Hummingbird Moths The late July garden is buzzing with activity. Even as the Bee Balm fades, the hummingbirds and bees are all over it, as well as the other flowers in the garden. And there’s another visitor frequenting the garden lately; the Hummingbird Moth (Clearwing Moth). This moth looks and flies like a smaller hummingbird,…
The Albany Plan of Union Ben Franklin looked around the colonies and saw that they were each operating independently from each other. With the looming threat of the French and Indian War presenting a clear and present danger to all of the colonies, it made sense to form alliances for each of the colonies to…
Like many people I have a list of books I’ve been meaning to get around to. Some have been on the list for years, others for a month or two. Some I’ve chipped away at recently, hoping to complete them and check that box. Others I’ve ignored indefinitely. Three of the books in this stack…
Filling the Void Looking out into the woods behind my house you might see a thick stand of trees, deep green leaves, and dappled sunlight. I see the void. That dappled sunlight shines through a clearing made when a massive oak tree snapped in two during a storm earlier this year. The morning after it…
Past Peak It’s hard to believe, but the flowers in the garden are past peak. While still beautiful, it’s clear that the vibrant burst of color seen just days ago is waining. In particular, the Yucca and Tiger Lillies have faded slightly, and some of the bee balm is starting to fade as well, though…
Potato Donuts While in Portland, Maine on business today I had a thought bubble creep above my head: Potato donuts! I know, your Portland area thought bubble might have been lobster or blueberries or beer, and generally I might have thought the same thing. But today it was potato donuts. This didn’t just come to…
Today I took this picture of a hummingbird. Well, I took many pictures of a couple of hummingbirds and this one was good enough to post. I know several photographers in my Facebook community who will look at this and bite their lip at my amateurish use of filters or aperture or whatever. That’s okay…
First Sail Sailing season got off to a great start with a sunset cruise last night on Fayaway. Any sail out of the Merrimack River begins with motoring out of the river. There’s some setup involved in this process, and there’s a fair amount of checking out the stream of power boats zooming past you….
Hot, summer days are upon us. The season is short; too short. Best to embrace these days while they’re here. Garden work done… well, done enough anyway. It’s never really done. These are the days you bought a pool for in the first place. Time to take the plunge. Jumping into a body of water…
Just when your shoes are nice and broken in, the laces seem to wear thin and break. Granted, the same forces that break in your shoes are also working on the weakest link in your shoes, but it has always seemed a design flaw that could be fixed. Shoelaces are not a sexy topic, but…