To see what I might see
Followed by two Spots
We saw things.
Good things.
A deliberately meandering walk took two hours
Real sloth has had its day.
One surprising thing I noticed was that most of the leaf litter was gone.
Beneath the now thin plants of the forest floor in the dense deep shade, the soil was mostly bare.
This was predominantly a green world
Shattered by the towering skeletons of the dead and dying Hemlocks.
Where the forest is thinner and enough light gets through
It is a totally different world
Filled with a constant swirl of color.
The Goldenrods are stirring the pot with yellow.
The Ironweed is a purple of its own neon spectrum.
One more piece of siding went onto the cozy cabin after a slow meandering walk deep in to the forest. There is a wasp nest up there that needs to go before the last two boards are attached. At least the bat has not come back to this part of the eaves. He can hang out up there all he wants once I am done.
Real sloth seemed sensible under the circumstances.
A surprise discovery was made of a white, Great Blue Lobelia, Lobelia siphilitica, unless as is often the case up here that this is a sub-species limited to the high mountain counties and is found mixed in with the regular species.
There is a lot to see on a slow meandering walk.
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3 comments:
Ah, Christopher, the slow watchful walk was good all around. The ironweed and goldenrod combo is straight out of a Piet Oudolf design with the large masses of both. I am on a bit of a thing with him and Noel Kingsbury lately, so much inspiration in their books. But you have the real deal growing right there on your mountain. Darn wasps. I just watched a hatching of them coming out of a gourd birdhouse, many many with the queen hovering all over the place. No wonder I got stung trying to move it. Hope you are able to dispatch your high up nest so you can finish the siding at the tippy tip top. There must be great excitement to see what the new sunlight will bring to the dead hemlock floor.
Frances
I don't think that anyone could accuse you of "sloth".
It is interesting that you noticed the leaf litter had almost disappeared. It is too bad that more people don't leave it on their gardens. They remove it in the interests of "tidying up". But, Mother Nature would remove it herself, if they would but wait.
Frances, the real deal is not near as tidy and organized as a Piet Oudolf design. A lot less work too I suppose. Seed flinging and minor editing. It will be interesting to watch what happens under the Hemlocks because nothing much will grow under them. Now it is all sun. Then of course they will start to fall.
Deborah, I guess my version of sloth still involves movement. I just can't stay inside all day. I have to get out. I wondered if all this rain has increased the decomposition rate this year or if it is normal at this time of year for the leaves to be pretty much gone. I'll have to compare years.
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