with saw marks and tree rings. 

the week's ice and snow hasn't bothered these snowdrops in the slightest.  it seems a bit premature for pollinators to be out there but some species must be active else these blooms would serve no purpose other than decorative. 

Galanthus nivalis

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East Woods

this rock is hosting a determined growth of moss.  there's nothing particularly special about it, I just liked how the texture stood out in morning light. 

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the Circle

over on the other side of the circle is the stump of one of the great oaks, its nutrients being collected and passed for future cycles by these fungi. 

decomposition

the forestry committee has completed a survey of Town trees; those in the inventory are marked with these blue tags. 

some squirrel seems to have spent some time gnawing on this one though it is unclear whether it was done out of disapproval of the committee's methods or from attraction to the shiny bright tag. 

[OT from cottage renovations]

a week ago the Jack in the Pulpits were starting to bloom in the West Woods.  now they're coming out in the East Woods as well. 

(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

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East Woods

shape and form, and what they do with the light available on the forest floor, are completely fascinating.  click through to the larger images to see the details of what's going on. 

   


Arisaema triphyllum

[OT from cottage renovations]

for a few days now I've been keeping an eye on the patches of trout lilies in the East Woods.  their distinctive speckled leaves have come up through the leaf carpet where the spring beauties are already bringing forth wispy drifts of colour, and while squishing about today (two inches of rain over the past couple of days made wellies mandatory) I finally saw one that is preparing to come into bloom. 

(click through this thumbnail for higher resolution image)

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East Woods

Erythronium americanum

[OT from cottage renovations]

I really should know better than to head out in search of some particular image.  it's a sure-fire preventative. 

the East Woods are right across the road out back but I don't tend to go there very often.  by now there should be some early bloodroot in bloom, so I wandered into the Grove's Forest Reserve to see if any could be found. 
of course not. 

what I did find was that the understory growth seems to have been given over to the dreaded rosa multiflora.  dealing with it is not likely to be within the scope of volunteer effort and budget available to the Grove.  too bad the many deer can't be trained to eat the stuff but, alas, they amble past it all the time on their way to our gardens. 

(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

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East woods

the good news is that in many places there are stands of daffodils, just waiting to bloom.  after the next few days' snow, one presumes. 

daffodil shoots

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tramping through the cold mud used up much of the afternoon, more of it than I had intended.  but as the late light slanted down it passed through this fallen leaf and I was pleased to have happened by at the right moment to catch it.  the bloodroot is still there, somewhere, and travel schedule permitting I'm hoping to find it. 

[OT from cottage renovations]

(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

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the first view, as seen this morning through ripply old glass (none too clean) and the East Woods just moments before dawn:

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the second view, as seen through pre-Raphaelite eyes: 
(the window through which the view above was taken dates from the same period as the painting below)

Eos
by Evelyn de Morgan (1850 - 1919), 1895
Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia SC

[OT from cottage renovations]

the cottage fronts onto the Circle, but vehicular access is via the paved road out back.  strictly speaking it's the 400 block of Pine Avenue, but it is shown on maps and is known as the 400 block of Grove Road. 

Thursday morning at the very moment of sunrise (07:40 local) the upper branches of this sycamore were already bathed in the first rays of the day's sunlight while its base was still wrapped in shadow and ground fog.  I captured this image from the back deck (in my nightshirt, but nobody was around to have been offended and anyway the exposure was 1/200 sec. -- it's not like I was out there for much longer than that). 

(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

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Pine Avenue a/k/a Grove Road

sycamore

I tried two different crops of this image: the first (wider) one is trying about the tree and the other, with more foreground detail (or clutter) is about the setting. 

the thumbnails really don't adequately convey what it was like; you should click through twice to get to the full size images. 

which do you prefer?