Ferns are fun

It’s true. Invite some ferns to your next party, see how it goes. I’m telling you, they just light up the room.

Purple deadnettles (probably)

I think this purple flower thing is deadnettle. Initially I thought it might be a domesticated variety of Creeping Charlie, and sure enough, it’s in the same family, but the family is pretty large, so I guess that isn’t saying much.

Blossom

As I strolled around Greenwood Gardens, looking every inch the Amateur Lady With a Camera Who Likes Flowers that I am, a woman I’d spoken to earlier tapped me on the shoulder.

“Did you see the blossom that just fell?” she asked.

“Huh?” I asked.

“A beautiful blossom just fell from the sky into that grass over there,” she pointed. “I already took my picture of it. It’s gorgeous.”

“Oh! Thank you!” I said. (I’m always grateful when people point out things I should be taking pictures of, because I honestly do miss a lot.)

As I stared at the blossom, squatted next to it, shuffled sideways a few inches, and eyed it from a few different angles, I couldn’t figure out for the life of me how to take a picture that would make it look decent. This was all I came up with.

I think it’s a tulip. I have no idea how it ended up stranded in the weeds like this.

Cheer

Yeah, I know, I know, but dandelions are awesome, especially in the early spring, before half of them have gone to seed, and lawns are all spotted with these little yellow pompoms of cheerfulness. I like pompoms of cheerfulness! Who wouldn’t?

Bloodwort, bloodroot, it’s all the same to me

This little one-inch white wildflower is a bloodroot! (Also known as “bloodwort,” “red puccoon root,” “pauson,” and “tetterwort.” I’m totally grabbing this straight from Wikipedia.)

It has been used for a lot of medicinal purposes, but it’s called “bloodroot,” as far as I can tell, because its roots bleed red juice (!).

Broken bones

Sometimes I find bones in the woods! I thought this was a femur at first glance, but upon closer inspection, I’m not really sure what it is… maybe a tibia? Probably from a deer or something.

Please stand back

On NJ Transit train platforms, by the yellow line, is a stenciled message warning passengers to “PLEASE STAND BACK OF YELLOW LINE.”

This has always bugged me. It’s lousy grammar, isn’t it? “Stand back of yellow line?” It ought to be stand back FROM the yellow line, which is what the automated voice announces whenever a train nears the station. On the other hand, my command of the English language has gone markedly downhill since high school, so maybe “stand back of yellow line” is acceptable now.

In any case: stand back! Don’t get run over by a train!

Spot of sunshine

It seems that we skipped from late winter directly to early summer this past week— temperatures went from just above freezing this past weekend to nearly 80F yesterday. Sheeeesh! Two days! Maybe three.

I keep hoping I can squeeze another week or two out of my tweed blazers before packing them away, but I should probably give up the fight at this point.

Usually I enjoy spring, but this year it feels like nothing but the inevitable looming of summer. (I do not like summer.)

On the other hand, I’ll finally have the opportunity to jam-pack this blog with bazillions of clichéd but amusing flower macros (like these little crocuses!).

Crocuses are croaking!

Spring is coming! Or actually, I guess it’s been here since March 20th. But if the crocuses are up, then warmer weather is DEFINITELY on its way!

Snowdrops 3!

I’ll hopefully be returning to philately this week, but in the meantime… IT’S TIME FOR OUR ANNUAL SNOWDROP POST omg.

It seems a little late for them, actually, but this has been a reasonably cold winter, so maybe it took them a while to get their act together. Or they came up weeks ago and I just didn’t notice.

Anyway. YAY SNOWDROPS!