June Theme Day -The Beauty of Decay: Shrek!

Life and beauty spring from the depths of decay.  An old dead tree stump is the host to these budding shelf mushrooms.  They remind me of the ogre Shrek, with his two little horn-like ears on the top of his head!

See more City Daily Photo Theme Day entries for June here.

Sedona Sinkhole

With all the recent talk of sinkholes swallowing people in Florida, I thought I'd share one of our discoveries during our last Arizona visit. At the end of Soldier's Pass in western Sedona, beneath what appears to be a red rock Sphinx, there is a giant sinkhole sometimes referred to as the Devil's Kitchen.  It has an opening of approximately 150 x 90 feet and is about 70 feet deep. The hole itself has been around for awhile, but the chunk of rock broken off in this photo is called the "piano" since it has a similar shape to a baby grand. Apparently shortly after the 1989 earthquake in San Francisco, Sedona residents heard a rumbling and saw a giant cloud of red smoke and dust rising into the air in the horizon and this was the result!  Below is a view of the deep chasm in front of the piano shelf.

You can learn more about Sedona sinkholes and their causes here.

Bandits-Redux!

UPDATE! This afternoon I was able go back over to the big tree on the corner and get a closer shot of the baby raccoons with my regular camera... there are FIVE of them...(maybe more?) Be sure to double-click the photo to see the close-up of their cute little faces. :-)

[See the original posting and image of them in my 6/25/11 entry.]

Bandits

So, I'm patiently waiting my turn at the 4-way stop at the edge of our subdivision, when I casually glance out my my window at a huge knothole in an ancient box elder tree. Imagine my surprise, when I see these two little guys poke their heads out and stare back at me! (I must apologize for the poor quality of this particular image - I did not have my regular camera with me while out running errands....isn't that always the case?) I quickly pulled over and was lucky enough to get a snapshot with my cell phone before they ducked back down inside.

The odd part about this is that, even though we live in a semi-rural area, and see lots of turkeys, pheasants, ground hogs, possum, and deer, I can't recall the last time we saw a raccoon wander through the area.

Ruffled Feathers

While hiking on the Broken Hill trails, we spied this hawk perched high up in a tall tree. He was fluffing and preening his feathers in the cold, unfazed by the band of crows judiciously squawking at him from the grove of ash trees next door.

I'm Over the Hill: Good Bye

As my masthead says: A year in four seasons. I started this photo diary of the Pewaukee area on January 24th, 2009 - and my goal of posting for (over) a year has been accomplished. I also included images from places we visited during the year, along with pictures of our pets and other objects of interest. It was a wonderful experience which helped me open my eyes to the simple (and sometimes stunning) beauty around us all. I also loved learning about many other new places via City Daily Photo, places I may never get to visit except through the wonders of technology. Thanks to all my "e-friends" who posted their comments and insight.

I will continue to post from time to time on my regular blog: MODERATION, a collection of recipes, nature notes - and anything else that strikes my fancy. Feel free stop by. Best wishes to you all!

The Oaks

"The Oaks" is a small, but nicely appointed, subdivision near our house. The only issue I have is that they had to cut down a few giant oaks to build the houses there, only to replace them with the twigs below....

Hopefully they will be as mighty as their predecessors one day.

Amaryllis

A close-up view of the amaryllis now in bloom in our dining room.

Back in October my friend, Juli, ordered a variety of bulbs from a catalog, and so we weren't sure what color this would be. The options were red, white, pink, or candy stripe. The goal was to have them bloom by Christmas. I did everything right (I thought) - but over the holidays, it was still nothing but a little green shoot sticking out about an inch above the pot. Suddenly, at the beginning of January, two flower stalks shot up over a foot high! I was so pleased to finally see the dramatic "Candy-Cane" striped blooms burst open last week. They will last for several weeks, and the other stalk right next to it is also ready to flower. The whole plant can be seen in the image below.

It's so nice to have a bright splash of summery color inside while the world is cold and blustery outside!

FROG... or Hoarfrost

Pewaukee temps dipped into the teens last night and a fog rolled in. This morning, we were treated to a Jack Frost show on all the trees and shrubs.

Our local weather-dudes call this "frog" - meaning frozen fog. The technical term is actually "hoarfrost." Frost is to dew as snowflakes are to raindrops. When water vapor condenses into liquid water, you get raindrops and dew. When temperatures drop, water vapor condenses directly into ice, and you get snowflakes and frost. When frost forms as tiny ice crystals covering the ground, it's just called frost.

But sometimes the frost grains grow larger and are called hoarfrost crystals. This often happens when the skies are clear, or covered with high, thin clouds, and there is little or no wind to prevent the settling of foggy moisture.

These ice crystals are so large, that they almost look like the trees have a salty coating on them like pretzels!

Moonset Over Thumb Butte

During our recent visit, we had this early morning view of the moon setting over Thumb Butte from our Prescott, AZ hotel room. If you look closely at the larger image, you can see a dusting of snow on the hills.

SkyWatch Friday: Desert View

During our recent Arizona trip, we drove down to the Saguaro National Forest near Tucson. The variety and beauty of all the cacti were just amazing. This scene reminded me of something you might see in an old "Western" - I half-expected to see John Wayne galloping into view against the big sky and hazy blue mountains. :-)

See all SkyWatch entries here.

Happy 2010!

We're finally back in Pewaukee from our Arizona holiday vacation. We spent a few days in Prescott with our son and his fiance, and then a few days in Phoenix to see the Packers/Cardinals game. (The Pack won! They'll play each other again next weekend, but that's one we'll have to catch on TV.) I must admit the mild temps and sunny skies were a pleasant diversion from the reality of snow and frigid temps back here in Wisconsin.

On New Year's Day we hiked around Watson Lake - a very interesting outcropping of rocks and water on the edge of Prescott. The scenery was amazing, as you can tell by the photo of this young couple fishing. I'll be posting more photos from our trip over the next few days.

High Bush Cranberry

Also known as Viburnum Opulus, the high bush cranberry shrub is a common sight Wisconsin woodlands. In the spring, fragrant white flower clusters adorn the bushes, and in the fall the leaves turn a beautiful magenta red. The berry clusters remain during the winter as food for wildlife. The berries of this shrub along Swan Road carried a mantle of snow after our recent blizzard, creating a pretty holiday postcard.

Frozen to the Gills

I didn't realize that mushrooms and other fungus could survive freezing conditions, but apparently they can. This zoom view of a toadstool-type fungus growing high up in an oak tree near Lindsay Road shows the textured gills underneath the cap. My guess is that it's not really *growing* anymore, but is suspended in time with the cold weather.

Wild Apples

During a recent hike on the Ryan Road trails, we came across this gnarly old apple tree. It was still covered with pretty red apples, even though the leaves had fallen. The ground surrounding the tree was also covered with hundreds of dropped apples. I'll be making an apple pie for Thanksgiving, but not with these! I still have some from our last trip to La Crescent, MN - the "apple capital" of Minnesota.

Skywatch Friday: Weeping Willow

The sky and several distant condos are reflected in the reservoir next to this golden weeping willow tree at the edge of Cecilia Drive.

See more SkyWatch Friday entries here.

Milkweed: Finale

This is the grand finale in my series of milkweed pods. (If you open that link, please be sure to scroll down to see all three phases.) The dried, crackly pods have finally burst open, setting free thousands of fluffy down seed parachutes to insure that next year the cycle will begin again.

SkyWatch Friday: Background Blue

The tall fluffy plumes of this decorative grass blow in the breeze against an October blue sky at my friend Juli's house.

See all SkyWatch Friday entries here.

Red Oak

Another view of the pretty autumn color blanketing southern Wisconsin this fall. This young red oak is near the Simmons Woods trail.

Autumn Sumac

A field of sumac has turned red up on the Ryan Road hiking trails.