About 4 p.m. every day, the Jersey cow leaves her grazing spot at the other end of the pasture for this clearing near the old barn. Early weed sprouts grow thickly here. Chickweed seems to be her favorite, and she’s keeping it trimmed short. 

I bought this moth orchid plant last summer on clearance, after it finished blooming, without a tag. I’m really not a ‘pink’ kind of gal,
[continue reading...]

We’re calling this the volcano tree. It ‘erupted’ this afternoon while I was crossing my neighbor’s pasture to check on a couple of hot spots left from Tuesday’s fire. I heard a loud crackling and looked across the pond just in time to watch the top blow off this tree. Okay, maybe it didn’t exactly
[continue reading...]

Peeking inside the hollow base…actually, it glowed a lot brighter, but the camera’s flash changed the lighting enough to make the ash on the hot embers visible. 

Same view, no flash. 

More shadows – voila! Art! 

This clearing is just across the creek from the house, maybe 150 feet away. It was all on fire when I arrived home from errands Tuesday afternoon. Fortunately a neighbor had already called the fire department, and they arrived right behind me. I grabbed a long-sleeved shirt and a shovel, tied my hair back, and
[continue reading...]

The entire south pasture looks like this.

This summer, the pond was surrounded by wildflowers, knee deep grass, and blackberry bushes.

Looking northeast from the tall tree stand, across my neighbor’s pasture. He lost his hay, fenceposts, a retaining wall, and a few months use of the pasture while it recovers. The cattle pastured there escaped injury.