A Robin

“If I can stop one heart from breaking

I shall not live in vain;

If I can ease one life the aching,

Or cool one pain,

Or help one fainting robin

Unto his nest again,

I shall not live in vain.”
                         ― Emily Dickinson

Wildflowers in Bloom

 I used to have a wildflower identification book!

Gee, I wonder where it went? Like a lot in my life, it just disappeared over the years.

I remember once, back in the late '80s, my husband and I took a less used road traveling through North Carolina, iding wildflowers along the way. That's when I had that book.

So.... no book but lordy mercy, who needs a book when they have google!!

On my and Michael's travels this time we identified some flowers that I had often wondered about. 

First was the yellow flower, tall on a thin stem, that looked like a dandelion. Dandelions don't grow on tall stems. So, what was it?

Michael pulled over and broke a blossom off for me while I got a couple snaps from my car seat. Those two look so much alike but this is a dandelion.

low to the ground with jagged leaves

And

here is the Meadow Hawkweed

on a long stem. The leaves are long and skinny. 

We also found out that a tree with purple blossoms blooming alongside the road ... no leaves yet... was a Purple Robe Black Locust. 

I hope I did not bore you to death with that. I just love learning new things. How many of you already knew that the yellow flower was a Meadow Hawkweed? 

Oh, and just look at the back row of petals on that blossom.

the rest of the petals are yellow but that back row is greenish/brown. So pretty when the sunlight shines through it.

A Picnic by The Side of the Road

 I decided to tag along with Michael when he headed home, 750 miles away.  One of these days I am going to realize that distance is not an option for these old bones!! It's more sooner than later! 

We had gotten to the mountains of Virginia and Michael was looking for us a shady place to eat the picnic we'd packed. Wasn't having any luck!!

So, he turns down this little side road and lo and behold, there surrounded by woods, was an electric substation. He pulled in, we got out and stretched our legs, let Sadie do her thing and then he opened up the cooler. 

Ham and cheese sandwiches, chips, peanut butter on club crackers and chocolate chip cookies for dessert. We ate underneath the canopy of trees, surrounded by wild flowers, moss and solitude. Such a wonderful break in our journey. 

Michael taking pictures of vegetation at our picnic site.

A Visitor From Alabama

 My son is visiting. So, I've been absent from my blog.

He's planning to eventually move from Alabama to Virginia to be closer to family. He's all alone down there in Bama and misses us, as we miss him. So, he looked at one plot of land while here. Beautiful land, beautiful view, quiet, peaceful and next door to my granddaughter (Shirley's daughter. Michael has no children). How cool would that be!! 

But the house had once been a hunting lodge, laid out strange as all get out and quite unlivable so that was a bummer. If he bought it... he'd just bulldoze that thing and build a new house. A lot to think about.  

While on the eastern shore (Virginia) I saw an oriole for the first time that I can ever remember. That was exciting. 

and so much was blooming! 

Slow as a Snail

 I had stuff I could have eaten!

But, I didn't crave one single thing that was in the cupboards. 

                                                                What to do?

I've been using Instacart ever since the pandemic started and have a choice of grocers I can get an order delivered right to my door. This time I chose Aldi's... I'd used them before. 

Placed my order at 2:30. Delivery to be made no later than 4:30. I got the notifications ... You know, 'We got your order'.... ' your shopper has started your shopping'....'your shopper has checked out' and so on. 

And, I waited and waited. Got a text from her saying she was on her way. And, I waited some more. Finally got a text saying they were sorry for the delay that she would be at my apartment around 5:15. 

5:15 came. I mean, I am a mile from the store, folks. How long does it take for someone to buy a few groceries and get to my place? Just asking. 

It was 6:30 when I finally got my groceries. I was starving! 

I do have to say that in the months I have used Instacart I have been very happy. Have no idea what went wrong with this order. Did she have a wreck? Was she trying to fill a bunch of people's orders before she headed out? Was she just a slacker? I still don't know and I really don't care anymore. But, yesterday I was about ready to jump down somebody's throat. 

The chocolate covered mini donuts soon had my ruffled feathers all smoothed down, though! 

Washing That Pollen Away

 It came a big rain the other afternoon! 

I am always amazed at all the water that comes rushing out of the drainpipes and floods into our pond. And, with it comes trash!! I do wish people wouldn't throw trash down. But, with the water and the trash, there was a ton of yellow pine pollen washing into the pond as well. Gotta be happy about that. 

So I grabbed my camera and dashed out on the balcony to snap a few pictures. Got a little soaked! But, that was refreshing! 

Just look at all that pollen. The birds don't seem to care.

Maybe these mallards thought all that pollen was the gold at the end of the rainbow!

I'll swear I thought this looked more like an oil painting than a photograph! 

Some of you may remember that my daughter had a blog sometime back where she featured the lunch outings that she and I took and the fun we got into. With Covid that stopped. But, we got out the other day. I sure hope you will hop over Here and see what we have been up to. Be sure to bookmark her as we have plans to do that much more in the future.