Nature « Stoneview

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De-stashed

007 009 I’ve been mulling over what to do with this special indigo dyed fabric for quite some time now. I bought it in Hawaii on the big island at the Dragon Mama quilt shop (it seems to be all about futons now). It was in their special kimono fabrics section and was quite pricey so I only bought two small pieces. Yesterday I sewed them up into a little barley hull pillow. I love the chrysanthemum but the backside is really pretty too.

018 015 While I was hanging laundry I spotted a fisher cat running up the neighbors pine tree to her den and this intriguing insect with gorgeous gilded wings.

Spring in my neighborhood

To the post office, 4/13/2010

A sprinkle a day

12-8-fence 12-8-garden 12-9-more-than-8 Am I the only one old enough to remember that commercial? We were only supposed to get a wee bit of snow yesterday before it turned to rain but the warm air came more slowly and we ended up with over 8 inches by lunch time.

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow

12-6-trees 12-6-branches 12-6-sunny It really IS winter!

No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face John Donne

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Another visit to the rail trail

Having fully recovered from our last visit to the Nashua Rail Trail we pulled out the bikes again to enjoy another lovely sunny day. This time we made the trip a good deal shorter in hopes of preventing another shoulder flare and so far it seems to have done the trick. Yesterday was quite hot (well for this summer anyway) but we were out early enough that it was still bearable and there was a nice breeze. I do need to find myself some proper shorts as I again ended up with some uncomfortable abrasions. It also seems like my tires need pumped up each time as they were a bit too flat making it tougher to ride than it needed to be. The Canada geese were hopeful we'd toss them some bread when we stopped for a drink but quickly realized none was forthcoming and turned tail for more fertile feeding grounds.

Nashua River Trail

Jason recently discovered an excellent bike trail not too far away that's flat enough for me to get my bike legs back without killing myself on the hills in town. Yesterday we packed up the bikes and headed over to check it out. It's a quick 20 minutes drive and then there are 11 miles of relatively flat paved trail with ever-changing scenery to entertain you. We managed about 13 miles yesterday which meant we turned around at about the halfway point. My knees were really screaming the first ten minutes but then felt fine until about mile 8. I think I definitely need to get myself a seat pad now that I'm convinced we're going to continue using the bikes. I'm more than a little sore even though my seat does have springs.

In which we meet Rufus

Being a great fan of Rufus and animal shelters in general I really wanted to donate when I ready Jenn's Calender Boy post. When she wrote that they'd be within driving distance and proposed a meetup I immediately agreed. How often do you get to meet such a hunky calender celebrity? We met at one of my local favorite dog friendly places and had a grand afternoon tromping about in the woods. I watched the geocaching pros find several caches and we ended the afternoon with some of the best ice cream I've had to date in New England (well except for homemade which is still my fave but wow was this ice cream good and reasonably portioned as well). The weather was perfect and the company most entertaining. Thanks for trekking out my way guys!

See a horseshoe, pick it up…

What? Isn't that how the rhyme goes? Yesterday we went out to Great Brook State Farm in search of pink lady slippers and a bit of exercise. The orchids were out in spades along with horses, pups and families. Alice even spotted a white lady slipper which is a rare albino version of the pink variety as far as I can tell. A bit further down the trail we found a horseshoe which I carried home, washed and installed on the garden shed for luck. Maybe that means I'll have a bumper crop of veggies this year? More photos in the "Alice and John" set here.

Blueberries and violets and daffys, oh my!

Yesterday morning started off with some blueberry pancakes as per Daniel's request. We lost our lovely stock of fruits we'd picked last summer back in November when the power was out but I picked up some nice frozen ones at Trader Joe's. The bacon is from our meat CSA and I've found it cooks best in the oven at 400F for about half an hour. The pancake recipe is a bit different from the Old Black Witch's but it's just as good.

Blueberry Pancakes

2 large eggs
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup melted butter (or oil)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup blueberries
1 teaspoon cinnamon

In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. In a small bowl, stir together wet ingredients and then pour them into the larger bowl, mixing just until combined. Ladle 1/4 cup at a time into a preheated skillet over moderate heat and cook until bubbles begin to slow, flip and cook until set through.

Some weeks ago I reserved passes for the Tower Hill Botanic Garden which was hosting a violet show this past weekend. I haven't grown violets in quite some time but I miss them and was hoping to pick up a few. I also had a little aloe for Amysue that I was hoping to deliver as I remembered she lives quite closeby and is in fact the person who inspired me to get out and visit Tower Hill. There were all sorts of lovely violets and many forms that were new to me. I was delighted to find leaf cuttings for sale so I bought 6 different varieties, some cutting mix and several wee pots. I think I horrified the violet lady by telling her I'd always just stuck a leaf down in a pot of dirt to root and she went into this big explanation of the proper way to do it.As soon as we got home I set them up and compromised with her by following this method. I would have used some rootone rooting hormone but I couldn't find it anywhere so we'll just see what happens. If they sprout it'll be somewhere in midsummer I think.

Attached to the main building is a lovely section of plants under glass with many delightful citrus plants, a few water features with fish and several other lovely hothou
se beauties. You can see more of those in my Flickr folder here. After that we tromped around the surrounding trails finding many little bulbs in bloom, some very high wind chimes and the field full of daffodils Amysue told me to be sure not to miss. Despite a lot of debris from the recent ice storm is was a gorgeous sunny day and we quite enjoyed walking about the grounds. We'll definitely be back often!