An Earthquake, and Peonies Too

Alright, I will admit I am obsessed with the peonies that are growing on the side of our home. 

You may find it hard to imagine, that is if you are the flower loving sort, that the blooms, once opened,  are seven inches wide and tall with more than a hundred petals!! Yes, jam packed with goodness. So, keeping that in mind, peonies are going to be featured a bunch in this post! 

The above photo has been on my camera for nearly a week and just before I downloaded it to my computer, while in the kitchen cleaning up, I was thinking that one thing we do find fantastic about NC is how few bugs are in your homes. Well, looks like you know who brought one in!  The runner is new;  I made it in an attempt at a Spring decoration. 

So should you have noticed the title, you are undoubtedly more interested in an earthquake than you are a peony. Am I right about that? 

Of all things, Saturday morning, about nine, I was once again in the kitchen, having just finished filling the dishwasher, when, while standing in front of the stove, there was an incredibly loud sound that I am finding difficult to describe. Because there are no planes overhead here, it is very quiet around these parts, so a huge loud sound is not something that would go unnoticed. Following the bang, the house began shaking and I do mean shaking. At first I thought it was Bruce upstairs, stomping around. Silly, right? Meanwhile, he was on the porch, so his experience was different than mine. At any rate, once the shaking stopped we met in the middle, both exclaiming how very weird it had been. Of course, never having been in an earthquake before, we needed validation. I called a neighbor, yes, it was an earthquake. What is so crazy is that I texted Matt and within seconds he got back with me telling me that Tom confirmed it was an earthquake in Tennessee measuring 3.7 on the Richter scale. For those unfamiliar with our location we are about 25 miles to TN and about the same to GA. After more investigation, it was deemed to be a 4.1 earthquake, about 70 miles due north of us. Tom explained the scale because in some way he has to know about it for work. In any case, this one went nearly 16 miles underground, thus people felt it as far away as Atlanta! It was the talk of the town that's for sure!! 

Two days later, I found the only "damage" was to one of Mrs. Vespasian's statues that had toppled over.

We keep them around because they remind us of how lucky we were to find this house that she so lovingly cared for. Note tomato plant...more to come on that front.

Last Wednesday even though it was raining here, Bruce was slated to play the men's doubles pickleball matches in Hayesville, so when it was time to leave, we had not heard about a cancelation. By the time we arrived, the email came through that indeed it was canceled. "Honey, do you mind if I roam around with my camera in this lovely setting?" 

By now you know his answer as he has been through it countless times before! 

I cannot tell you how excited I was to see the identification of these birds I photographed in the field, Boblinks, a songbird that I have never seen before!

From this article, I learned that they are one of the most impressive migratory birds, traveling...are you ready? 12,500 miles to and from South America each season!! Migration is so cool, don't you think?

As well, Meadowlarks sightings have been few for this bird loving lady and I spotted one as well.

Thank goodness for zoom lenses! 

While we are talking birds, two sets of parents of interest found in the park where I walk alongside the river.

Even better news is that we have some in our backyard! I believe I mentioned how I lured them to the box with mealworms and now we put some on the fire ring as well.

May I present the Tree Swallows parents.

So exciting when they show up each year. 

Let's go here while we are talking families...I got to meet Grayson, Bruce's little brother, at a school band concert! As well, we met his mother and grandmother. He was just as sweet and well mannered as Bruce described him. As an aside, none of our children were in the band so this was our very first band concert.

He is the young man standing up with the flowers behind his head. This is his first year and he's really enjoying band. It was good to see a good number of middle school band members because they are sorely needed. You may recall from the football game I reported that the entire band has about ten members and I may be being a wee bit generous.

A place we came across in Hayesville was the Master Gardners plot and it was a wonderful surprise.

It was lovely and very well maintained with some blooms happening with many more to come.

The sign says they hope it is inspiring and it worked on this couple!! 

Bruce filled our beds with much needed mulch, edging them and trimming up the bushes that have already bloomed like they forsythia which was growing wildly. He also trimmed the dead branches from the Rose of Sharon trees along with fertilizing everything. While we were out there, he called me to come take a look at the base of one of those trees.

Hundreds of what at the time looked like pearl couscous, in the next day or two they looked like this:

Super cute, right? Don't get attached because, lo and behold, during yesterday's yard survey, they had disappeared!! This whole area of the yard is heavily shaded at this time of year with ancient plants, or so it seems to me. Last year when Tammy first visited the house she called it our fairy garden. Maybe so, right?

She also gave me bulbs galore that had belonged to her grandmother and I planted them with no knowledge about what I was doing. Although there is foliage, so far only one of the lilies has bloomed, but it was a beauty, so I am not complaining.

So that side is super shady but fortunately we do have sun on the other side of the house. By golly, lookee here.

Back to the peonies. Always back to the peonies, at least for now anyway. After doing some research I learned that I was not meant to wait for the peonies to open, instead cut them when they are at the marshmallow stage. They were so heavy with bloom and buds Bruce had to tie them up big time! So I did cut some,

Please note the funny tic-tac-do piece! Isn't it clever? So within a few days there were many more blooming or in the marshmallow stage so l have had to keep cutting them.

With further research I learned that if I wrap them up in paper, they can be refrigerated for quite some time and when ready for more gorgeous fragrance and beauty, give them a trim and put them in water. I will let you know how that goes! 

The house behind us is now empty, waiting on a buyer, so when I noticed the roses blooming profusely, permission was granted and I am now in flower heaven between my own roses, Shannon's roses, and the peonies, what more could a gal wan't? Actually vases are at a premium in this household so I must stop!

As well, I plucked these from a tree on the river walk and were they ever filled with fragrance. 

The front porch has some dahlias and violas and while they have no fragrance, we are loving how prolific flowers are here in NC.

Looking down from the other side of the porch it looks like it is going to be a good year for hydranges!

Ya'all recognize this woman?

Somehow I came across this and have had it on my desktop now for a few weeks. Time to dump it off here for folks who will not recognize that woman! I hardly do. Many, many years ago!!! Classmates from Valencia Community College visiting me. While we are looking backward, I came across this POST from 2014 that might interest folks who are just getting to know us. 

I need to leave room for pictures of Christian on my desktop...they are multiplying because they are so darling I can't toss them out! Won't be long before we see this little cutie in person. He is becoming mobile, rolling over, and in general, doing all the things he should. He's 5.5 months old now. Bill and Fallon have been so good at sharing videos.

Mother's day came and went with calls from my darling sons. Not just mine of course, but on this day I am calling them mine. Listening to Fallon talk about being a first time mother has been such a joy. 

While we were in Hayesville we returned to an antique shop we first visited when we were driving up to Murphy for the first time. Actually, the shop is in GA, but as you are now familiar with how close places are, that makes sense, right? Anyway, every single time when we visit a shop like that I wonder how in the world did someone, firstly come up with some of the things and secondly think they would sell? 

It makes you wonder doesn't it? 

When we moved here I imagined maybe a tornado could be in our future but an earthquake? No way!

Shows you what I know!! 

as always, your friend,

Gail

p.s. I may be wrong but I think the plants and flowers like the cold winter.

Leave the Birds Alone

Before we get into my favorite subject, let's talk about the quilt, shall we? It must have been Memorial Day, a grey and dreary day here in Orlando, that I sat down and put all of those pairs together, and so on, and so on. I was left with this at the end of my first marathon sewing time.

One lonely pair. Beside the basket are the sections that then are joined into rows, in this case 17 rows. So many. However, I am getting closer with 11 rows done. And now I need to cut more fabric because, well you can do the math, I am way short!

One of these days we will be going from that blah cream to.well, the complete opposite!

Before we go further, there will be a lot of photographs in this post, far too many, but at least they will mostly all be different! Whenever I look a cooking blogs I am astonished at how many shots there are of the same dish.

Onward....

Today's title has to do with something Bruce said to me the other morning while we were practicing pickleball. Usually I stand on the East side of the court, facing Michigan. And if you are not impressed with me using East, you should be as it took me most of my life to get to the point where I can sometimes use directional terminology! Anyway, I will freely admit that oftentimes my eyes are darting to and fro looking for birds. Not really looking per se, merely if something flutters, I notice. So it was that my eyes were drawn to the huge power pole on Michigan. Seriously I could not help it! Exclaiming, "honey, I think I see the American Kestral!" Perhaps you recall the post wherein I wrote about Bruce rescuing the fallen bird , and then the rest of the story about when we went to the Avian Reconditioning Center with Matt and Tom that I wrote about here.  Now we are on the same page. Normally I leave my camera at home while we are playing, but in a stroke of luck, I had it with me.

It is insanely high up there so, even with the zoom lens, it isn't much of a picture, nevertheless, checking my photos, I saw that, indeed, it was the smallest raptor out there. Naturally I was distracted, my eyes continually darting up there, and it was then that Bruce said to me, "leave the birds alone." In other words, pay attention!!

Apparently, according to this article Nancy forwarded today, I am not alone, a fact that I am happy to report. Of course, you are a birdwatcher too, if you read this blog, by default! Thank you for doing so I might add. In backyard news, yesterday morning, while watching this fellow,

holy cow, he shot out of that hole like a canon, flying to a nearby tree! It was amazing! This morning I saw no sign of life at the hole, so whether or not that was the fledge for good, I'm not so sure. Updates forthcoming, as they happen.

Our birding friend, Candy, was shocked the other day when we told her that we had never been to Joe Overstreet Landing before. Frankly, we'd never heard of it. She said it was a fantastic place to see Snail Kites, another thing I'd never heard of before. Well, sick of being at home so much, we took to the road, taking the same route as when we traveled to Wild Florida, just a little further down the road. Actually a good bit further if you count the five miles off of Canoe Creek Road to get to the landing on Lake Kissimmee. Those five miles were great as we drove by sod farms and loads of grazing cattle.

We also saw a pack of vultures eating a racoon carcass, but I'll keep those photos to myself. :)

There are loads of reasons why this was such a great adventure, one of which were the stormy skies, something we've not seen for ages.

When we arrived there were quite a few pickup trucks and trailers in the parking area, and later on we discovered why when the fishermen returned to the dock, having participated in a tournament. Overhearing one of them, they claimed they'd seen a tornado, and with the looks of this sky, it would not surprise me one bit.

It was all very dramatic, adding to the fun. Backing up a bit, Bruce took his fishing pole to the dock while I took my camera for a walk. Oh boy, was I delighted when I saw a bird staying very still on a fence post. As is my custom, I took a shot from when I first noticed it.

Super cute, right? Creeping closer, it began singing.

On one leg, no less! Just when I wrote that the photos would all be different, I lied because here is a close up of this pretty bird that I learned is an Eastern Meadowlark, known for its' melodious song

So cute, right? Should that have been all I'd seen that day I would have been thrilled, but there's more!

So many, many dragonflies in that place as you will see in a bit. Now I began turning my attention to seeing a Snail Kite, a bird that is found only in mostly Southern Florida, and Central America. So, plenty rare. According to Candy, loads of birders go out on the airboats to see them but of course, those aren't happening right now. As a matter of fact, the boat ramps opened up maybe two weeks ago? So what does a Snail Kite look like? I was clueless; like a dummy I did not even look them up before going, however, my dumb move did not hurt me as they were flying all over the place. You've already seen one in the first stormy sky photo.

As we all know, I'm terrible at flight photographs, but it does not stop me from trying.

So, that's the underside, and here's the topside.

Doesn't it seem crazy that they eat Apple Snails and are considered birds of prey? You ask, what is an Apple Snail, and I've got the answer for you right here. Very few amongst you could care less what they are, but it's always helpful for me to look stuff up and I figure, why not share? The linked article answers a question I had while out on the dock, namely what are all those pink eggs? Now I know.

They swoop down, snagging up the snails, and carrying them to a safe space for consumption. An empty shell on the dock was about the size of an orange, according to Bruce. All in all, very exciting.

The fishermen all came and went, having caught and released loads of Bass, and we mostly had the place to ourselves when the slight sprinkles became a nice downpour, so thick we could barely make out the lake right in front of us.

After nearly six dry months we were thrilled to be undercover watching the rain pour down. There is a little store and RV campground connected to the air boat operator.

If you think the outside is colorful, take a look at the restroom!

I was very grateful for this surprisingly colorful spot!

Well, if you know anything about a Florida rainstorm, you know that it is often followed by bright sunshine, and that is just what happened. We'd brought along some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pretzels, grapes and a Coke, sitting at a lakeside picnic table in the shade of a big tree.

Our red lunch bag is the bright spot on the right. Let me tell you, it was so peaceful there. Oh my! Chirping birds and a few bulls in the adjacent pasture were the only sounds we heard. So nice. I'm nearly done reading Cross Creek, and I could not help but to think of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings while we were there because that book is such a love letter about rural Florida. 

While we were sitting there, I thought I noticed a bird on a fence post quite a ways away. Not surprised are you? Bruce observed the bulls up close while I creeped closer to the bird which turned out to be a resting Snail Kite. 

Once home, and looking at my photos, what really stands out in this subpar bird photo, is the number of dragonflies on that barbed wire. By my count there are at least 12!

As we drove the road back out to the main road, it was so good seeing the cattle, a big group of whom were sheltering under a small tree to stay cool under the hot Florida sun.

Driving home the sky alternated between bright blue and big storm clouds. One last stop before we made it home turned out to be fantastic, in more than one way. Firstly, when we pulled up to the trailhead, the first thing we noticed were loads of small birds flitting this way and that. I had to get out to investigate! What were they? 

Incredible sky, right? Anyway, the birds were small with forked tails. Because, by now, the light was difficult, I could hardly make out their colors to check my bird app. Nonetheless, I knew the forked tail would do the trick with enough sleuthing. Gosh were they ever cute!

I lightened the photo above, but still it is hard to tell that they have a navy blue back with rusty coloring on the throat. I loved those clouds, but for the sake of my one time seeing Barn Swallows, I wish the light had been more favorable!

 Most definitely a place we will have to revisit, if only for the peacefulness. It is on Sims Duda Road, off of 15A. The Duda name is familiar to many folks around here for being huge celery farmers.

You made it to the end of this post!! And we made it home before the heavens opened. The good news is that we've had more rain this week than we've had the prior five months, so here's hoping it continues as our lakes are super low.

As to Covid-19, the battle of the masks continues. Should they be worn or not? People are getting crazy over that hot topic! Nursing homes are still off limits to visitors so, no seeing Maureen, however, the last time I spoke with her, she remains the same, no better and no worse. 

I try to leave the birds alone, but it ain't easy!

your friend,

Gail