The Little Things

As I get older, I find more nad more that it's the little things that make me happy. I tend to pass some of these things by, because they're not big and showy; it's easy to miss them.

There are lots of little things at Shabo-Mekaw (to find out more about our country getaway, follow the links at the bottom of this page) this time of year.   For instance, these 'mini-landscapes' that we often walk right over as we hike through the forest. If you stop to pay attention, though, they're really quite beautiful - nature's tiny gardens of shining club moss, sensitive plant, sorrel, and ferns.

False foxglove

 There are a plethora of mushrooms growing here, of seemingly endless types and colors. I've never seen this blue one before.

For whatever reason, this particular stand of joe-pye weed was covered with butterflies...

Purple-headed sneeze weed

Downy lobelia

 Sumac is a beautiful tree with pink or red fruits. I have no idea which species this is - there are 35, including the poison one.

 Naked-Flowered Tick-Trefoil (maybe) and Hairy Hawkweed. The flowers on both of these are smaller than the head of a thumbtack.

 I didn't have time to look up all the mushrooms, but they come in every shape and color. The orange ones are actually much brighter orange than they appear in the photo.

 Mist Flower

  Hoary Mountain Mint

Field milkwort

 Early goldenrod

The eastern rainforest - poplar, oak, mountain laurel, white pine, lots of ferns...

Waterlily pads and some kind of aquatic reed.

Queen Anne's Lace

 Ironweed

 Field Thistle

 Joe-pye weed and butterfly by the pond.

It's almost time to say good-bye to summer... sigh...

This Fall at Shabo-Mekaw

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you may recall that we had a bad storm this Spring, which brought a "micro-burst" (which I believe is like a small tornado) that took down several of our huge oak trees.

 Five or six of them were laying across the drive, and were just too large for my husband and I to handle, so we got a logger to come in and remove them.

Loggers only take the main trunk of the tree, however, so we were left with a lot of this kind of mess to clean up.

Larger branches were cut into firewood, while smaller ones were burned. Let's just say we won't need to cut firewood for a very long time.

 The log cabin looks so strange without the trees that used to frame it. To the left of it were two white oaks and a black oak.One of the white oaks was dead, and they were both very close to the cabin, so we decided to have them both taken down. During this process, the black oak was hit by one of the white oaks - which we knew was unfortunately very likely to happen.

The place looks even more naked because we had them cut a huge pine which was only a few feet from the front door, and had had most of its branches torn off by the fall of a tree across the driveway, which had been blown down in a storm a couple of years ago. Though these were all prudent measures to keep the cabins from being damaged, it still looks to me as if something important is missing. I'm sure I'll get used to it, though, in time.

We haven't had any rain to speak of for a while, and the water level in the Kinniconick is very low.

On this day, the weather was perfect - the sky a clear azure blue with a few puffy clouds, the trees beginning to reveal their fall colors.

These are plentiful down by the creek, and are actually kind of pretty - until you start trying to pull them out of your dogs' fur.

Cardinal flowers always grow near the creek in the late summer to early fall, the brilliance of their color standing out against the grey rocks.

Looking up from the bottom of this huge sycamore tree, I'm struck by the light's effect on the changing leaves.

Here, I'm standing on the island, gazing across the "swirl hole" towards our little "beach". As it rounds the bend  and splits to go around the island, there is very little water in either branch.

Even the flowers that have gone to seed still have their own kind of beauty...

Walking up the creek, I was able to go much further than usual, and even cross it without getting my feet wet.  Normally, the rocks you're seeing here are under water.

Fall flowers are not finished yet, and I'm surprised by all the different kinds growing here so late in the season.

Arlo set up a big ruckus, as he stopped up ahead of me and began barking, growling, and whining at something on the ground. Knowing his hatred of snakes, I was afraid he had found a copperhead, and hurried, though cautiously, to where he was. You'll notice that, in true Arlo fashion, he has already rolled in something black and slimy. What he was barking his head off at was an evil, horrendous, dog-eating box turtle, and a rather small one at that. Sheesh! Apparently his fear extends to all reptiles in general.

Sunny and Arlo have crossed the creek to investigate and are on their way back. You can just barely see Sunny swimming in the distance.

These are a type of lobelia; I've forgotten which species.

A wider shot looking up the creek...

Turning to look down the creek toward the swirl hole...

I hope you enjoyed the sights here at Shabo-Mekaw on this gorgeous fall day. If you're interesting in finding out more about our beautiful country get-away, there are more posts here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Happy fall (or spring, as the case may be), everyone!

Out in the Country

Yesterday we were out at Shabo-Mekaw, sanding and staining. I did get some time to go walking about by the creek, however, so I thought I'd share a few bits of what I saw. By the way, if you're not familiar with our beautiful country get-away, you can find out more by going here and following the links at the bottom of the post.

 The two cabins - one we renovated, one (the log cabin) we built from scratch.

 Little orange funnel-shaped mushrooms...

 Heal-All

Horse Nettle

 Smooth phlox

I have no idea what this; I can't find it in any of my tree or flower books. It's a very large bush or shrub. If you can identify it, please let me know!

To my great surprise, I found this rhododendron down by the creek, hidden by some rocks near the bank. I don't know how I missed seeing it all these years. 

As always, though always changing, the Kinniconick.

And of course, wherever I go, there they are - my boys, Arlo and Sunny.