SUMMER TIME FLOWERS AND FAWNS

It's been a busy week for me so I'm just catching up and wanted to share good news with you.  Last week my hubby was driving down our road and saw the three legged deer I had mentioned many weeks ago in my posts and he thought she had a fawn with her.  Sure enough this week I spotted her again on the town road in the same area not far from home and she was indeed accompanied by a fawn of her own!

It is easy to tell the three legged deer from the others because since she has one front leg missing at the knee, her stance always makes her appear as if she is standing "down hill".   We hadn't seen her for over a month and now we know why...  she's been busy!

Summer is here with ox-eye daisies scattered in the fields and along the pond dike.  The daisies are complimented by Indian paintbrush and yellow hawk weed and many other little wild flowers.   This spring with all the rain we've had ,wild flowers are abundant.

It's that time of year when the cranberries are also in full blossom.  We have a few stray vines on the dike around our pond and in late September if I'm lucky I can pick enough cranberries to make a batch of muffins or cranberry cake.  The cranberry blossoms are pretty in their own way and small in size.  

Enjoy summer while it lasts, we know it will go by way too quickly!

Wisconsin Cranberry Blossoms

  

WILD BLUEBERRIES

I’m journaling out on the pond dike today by the old white chair that no one sits in.  It’s one of those old  Adirondack style chairs with paint peeling off old weathered wood, but this chair has way too much character to throw on the brush pile yet.  My goal this afternoon is to harvest a few wild blueberries.  I’m reminded of a day years ago when a neighbor lady, up in years, came wandering aimlessly down our driveway on foot carrying a coffee mug in her hand.  “I’m almost there,” she said, as my hubby and I looked at her and wondered.   As it turned out, her journey was not at all aimless.  She was hoping to pick one cup of wild blueberries… just enough for a batch of muffins… and her cup was ¾ full.

I’m munching on a few wild blueberries myself right now, not hard to find here where the plants come back every year in this acidy soil.  A late frost fizzled out some of the blossoms and birds ate their share but they've left a dozen or so yet for me to enjoy.  There's nothing that quite compares to the sweetness of this little blue berry.

As I snap a photo or two of the blueberry plants at my feet, a few insects buzz here and there about the grass, bushes, and ferns next to the pond.  I spot a moth with a damaged wing but it still flies perfectly.  I compare it to my wounded self after a few weeks of chemotherapy for an unfortunate recurrence of my nearly three year old dilemma.  I’m still flying too and plan to carry on, flapping my wings like the little butterfly, and hoping I travel in the right direction and land in the most beneficial places on my journey forward.

Dragonflies are also flitting around today along with many young red-winged blackbirds that I hear chirping loudly all around me.  Bullfrogs are filling up my ear space with their deep croaking calls.  It seems as though each frog is trying to out croak the other.

I particularly love the color “blue” in nature.   A blue dragonfly darts about and finally rests itself on a twig long enough for me to capture its likeness.  Truly blue, and truly beautiful – like blue eyed grass and blueberries!

The first day of summer, Father’s Day, is a grand one.  There’s so much to do and it’s going to be a busy week ahead for me.  Our little community is banding together and we're gonna go save our lake with a big picnic fundraiser this upcoming weekend!

LIGHTNING BUG DELIGHT!

Chasing the elusive lightning beetles in the yard last night... easy to see but hard to capture with my camera in the darkness!

The month of June in Wisconsin where I live holds a special place in my heart at night after the sun has fully set and darkness invades the outdoor world around my cabin.  This time of year brings back memories of the school year ending, my first summertime swim in at Sherwood Lake, running outside barefoot, and gathering up an old fruit jar, a hammer, and a nail, for that neat little thing us country kids had to do a time or two... go catch some lightning bugs!

I would take a hammer and nail and pop some holes in the fruit jar lid and get ready for nightfall to catch my treasures.  The idea was to fill my jar up with a dozen or so lightning bugs and shut the lid, holes in the top allowing proper ventilation, so my little critters wouldn't suffocate.   I'd add some blades of grass in the jar so they'd have something to climb up and down on and not get too bored.  Then I'd sit the jar on the floor next to my bed so I could watch them light up as long as I could stay awake. When morning came, it was time to release the lightning bugs back outside where I found them.  It was a "beginning of summer" ritual, not just for me, but most kids I think... who lived in a world with lightning bugs.

Last night about 9:30 p.m., prime time to see the bugs flashing their magic lanterns, I walked out into the yard and down the driveway, next to the pond, and watched them glow here and there.  I brought my camera and tried to capture the action without much success.  It seemed every time I snapped a photo, they were in their "light's out" mode.  And when I approached them, they seemed to fade in the distance.  Along with lightning bugs, frogs were singing loudly, creating a perfect misty, foggy, muggy June night. 

So what makes a lightning bug glow?  A chemical reaction takes place in the abdomen and tail of the insect.  Something special called luciferin combines with oxygen and other compounds to create the bright glow.  Males light up to attract mates, females flash back at them with their own random patterns and sometimes they even appear to be in sync with one another, creating a spectacular show. 

I call it magic plain and simple!  The amazing show only lasts a few weeks in springtime, but lightning bugs are one of nature's special beetles.  They have the ability to create nostalgic memories for children that last a lifetime.  I know they do for me.  They take me back to simpler ways and simpler days of my Wisconsin country childhood.

SUMMER IS ON OUR DOORSTEP

CELEBRATING FERNS

On a walk the other day across the creek we spotted fresh wolf tracks in the soft ground after recent rainfalls.  Makes you wonder what the wolf is up to as new whitetail fawns have been appearing with their mommas here and there.

As Hubby and I continued our walk into the white pine forest to the south I marvelled at the ferns making proud stands everywhere.  Ferns are a favorite of mine and I'm glad to see and appreciate them all around our woodland home.  At least four kinds of ferns appear here and there and my favorite are the maiden hair.

Maple seeds blown helter-skelter dotted the forest floor on our walk, and I spotted another special plant that only grows in this white pine woods, rattlesnake plantain.

Years ago a local child who came to visit did not know what a fern was and that made me feel sad.  How could anyone who lives among ferns not teach their child about them?  Take for granted a blade of grass, or a dandelion, but for heaven's sake... don't take for granted a fern when it grows right at your doorstep.

This first week of June the gnats and mosquitoes were plentiful as I watched the sun setting on this calm evening.  I could hear and enjoy so many sounds; deer snorting, the mighty pileated woodpecker wrapping it's beak high up against a distant tree, red winged blackbirds and warblers making their beautiful sounds, and tree frogs singing loudly in our pond.

Every living thing seemed so busy!  A Wisconsin summer is at our doorstep.  What mysteries it will bring to me are unknown... but it is sure to be a grand summer ahead.

After resting a bit I decided to go investigate what tree the pileated woodpecker was wrapping on. 

Well, no pileated woodpecker pictures today, but thought you'd enjoy Aunt Lydia's Iris growing on the pond dike this week!