Took LOTS of pictures today...

 

so I had to be very selective.

 

After an incredible sunrise,

 

your dad and I headed to Pea Island.

 

Do you remember the year we saw the rabbits?  Well,

this has been the year of the deer - they have been everywhere.

Cool birds in a tree - could not tell what they were.

 



 

Your dad has some awesome pictures on a real camera.

 

It was a good day for spiders -

Micrathena sp

 female

 

 

Garden spider (in our garden!)

Argiope sp

female

 

Recognize this guy?

 

...and the sun sets on another perfect day...

 

Miss you all, wish you were here.

Love, Mom

I can't believe ANOTHER day is gone!

 

Time is such a funny thing.

At the beach, it seems like it

stands still, but then you wake up

and it is Thursday - time to start

gearing up to go home...crazy

 

 

I thought this picture of the moon turned out

pretty cool with the reflection on the water.

 

 

Your Dad and I spent a good part of the

day sitting on the beach ~ reading, watching

the water, the birds, the crabs, talking about how much we loved to

be at the beach and if  it is better to be at Ocracoke

and drive to the beach or is it better to stay in one

of the beach communities where you can walk?

 

 

 

There were tons of birds and ghost crabs and I tormented them

and myself  periodically trying to take professional quality

pictures with my cell phone.

 

 

 

 

This is our house from the street.  I am not sure how many bedrooms there are~

~ 5 for sure and maybe 1 more, plus a hot tub and a pool!

 

 

All the lights are on so we can find our way back after our bonfire.

It is so dark and the beach trails are so not easy to find.

It was a beautiful night - we could see the Milky Way.

 

 

 

Finally!! a bonfire on the beach!!!!!  I have wanted

to do that for years.  It was awesome - fire

and water and friends ...  how does it

get better than that? 

 

 

As hard as I tried to get a picture of the ghost crabs this morning!!

They were posing tonight, they were big and there were hundreds of them.

 

 

Love you all and wish you were here!

Mom

PS:  A. Maribeth didn't have a great day, to be expected, but was feeling better
this evening.  Last I knew, she was supposed to go home tomorrow, but she had a
blood transfusion this afternoon, so I am hoping they will keep her 1 more day.
Uncle Rick has a torn rotator cuff and will have surgery 10-22.  It never seems to
end for them...

 



A Day in Ocracoke

 

 

The sky clears...

 

 

 

and the sun rises over the Outer Banks.





Peggy and Marsha wanted to check out Ocracoke,

 so

the three of us caught the 9:00 ferry.

 



There were TONS of birds of which I was able to get

NO good pictures.  This is a brown pelican and we

literally saw hundreds of them, along with egrets,

and skimmers.





 

 Have no idea what these berries are, but they

are about the coolest color ever.

 

 Lunch at Dajio ~ no waiting.

 

 

 

 Today's catch - Blue Fish and Mackerel.

 

 

 

 Headed home - can you find the pelicans?

 

 

 

 Last  car on the ferry.

 

 

Lots more pelicans~

 

 

 Just another day in OBX.

 

OBX in the Fall

 

 

So, we left in the rain on Saturday morning and drove

all day in the rain.  There was a little break

in the rain when arrived in Richmond.

But by the time we arrived in

Avon, this was the

view from our

deck :-(

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was the scene when we went for our walk this morning. These

are not black and white pictures!  Needless to say, we did not

watch the sunrise on our first morning here.  But, it was

beautiful, none-the-less and the water, though dark 

and wild, was not really cold so we walked

in the surf and enjoyed our good fortune.

 

And, as we walked the sky gradually cleared and the

clouds got lighter.

 

 

It had been a wild and rough night and

there were lots of good sized 

shells in pretty beat up

condition.

 

 

Here are the shells of a couple of horseshoe

crabs that didn't make it through the

storm - you could easily tell they

were recent casualties.

 

 

 Back at the house we relaxed with a cup or

coffee or tea and enjoyed the view

from one of the 3 decks.

 

 

 There was lots of kite surfing throughout

the day.  These ones went right in front

of the house, but by the time I got

my camera out again they were

down the beach.  I think if

you enlarge the picture

you can see them.

 

 So, all in all a great day at the beach! But, the best news of all comes out of

Wyoming.  Aunt Maribeth's surgery was "text book" according to her

surgeon.  No surprises, no problems - I talked to Uncle Rick this

evening and he was so excited.  Keep them in your thoughts

and prayers and send a text if you have a chance.

Those of us that have had major surgery know

that the next couple of days won't be that

much fun, but how wonderful that

the worst of it is over.

LOL to you all

Mom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Odds and Ends of Summer

Last time I talked to Adam he said he liked the

blogs - even when there's nothing much

goin' on.  So, here is a blog with

with nothing much going on - just

some odds and ends here at the end of the summer.

 

 I can't remember the last time I made a peach pie,

so I was pretty pleased when it turned out

both pretty and delicious!  Unfortunately, it is
the end of peach season so, probably just one this year.
 



Pat and Arlo headed out in the Miata.

It is not Arlo's favorite ride but he would rather go in the Miata than be left behind.

The little car has had a quiet summer - hope there are a couple of chances to

go out and about before the weather closes in.

 



G'ma says this is the last hibiscus of summer. 

The weather wasn't very good for tomatoes this

summer, but the flower gardens were beautiful.

 



Finally got my garage sale done!  What a bunch of STUFF.

It was pretty fun ~ lots of interesting people and

I made enough money to cover my plane

ticket to Aunt Maribeth's.  Her

knee surgery is scheduled for next week - the 21st. 

We have had a couple of awesome campfires.  This

one is burning down.  The little old campfire maker

actually relaxed and sat with me for awhile.

 

The autumn clematis is in full bloom and just

beautiful.  It smells like jasmine and the

honey bees and the big bumble bees are staying

very busy!  The one on the fence grew up into the maple tree and

looks really cool, but my picture didn't turn out  :~(

I planted several pots this year and this is my favorite.

I hope the caladiums come back next year.  They

were beautiful.

 

Well, that is all for now.  Dad and I should be in OBX this time

next week.  Alysa is staying at the house.

I always wanted to go to the beach in the fall.

I'll try to do a post from there.

Have a good week.  Love you all, Mom.

 



Fungusamongus

 

Here are some of  my favorite Fungus and Lichen sightings

from this summer.  I thought when I unpacked all the books

I brought home from school, my fungus identification book

would show up but, much to my disappointment, no such luck.

:-(

 

 

I think these are called Indian Pipes - that is the only

one of the group that I have even an idea about.  I know

that the members of the kingdom are notoriously difficult

to identify even with a key.

 

This one makes me think of garden sprites and gnomes.

I love these minute garden vignettes that you find on the rotting logs

or growing on bare rock...decay... succession... death... rebirth ~the cycle of life.   

Slime Mold?  Like lichen, not neatly classified.  I'm not sure that is

what this is, but it is obviously slimy and certainly appears to be molding.

This is just a tiny little specimen - I found a much larger patch of it later.

It looks like staghorn coral to me and I think it has a similar name.

Here it is in a yellow version.

Isn't this cool!?  It is only about 3cm tall.

 

...and an orange version.

I love everything about lichen!  The fact that it is actually two organisms

from 2 different kingdoms, it's many different forms; it is both an indicator species

and a pioneer species.  American Indians used it for dye and medicine and reindeer eat it.

This is growing out of the side of a tree and looks a little like a shelf fungus,

but I don't think it is.  It is soft and a little fuzzy and mostly hollow inside.  There

was a slug inside - perhaps it had eaten its way in?

All this needed was a little frog peeking out...and a different forest...

Button Fungus?  Maybe I made that up.  The caps were

the size of shirt buttons, but it looked like a bouquet.

Rock Garden

This was so cool...red-orange on the inside, creamy on the outside.

About 5 x 6 cm on a short fat stalk.

This little beauty is about 3cm tall - tiny, thin stalk

and a cap about the size of a small button.

 

Fungi can be identified by their spores and making spore prints was an activity I did with my 7th

graders back in the day when we did science because it was cool as opposed to science to take a test.

 

Spores, like pollen, are as individual as the organisms that they come from and are one of the ways that scientists identify and date ancient climates and habitats.

 

G'ma Nancy loaned me her July/August Discover magazine.  There is an awesome article for you mycology fans, "Mushroom Manifesto".  Adam and LeAnna, I wonder if this is the source of your

mushroom boxes from last Christmas??  REALLLY interesting!!

(This is a special edition Discover, Invisible Planet, and it is awesome if you can get a hold of it.

Thanks, Mom...I really will return it)