Marvelous mallow

I've got such a backlog of photos to share, it's shameful. One flower that I finally got photos of this year was a lovely, large, showy hibiscus-looking flower that grows out in the middle of one of the fields on our road. It grows down in a low spot that tends to have its feet wet, so to speak, when we go through spells of rainy weather. It stands out not only because it's so gorgeous, but because it's pretty much the only flower of its kind in that immediate area.


I am still trying to determine if this is Common Rose-Mallow or Halberd-leaf Rose-Mallow. One way to differentiate between the two is to look at the leaf shape, but both types could have 3-lobed leaves. I didn't get great shots of the leaves, but they are definitely 3-lobed. I need to go back and see if the leaves are hairy or not - if they are hairless, then the ID is most likely the Halberd-leaf species (at least according to my handy-dandy National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Wildflowers of North America).


A not-so-great shot of the mallow leaves and blossoms
The seed pod can also aid in identification, but both rose-mallows have "many-seeded capsules," so that doesn't really narrow it down.


These dried out seed pods are from last year's flowers, mixed right in with the new flowers from this year. I guess I could snag a few and try planting them somewhere else closer to home.
They both prefer similar habitat (wet, marshy areas), so again, no help there. For now I will be content to simply admire how beautiful they are, but my learning antennae will be up to find the key to lead me to a positive ID.



Nice pollen. I have to wonder what evolutionary purpose these large petals, which can catch pollen, might serve? Is it to be a "landing pad" of sorts for the insects that are meant to pollinate it?

Does the stamen of this flower look like an elephant's trunk to anyone else?
P.S. A big thanks goes out to Dave, who mowed a path with the tractor so that I could get to these flowers. They are amidst very tall grass and dicey terrain, wherein I worried that I might encounter snakes or other surprise animals hiding out. I wasn't too crazy about the possibility of bushwhacking my way to said flowers, so my man helped me out. He's pretty nice like that. ;)

Colors of summer - a memoir

I've been obsessed with color lately. The fact that paint colors need to be determined for the rooms in the guestudio could have something to do with that. I think I made my final decisions tonight, though. To celebrate, here's a sampling of some colors I captured during our vacation to northern Michigan in early July. Nature's palette can't be beat.

A bird's labor (or: Anatomy of a Nest)

When construction of the guestudio was still in the early stages, a wonderful thing happened. As soon as the "bones" of the porch were up, a bird nest began to take shape in the rafters. I could not think of a more lovely christening of the building than that. It wasn't long before we found out that it was American Robins that chose this as their nesting area. I was quite surprised, actually, because I don't normally hear or see Robins up in our woods, at least not with much frequency.


Mama Robin, incubating eggs
Four eggs were laid in that nest, and as far as I could tell, 4 birds hatched. Unfortunately, we were gone on vacation during the time they were due to fledge, so I can only cross my fingers and hope that all 4 of them made it out successfully.


Mama Robin in a nearby Redbud tree, fluffing up a bit and asking me to kindly move away from her nest.
Fast-forward to mid-August. Construction has resumed on the guestudio after a hiatus, and the roof of the porch is finished with beadboard, closing off the space where the nest once was. Thank goodness our builders had a good enough sense about me to know that they shouldn't just toss that nest on the ground. Instead, they carefully removed it and placed it inside the building so I could have a look at it when I got home. Shortly after they relocated it I took it back outside and examined it. The architecture blew me away. For an animal with no opposable thumbs, this structure is nothing short of a miracle.


The nest, turned 180 degrees from its original orientation and settled on the porch railing so I could have a better look.
The following information about American Robin nest construction comes from the Cornell University's All About Birds website:

Females build the nest from the inside out, pressing dead grass and twigs into a cup shape using the wrist of one wing. Other materials include paper, feathers, rootlets, or moss in addition to grass and twigs. Once the cup is formed, she reinforces the nest using soft mud gathered from worm castings to make a heavy, sturdy nest. She then lines the nest with fine dry grass. The finished nest is 6-8 inches across and 3-6 inches high.

Dead grass - check

Rootlets - check

Twigs - check

Other material (part of a vining plant) - check

More "other material," strands of plastic, probably from the building construction - check

Lined with fine dry grass - check

"...soft mud gathered from worm castings to make a heavy, sturdy nest" - check

A strong, secure home in which to rear young - check. A beautiful sight to behold - you better believe it.

Killdeer Plains grab bag

There are still a few more images I want to share from the Killdeer Plains OCVN workshop that I attended last month.

I arrived in Upper Sandusky late Friday afternoon, where I met up with Nina to do a little exploring before the workshop got under way. Nina had attended the workshop last year, so she already knew all the hot spots and graciously shared them with me. We checked out several lovely areas at Killdeer that Friday night, and one of those areas brought me my first glimpse of Blue Dasher dragonflies. They assume an interesting posture from time to time that is know as the obelisk. It doesn't look unlike a gymnast doing a handstand on a pommel horse! It is thought to be a territory display, but it is also hypothesized to be a mechanism for regulating body temperature (both males and females will adopt this pose).


Male Blue Dasher dragonfly in obelisk pose atop a cattail.
Fast-forward to Sunday morning, when we awoke to a foggy, humid morning. There was a slight breeze, which is what I assume helped the fog to recede much earlier than I would have expected (we all met up at 7am that morning, and the fog was all but gone by 7:30, which is uncharacteristically early for fog burn-off in my experience). Luckily there was a little time for photography before our first session got under way that morning, as the dew made everything sparkly and beautiful beyond compare.


Squirrel-tail Grass, accentuated by the morning dew
Spiders often aren't on most of our radars unless we happen to cross paths with them, but just because we don't see them doesn't mean they aren't out there. The conditions that morning were just right to betray their presence... everywhere!

A cobweb festival! How many do you count?


Dueling webs?


Perfection
It really was a great weekend!

Singular focus

I watch butterflies flutter past...
listen to birds sing...
note that there's a cuckoo calling far off in the distance...
peek in on a snake that is slowly choking the life out of a small rodent body...
respond to the hummingbird that hovers in front of my kitchen window asking where the heck her sugar water is...

But every observation is hurried - greedily gulped down during breaks from the work we have been doing. The weather is hot and the butterfly sightings are good. The ironweed stands tall and quietly reminds me that it is still my favorite wildflower, despite that I lack the time to properly savor it.

We are building. Creating another special space in our woods. A space for me to work, a space for guests to stay when they come visit. A guest house, a studio. Or, as I have affectionately named it, the "guestudio."


The beginnings...

... of a shell...

... of a special place.
The construction has gone in phases, with the main framing being under contract to a local builder, then plumbing and electric handled by Dave and myself, and now shifting back to our builder for exterior and interior finish work. Then it will be back to Dave and me to finish up with painting, flooring, trim, fixture installation, etc.


The porch, already my favorite part of the whole structure.

Inside, there are materials everywhere! Emmett likes to keep us company while we work

Oh look, some of those materials are going into and onto the wall studs!
After working ourselves like crazy for 3 weeks, we are finally able to take a little bit of a break, but within a week or so we'll be back at it again when the pendulum swings back our way and we have to start painting. So while I have power back to my laptop, time is still a precious commodity. I have lots of cool photos to share, though, so I'll be back sooner rather than later.

To be continued...

I know I'm not obligated to provide an explanation for a blogging absence, but I feel like I had finally gotten back into a groove, and now it's been sidetracked. The main issue is that my laptop is temporarily without power, and since that's where all my pictures live, well, it's kind of hard for me to do a blog post without pictures. Durn AC adapter! I've got a new one on order, but it might not arrive until next week.

In addition to that, Dave and I have a time-consuming construction project under way that has been eating a lot of our time, and leaving me with little time for composing posts, or hanging out in nature, for that matter. So, as much as I hate it, the blogging powers are conspiring against me for the time being. Or we could just blame it on the heat and humidity!


Longing for cooler days, like when this photo was taken in October 2009
I'll be back as soon as I'm able.