Human World

Sometimes the only way to take the human world is to leave it behind. 

I hope your weekend left you rested, rejuvenated, and ready to continue the fight.

 

A Sunday Walk

Yesterday we did not have to drive to MD (HOORAY!) so we went for a walk. Justin sent me this picture last week, so we were all excited to head down to his workplace to hunt for shed deer antlers.

It was a nice sunny day, with temperatures in the 40s and a brisk wind. There were five of us, so we walked through fields, over hills and dales, and through woods in a line but with 10 feet or so between us, keeping our eyes peeled for the extremely difficult-to-spot sheds. 

We didn't come home with a big haul, but we did find a few. It took us over three and a half hours to find these few and to be honest, I got tired of looking for antlers and started to look for other things.

There were lots of snowdrops in the woods, 

and since Justin works in Princeton, there are several large Princeton-appropriate buildings.

This sign is also appropriate and makes things pretty clear. 

There is a large pond with loads of honking geese, getting ready to pair off. In my efforts to avoid disturbing the geese too much, I took the long way around the pond and came upon a three-part stone bench. It was very cold and uncomfortable, but each section had an interesting quote engraved on it. This one says "Those who have moved the world have usually followed the will o' the wisp of their own intellectual and spiritual curiosity." (Abraham Flexner, one of the founders of the Institute for Advanced Study)

"All our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike and yet it is the most precious thing we have." (Albert Einstein)

"True scholars often work in loneliness, compelled to find reward in the awareness that they have made valuable, even beautiful, contributions to the cumulative structure of human knowledge, whether anyone knows it at the time or not." (George Kennan, international affairs faculty member at IAS) It is also fitting that he was best known as an advocate of a policy of containment of Soviet expansion during the Cold War. 

Looking for shed antlers was a nice reason to get outdoors, enjoy the warming weather and sunshine, and enjoy a respite from the news. George Kennan was also one of a group of foreign policy elders known as "The Wise Men", who helped to craft institutions and initiatives such as NATO, the World Bank, and the Marshall Plan. I fervently wish and hope that wise men will prevail in Russia and Ukraine. 

Get Out!

Lately, my head has felt full of winter and Christmas. Once I turned the calendar page to December, it felt like winter was here, even though the season wouldn't technically change until the winter solstice on December 21st. Last year my extended family wasn't able to get together and exchange gifts due to covid, but we promised ourselves that we would hold a big summer gathering. Sadly, that didn't happen as we were in varying stages of vaccination during the summer months. We had planned Cookie Day on December 4th, but that would have meant that 19-21 people would be gathering indoors, and among those people are a family practice physician and a nurse practitioner who are exposed to covid-positive and non-vaccinated patients every day, two people with severely compromised immune systems, along with at least seven non-immunized children. We hated to do it, but we canceled cookie day. Keeping everyone safe is more important than a few cookies, and no one wanted to be in the awful position of possibly exposing someone vulnerable to the virus. 

Since we didn't get to exchange gifts in person last year, many of us got lulled into inaction this year. Several people assumed we weren't going to exchange gifts again this year, some people were busy asking for gift ideas and making their lists, and some of us are non-confrontational enough that we didn't even know how to approach the conversation about gifts. But after a lot of texts, emails, and phone calls, we've got everybody on the same page, and we've decided not to exchange gifts. Most of us have everything we need and more, and everyone finally got to the same place and decided that giving gifts just for the sake of it being the socially accepted thing to do on December 25th was just not something we needed to do. I can't tell you what a relief this has been to me. I don't like to shop, and even though I love these people, that doesn't mean I knew what they might need and/or want. To celebrate my immense relief, I went out for a wonderful long walk.

Even though my mind has been full of winter and Christmas, it's still fall and it's lovely out there!

It's a different kind of beauty than the vernal green of spring or the lush blossoms of summer, but fall definitely has its own type of spare elegance. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with too much thinking and worry about Christmas. Next time something like this happens, I hope I remember to get out into nature and ground myself. I hope you had a chance to do something similar this weekend. 

A Walk in the Woods

A couple of weekends ago, we went for a walk in the woods by my mother-in-law's house. She's been gone for a couple of years and John's brother lives there now, but we still say we are going to Grandmom's. It's a nice little remembrance. 

We saw a lightning-struck tree,

and the bent cherry tree. It's alive and growing like this and John and his brother have been calling it the bent cherry tree for more than 50 years. 

I almost stepped on this fellow,

and here he is in a more close up view.

A few minutes later I came across another turtle, with pretty markings and lovely orange head and feet.

I also came across a couple of farmers outstanding in their field of sorghum.

It's peaceful and restorative to take some time to wander in the woods and see all the things that await. I hope you have the opportunity to take your own walk and see some interesting things!

Just a Couple of Pictures

I sat here in front of my laptop for a few minutes, wondering what to write. After about five minutes, I thought that maybe I should wait until Monday to post since I couldn't seem to come up with anything. Then I remembered a few photos that I took this week. We had some storms on Tuesday in both the morning and evening, and the clouds produced a lovely sunrise and sunset.

Sunrise

Sunset

Here's hoping your weekend is a beautiful one!

Sometimes Monday ...

 ... is a good day to remember what a nice weekend we had.

Justin and his girlfriend Jess came down to MD and we went out to Fair Hill Resource Management Area. I'm not sure why it isn't called a park, but there are over 80 miles of trails, so we set out along some of them. 

Justin, John, and Jess had their fishing rods so we headed for the Big Elk Creek. They caught plenty of fish, including brown trout, smallmouth bass, and creek chub. I don't have a MD fishing license so I watched the great blue herons, deer, beavers, and took a few photos. 

There is an old mill along the trail that's really interesting. 

Even though it was the Fourth of July weekend, there were no crowds, and we probably only saw 20 other people. The skies opened up and we had to walk a few miles in the rain back to the car, but none of us melted. 

It's definitely a place I would go back to. 

I hope your weekend included some lovely, peaceful times amongst the fireworks. 

Brood X

Brood X cicadas have arrived in MD, and they are numerous and noisy. 

Beginning in mid-May, we noticed a few of their discarded carcasses on one sycamore tree along our walk. The birds were quite happy to see them, and we've seen the neighborhood sparrows and cardinals feasting on them. 

Then we started seeing more and more cicadas. I have to avoid them when I'm hanging laundry and John always has a few hit him in the chest when he goes out for a bike ride.

In real life, they are about an inch long with a four inch wingspan. They don't bite, sting, or harm humans or most plants. They lay their eggs in trees, so some small tree branches can be harmed if too many eggs have been laid on them, but plant damage isn't common. They should be active above ground until the end of June, when the young drop to the ground and burrow into the soil. There they'll molt four times over the next 17 years and then the cycle will start again. 

While they don't harm humans or most plants, they are the loudest insects on earth. Male cicadas use their wings and special organs called tymbals to create their "song" (and I use this term loosely). The chorus of male cicadas is about 100 decibels, or about as loud as a lawnmower. It seems to be at a frequency that hurts my ears and feels like its burrowing into my brain. But with cicadas estimated at a density as high as 1 million per acre, they win.

I took this short video to try and illustrate what it sounds like outside. These are on the ivy covering the trunk of the pine tree in our back yard, and hopefully you can get an idea of what their "song" sounds like. (My neighbors' poor dog feels compelled to bark at the cicadas whenever he's outdoors, so you'll hear him, too.)

I'm personally looking forward to the quiet that I hope is coming at the end of June!

Ugly Fish, Part II

This past Saturday, July 4th, was Free Fishing Day in Maryland. That's a day that most states' fish and wildlife agencies offer during the summer to promote fishing, and it allows you to fish that day without a license. Justin had asked me if I wanted to try and catch a snakehead, and I said "Sure!" I am not much of a fisherperson, and as Free Fishing Day started to get closer, I began to worry about it a bit. Would I be able to cast with Justin's bait caster reel? Would I remember how to set the hook if I did get a bite? Would it just end up as a frustrating, disappointing day when we just wanted to have some fun family fishing?

Nope. It was neither frustrating nor disappointing.

It turned out to be the best day possible. John took us to the "snakehead spot" and Justin showed me how to cast (and corrected my mistakes) about 50 times. Like any skill, there is a lot to remember, and you need to remember and do it all in order, every time.

I had mastered pinching the line with my index finger, flicking the bail, casting, reeling in as soon as the spinnerbait lure I was using hit the water, and reeling at the right speed so the lure didn't drag on the bottom. Justin was going to show me how to set the hook just in case I did get a fish when he unexpectedly caught a snakehead! He handed me the rod and I reeled it in. He removed the hook and was rinsing the sand and gravel off for a picture when it got away in the creek. Justin takes fishing fairly seriously, so he was sort of heartbroken. He morosely cast a few more times, but you know what's coming next ... he caught another snakehead! He handed me the pole, I reeled it in, and this time we took the hook out and took a million photos far away from the water. 

So "I" caught my snakehead, I have photos to prove it, and that's what we had for dinner on Saturday. I am completely aware that Justin did all the work and I just reeled it in, but it was an exhilarating experience and also gave me a new appreciation for how skilled Justin is at fishing. His casts are perfect, placed exactly where he wants them to go, and he takes so many things into account. Like whether he has cast upstream and the line may be "bunched up" a little if what he is fishing for has teeth (snakehead do) and liable to abrade or nick the braid fishing line, and how big a mouth the fish has and whether they are likely to "short strike" so maybe he should use a trailer hook. I know this is much more detailed than any of you are liable to want to know, but I'll admit that I'm writing this post so I can look back and remember this day. It was a good one. 

Thanks, Hijo!

Unexpected

Our house in New Jersey has a big open field behind it, and every year about this time I keep an eye out for newborn deer. I almost always see a fawn hiding in the tall grass or at least semi-hidden in the hedgerow. Sometimes I don't see them until they are a couple of weeks old and out feeding in the field with their mothers. I've been a little concerned that I haven't spied any fawns this year, especially because it's getting late for them to be born, but I keep looking.

We've been in MD since Tuesday for mowing and pea-picking (and pea-picking led to blanching and freezing because we had so many). Our lawn down here is large and open, with one lone pine tree in it, with nowhere for deer to hide. After I mowed I went indoors to get a nice glass of ice water since it was 94 degrees, and then came out on the back porch to cool off a bit. I saw something in the lawn I had just mowed and wondered what I had missed. 

It was a fawn, in a very unexpected place. I wanted to tell the doe she had done a poor job of hiding her child, but it laid there calmly until early evening when its mother returned. Sometimes you can see things where and when you least expect them!

Another Trip to the River

This past weekend was sticky and humid on Saturday, but Sunday was picture-perfect with blue skies, puffy clouds, and a lovely breeze. It was just right for a trip to the Delaware River. I don't fish very often so it doesn't make sense for me to buy a fishing license, but I do know how to occupy myself beside the gently flowing waters (and a lot of that seems to be taking photos).

The fisherpeople prepared their equipment.

John waded in the water. 

I came across some interesting stumps,

an extensive patch of ferns,

some heart-shaped leaves,

and lots of phlox.

 
I built some multi-material cairns,

 and took a short walk to the nearby quarry pond for more lovely views.  

 I personally think the river is almost more interesting if you aren't fishing.

 Hope your weekend was also a good one!