5:30 AM on the front porch: The sunrise is illuminating the vibrating wings of Sweetheart Calico, (named for a great character in Louise Erdrich’s Antelope Woman.) the mate of the yet nameless male Anna’s hummingbird who frequents my porch, as she looks for nectar. She is coming so close to me though she knows I’m here. Maybe we have trust? I’m gonna pretend. She buzzes like a Norelco shaver. The sun is just now an orange in the sky. The peach blossoms of the Agastache she is drinking from fluoresce. What a moment!
I wonder if the red mushroom you see is a type of russula? They’re the main species who pass the ghost pipes their nutrients from trees nearby. Real stand-up fungis.
Thank you for mentioning Maxfield Parrish. I don't think he's a particularly trendy painter in 2023, but every time I see one of his works, I gasp. They really resonate for me. My mom & aunts & grandmother went to see an exhibit of his paintings at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts in 1999 and it was one of the most rewarding exhibits I've attended.
I love imagining the beautiful place where you live. Thanks for writing so vividly.
I hadn’t heard of a ghost pipe plant before, but now that I have it’s seriously one of the coolest looking (and sounding) plants ive ever heard! And with a shroom friend too 😆
"A day of noticing" is such a wonderful way to describe experiencing and feeling beauty around us. Billy Renkl, collage artist, posts a series of lovely photos on insta and refers to them as "notes from my morning walk"
There's a time of day in my backyard where the sun alights two Douglas firs, thereby making afire all the wings of the birds, circling insects, and silken threads of spider webs. Wonderful!
Miss Neko, I enjoyed these musings you shared. My friend Laura Pritchett, also of Colorado, is an award winning Nature lovin' novelist. Her novels "Stars Go Blue" and "The Blue Hour" i think you would enjoy - including from your shared appreciation of that beautiful blue hour.
I don't think "my" hummingbirds trust me, I just think they trust that they're faster than anything else. I imagine what it must be like for everything else in the world to be slow.
Beautiful images. Thank you for writing about them. Animals delighting themselves for no good reason is a great thing to see and I am going to try to notice that more. I believe the moment of trust with the bird is real or true. I recently had that happen with a mockingbird. Then I read about the Native American symbolism of the mockingbird, and it gave me hope and peace.
Antelope Woman!
I wonder if the red mushroom you see is a type of russula? They’re the main species who pass the ghost pipes their nutrients from trees nearby. Real stand-up fungis.
fascinating! I'll have to look that up!
Or it could be an amanita - red cap with white dots.
Thank you for mentioning Maxfield Parrish. I don't think he's a particularly trendy painter in 2023, but every time I see one of his works, I gasp. They really resonate for me. My mom & aunts & grandmother went to see an exhibit of his paintings at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts in 1999 and it was one of the most rewarding exhibits I've attended.
I love imagining the beautiful place where you live. Thanks for writing so vividly.
Louise Erdrich <3
....mushrooms and ghost pipe have a connection – because ghost pipe depends on a mushroom network to survive! And the fungi and trees don’t mind.
I hadn’t heard of a ghost pipe plant before, but now that I have it’s seriously one of the coolest looking (and sounding) plants ive ever heard! And with a shroom friend too 😆
"A day of noticing" is such a wonderful way to describe experiencing and feeling beauty around us. Billy Renkl, collage artist, posts a series of lovely photos on insta and refers to them as "notes from my morning walk"
There's a time of day in my backyard where the sun alights two Douglas firs, thereby making afire all the wings of the birds, circling insects, and silken threads of spider webs. Wonderful!
Miss Neko, I enjoyed these musings you shared. My friend Laura Pritchett, also of Colorado, is an award winning Nature lovin' novelist. Her novels "Stars Go Blue" and "The Blue Hour" i think you would enjoy - including from your shared appreciation of that beautiful blue hour.
I don't think "my" hummingbirds trust me, I just think they trust that they're faster than anything else. I imagine what it must be like for everything else in the world to be slow.
Beautiful images. Thank you for writing about them. Animals delighting themselves for no good reason is a great thing to see and I am going to try to notice that more. I believe the moment of trust with the bird is real or true. I recently had that happen with a mockingbird. Then I read about the Native American symbolism of the mockingbird, and it gave me hope and peace.
Such a poetic portrait of a Vermont summer’s day... and an Anna’s Hummingbird?! Oooh... you spotted a true rarity!
Love ❤️ your descriptions!
Such a fun post. Thank you.
Thank you Neko
This is wonderful, thank you for sharing these beautiful details ❤️
I adore Erdrich! Such a phenomenal writer ❤️
awesome ghost pipes, thanks for the ecological report from the front porch.....