Theme Day: Comfort food

This month's theme is comfort food.  What is more comforting than food when you are in need.

My husband and I took over the running of our church food pantry last January.  Surprise, surprise along came the pandemic.  We've had to be creative and flexible to keep the pantry open.  But the generosity of the community has been overwhelming!

 

Yellow Bellied Sap Sucker

His name sounds like an insult, but he's not worried.  This yellow bellied sap sucker came visiting the backyard.

It's hard to see, but he really does have a tiny bit of yellow on his belly.

 

Chrysalis

Where else would you see a butterfly chrysalis but in the butterfly garden.   

 

Sunlit

I walked around a bend in the path and saw all these grasses backlit by the sun.

 

Tree and sky

The tree looked stark against the sky.

 

Happy Thanksgiving

We walked through the neighborhood looking for Thanksgiving decorations.  There weren't very many.

Most people have skipped Thanksgiving and gone straight to Christmas.

 

Lonely Cormorant

This cormorant swam and dived all by himself in Durant lake.  Where are the rest of his friends?  I've rarely seen a cormorant by himself.

 

Bare tree reflection

A different kind of watercolor.

 

Bare Trees

The leaves are almost off the trees now.

 

Brown on brown

The little anole matched the leaf litter.

 

American Lady

Is this the last butterfly of Fall?  It's probably the last zinnia flower.  This American Lady butterfly was fluttering around in mid November!

 

The Trees' Macbeth

Walking by the art center, we heard some strange voices.  Following them, we found a circle of trees with speakers.

They were telling a story - a strange story.

It was an adaptation of McBeth, told by trees.

Basically, the script was computer generated by feeding the MacBeth script and books about Everglades ecosystems into a learning machine.  It generated blocks of text.  The artists cut up the text and rearranged into a play.  In the play, Lady Macbeth leads a tree-killing army into the forest.  The three Weird Sisters and three talking trees conspire to stop her.  She experiences an epiphany and becomes a tree herself.

They leave us with questions: 

What does it mean for a tree to be an actor and not the scenery?

How do we give agency and voice to other forms of sentience?

How does listening to these new voices help us empathize with the non-human?

Standing in the center of a circle of trees, telling their side of a story was eerie.  They didn't seem too friendly.

Under water

After the last rain, the bike paths took some maneuvering.

 

After the rain

We got over 5 inches of rain in the last storm.  Shelly lake was very high.  The benches were in the lake!

 

Enough said!

This sign says it all...

What else can happen this year?

 

Another fungus

These fungi look like seashells.

 

Reflection

The trees looked almost clearer in their reflection.

 

Mushroom

Fall brings out the fungi.

 

Fall reflections

The pond at Brookhaven nature park was smooth as glass.

 

Maple glory

More leaves turning.

 

Finally Fall

I thought we wouldn't see fall this year, but finally, mid-November, here it is.

 

light in the forest

I was struck by how the light came through the forest to light up one tree.

 

nuthatch

Mr. Nuthatch cracking open seeds or eating bugs?

 

Spooky old tree

This old walnut tree is covered in vines.

 

On the look out

Mr Bluebird shared his post with a friend.

 

Shy guy

This little box turtle was walking happily along until we came by.

He pulled into his shell and waited.

He peeked out, but never felt safe enough to continue his walk.

 

Blowin in the wind

Hurricane Zeta brought us a lot of wind, and some new friends.

This grasshopper swept in and crawled up the front window.

It was a welcome diversion on an inside day.

 

Friends in the time of Covid

It's difficult to find a way to meet with friends these days.  These two found a walk and talk the best way.

 

Old turtles

These big old turtles were basking in the sun.  

A red eared slider.  

These turtles are not native, but are becoming ubiquitous because people release their pets into the lakes.

Snapping turtle. 

These are native, and not too friendly (see here)

 

Spider

This spider held onto a big meal.  I'm not sure what he caught, but he wasn't letting go.