KORGLEND2

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Clouds and creatures.

Yesterday's sky was gorgeous and constantly changing.

Mostly blue though.

Yesterday afternoon we had a tan praying mantis on our fence.

Here's her handy work.  Yay, more next year.  
They are a lot of company out in the garden and fun to watch.

Most of them are green, this one is fence colored.

Always photogenic, Happy Appleton enjoys lounging on the deck.

Today's sky is very different.  I wish these clouds would bring rain, but I doubt it.  


The pond is totally dried up now and the pond plants are too.  
Here's how it looked before I cleaned it up a bit.

And after.  Now we are ready for rain and frogs!


Thursday, August 28, 2014

Pretty fish skeleton sky today.

Something seems to be coming in from the west but these do not portend rain.  Just pretty.

Love the purple. 

Trumpet vine is almost done, and the pond is totally dry.  Looks like late August should, I suppose.

Hard working weather instruments from below.


Lester rolling in the incredibly dry grass. 

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

I never get tired of blue.

Beautiful summer skies today!


After spending too much of last summer in thick fire smoke and worrying about evacuation,
 we savor every smoke-free August day!


Monday, August 25, 2014

Summer!


Blue skies and a few trumpet vine flowers. The hummingbirds love them.

Up Windy Creek Road you can find some incredible little Forest Service roads leading to hilltops and vistas!

Smokey haze filled the skies to the north and west today.

We stopped at Windy Creek County Wayside and had a picnic.  The vine maples are gorgeous and we plan to come back here in fall to see the colors.

Tall trees and a sweet little creek run through the wayside.  It would make a wonderful park if it were maintained.  It needs litter cleanup and a few picnic tables and it would be fantastic!
Photo credit for this pretty forest and sun shot:  my wonderful husband.

Sunday, August 17, 2014

A pretty day to drive over Tiller-Trail Highway.

The highway had very little traffic today which was great for stopping to get photos of vistas like this!

I love fir trees.  Close ones, far ones, just the prettiest trees in the world.

Blue skies for soaring.

These big thunderheads are pretty far to the east of us, probably over Crater Lake area.

They are quite ominous and they grew very fast as we watched!

Fir trees and a madrone.


This little creek was very low and barely moving.  Note the pile of debris and branches deposited by the current, back when there was rushing water here.  It's an amazingly dry year.

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Pretty summer day for a picnic!

Unknown little flower by our pond.

After our little rain the other day, the snails all came out and cavorted together.

Yellow calendula and pink oxalis blooming on the west side of our house, very hot there!

Calendula, sunflowers and hollyhocks are coming right along in the "sun garden," a euphemism for the hottest place in the yard.

Today I collected a paper bag full of Calendula seed heads. Next spring I will grow them in the front yard also.  Love these tough little plants. 

We took a picnic to a local lake today, gorgeous sky, no smoke. 

The scourge of Southern Oregon: poison oak.  Isn't it pretty? Shiny leaves, soon to have white berries and then in fall, lovely red color. This is the stuff of my nightmares.

Eight foot cattails at the edge of the lake.

I walked all the way around the lake on this little trail.  Ferns galore!

Lush beyond belief.

My favorite, vanilla leaf.  It will make an unimpressive little white flower, but it's the leaf shape that is so beautiful.

More of the trail with giant ferns, firs, salal, snowberry and some unidentifiables.

Lightest of blue skies today.

Pretty little trail.

Lime green vine maple mixed in with Oregon grape and blackberries.

Salal berries, edible but bland.

Ah Oregon forest.  Nothing is as pretty as this.

This madrone leans and peels and looks precarious next to a bunch of nice straight firs. It's hugely tall for a madrone!

 I love the aqua colored sky and the deeper blue of the water.

Pacific blackberries at the water's edge. They aren't as prolific as the Himalayan blackberries, and the berries are smaller but they taste excellent!  

Sadly, these were not quite ripe.