Cottage Renovations

[OT from cottage renovations]

we don't often get snow this early in the season, and if tomorrow's forecast holds it will be melted before the day is out. 

(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

snowy façade

Center Street

the snow accretes to good effect onto twigs, leaves and berries. 

lonicera

Ridge Road

upper field

the reason for heading out in the first place was to see what effect the snow squalls and lighting were having on the treeline between the upper and (what remains of the) lower fields.  these thumbnails really don't do justice to the moody atmosphere ... click on through for a better view. 

treeline recedes into the snow


the break in the hedgerow

walking on through the break, nearly ignored by a few deer ambling by, for once I found the highway interchange construction project to be neither an auditory nor a visual blight. 

the upper field's most prominent tree presented a ghostly aspect, snow and light combining in a way that made it impossible to stop for just one image. 

[OT from cottage renovations]
[first image crossposted to photogrove]

the Grove is not just known for its trees, it is defined by them.  our East and West woods are zoned for forest and the almost all of the land, in public and private ownership alike, is wooded. 

a contrast from this pattern is provided by the fields to our E.  we're still battling in court for part of the upper field to be set aside and protected as a legacy open space preserve and buffer against the development and highway construction that awaits the lower fields. 

(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

Upper Field

even on first acquaintance the upper field's one large tree is striking.  it has the ill fortune to have grown upon the portion of the field for which development is inevitable.  the developers always tells us "such an impressive tree, of course it will be spared" but all the site plans I've ever seen show its spot cleared and built upon. 

watch what they do, not what they say

why is the field so important to the Grove? 

our treeline is impressive in its own right but when seen across the field it takes on an ancillary role to the skyscape above, providing a balance of the majestic and the humbling to our beautiful setting. 

[OT from cottage renovations]

with a Ridge Road cottage porch in the background this plump fellow was munching away on rose hips from the dreaded invasive Rosa multiflora.  with such a cheerful countenance as this how could one complain about its participation in the spread of the pest plant? 

(click through this thumbnail for higher resolution image)

upper field

[OT from cottage renovations]

take a walk through the field and the teasel is easy to find: the stalks are easily more than 2 m high, towering over the prevailing line of brush top even as it rises in the absence of mowing or cleansing fire. 

their shape and form are fascinating, leading one to wonder whether they inspired the designers of the Jetsons' urban environment.  looking at them, one thing is clear: this is one species that's doing its best to attract airborne pollinators (more on that later). 

what they attracted in today's late afternoon sun was somebody bumbling through the field with camera and tripod.  there's no sound track so let's just agree that had you been within earshot of my encounters with nettle and multiflora rose you would have heard the praises of long trouser cuffs and sturdy fabric.  yeah, that's right, I'm sure that's what I said. 

(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

upper field

Dipsacus fullonum

[OT from cottage renovations]

in Japan a shimenawa is a straw rope with white zigzag paper strips (gohei), used to delimit boundaries of sacred objects or sites and can be seen on torii gates or around sacred trees and stones. 

(image gacked from hotweb.or.jp)

much of Shinto is incomprehensible to gaijin but I've always thought this aspect to be worthy -- surely the Grove has no shortage of spots where they ought to be used. 

(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

upper field

in our woods it's a different story.  Japanese wisteria has spread unchecked through stretches of the East Woods, posing the most serious invasive species threat we are facing.  this images could have been taken in any number of spots but as it happens they are of the upper field hedgerow as seen from Ridge Road. 

I'm so used to taking images of small things that the size of these tendrils may not be readily apparent: the vines making up these strands are each 1½-2 inches in diameter. 

wisteria

[OT from cottage renovations]

(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

upper field

Daucus carota

[OT from cottage renovations]

(click through this thumbnail for higher resolution image)

upper field

Cirsium __________

so we have these thistles growing in the field.  Cirsium is a genus containing 93 species that epitomise the old saying "never send an ignoramus to do a botanist's job" (or something to that extent). 

my first  thought  guess was was Cirsium virginianum or Virginia thistle, but its profile in the USDA Plants Database gives the distinct impression that we're not within its range -- who am I to contradict the government?  second guess is C. pumilum or pasture thistle.  if that doesn't hold up, well, there are another 91 to choose from and it's getting late. 

place your bets if you will but I'm going to catch some Zs, pursued I'm sure by nightmares of unclassifiable thistles (except for artichokes, Cynara scolymus, which I can readily identify and the gastronomic properties of which I am always happy to subject to further testing, whatever the sacrifice). 

[OT from cottage renovations]

(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

Upper Field

I really can't help going back to wander through the clusters of goldenrod ball galls scattered through the upper and lower fields.  the parasite only spends about ten days outside the gall before dying off; the young go on to repeat the cycle.  the galls come in more variety than one might think: most are on a single stalk but here's one with branches coming out of it in multiple directions. 

it
also
makes
a
fine
vertical
composition
as
seen
from
below
with
the
afternoon
sky
for
a
backdrop

[OT from cottage renovations]

(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

Upper Field

the field has an abundance of cauls.  they come in a variety of colours and surface textures. 

morning and midday had an abundance of full sun, but by mid afteroon overcast had set in.  cameras are like human eyes: you aren't supposed to point them directly into the Sun.  under these atmospheric conditions it was possible to do just that, capturing both sun and backlit treeline. 

in these images the solar disc was magnified by light scatter to about four times its size as actually observed. 

[OT from cottage renovations]

having house guests two weekends in a row has been a treat.  last weekend earthyshadow came up from GA and this weekend The Professor was here from FL after a conference. 

yesterday's image posting was incomplete and I might as well admit that a couple of images didn't make it because I accidentally deleted them after having pulled them from the camera.  so after seeing The Professor off I headed over to the field to reshoot.  the penalty was: no light.  the compositions had been all about outline and shadow anyway but yesterday's blue skies were a very different background from today's moody grey overcast. 

(for best results, click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

hedgerow gap between upper and lower field

bittersweet

no leaves, no berries, no colour, no texture:  nothing but shape and form. 

lower field

teasel

it's hard to miss teasel, the way it pokes up into the sky.  under normal conditions the most prominent features are the texture of its honeycomb tufts and the play of light between structure and shadow. 

take all that away and it's still worth a second and third look. 

the fields are part of a tract that includes some woods, within which can be found the ruins of an abandoned house.  clumps of daffodils have come up along the creek at the bottom of the slope, vestiges perhaps of a former garden. 

on its grounds this small drama is playing out: a vine has snapped this twig from a tree, but on it pods have opened and seeds have scattered. 

upper field

paths runs along the N side of the hedgerow and around the perimeter of the lower field. 

this part of the upper field is not included in the portion we're trying to have preserved as legacy open space.