And in New Jersey we have: snow! What a surprise (not). I decided to travel around the world via blogs and see what the weather is like elsewhere.
 In Australia, on Gemma’s blog – flooding |
 In Canada, EG Wow – snowy creek |
 In France, Ilana-Davita – cold, snowy park |
 In Israel, Batya – blue skies |
For more Nature Notes:
Yesterday it rained and then it poured and then it drizzled. During one of the drizzles, I spotted a cardinal pecking away at my compost. I ran to get my camera, and when I came back, it was in this small tree.
Almost as soon as I saw it, the cardinal flapped away.
In contrast to all the rain we got on the East Coast, Israel has been having a very dry, dry spell. Here’s a photo from our 2008 trip to the Dead Sea:
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Update: Jameel on the tragic fire raging in the Haifa region of Israel
One would think, the closer you get to a tree the more sharply one can see the beautiful foliage. Last week I discovered that when I got close to a beautifully red, yellow and orange leafed maple, the leaves that were against the blue sky already looked damaged and faded, while the ones closer to the trunk were still vibrant, colorful and youthful.
Close to the tree trunk, the colors range from yellow to bright red.
Further from the base of the tree, the leaves are darker and browned at the edges.
Since Michelle invited the animals to her Thanksgiving feast, I am inviting the few flowers left in my yard: the chrysanthemum, the marigolds, white alyssum, rudbeckia and petunias.
I am happy the marigolds have been able to withstand some of the frosty nights we have experienced. A few rudbeckia are trying to bloom in late November.
Most of my mum flowers have browned, but a few stragglers bloomed late and decorate my yard.
My kale experiment is going well. The kale I planted in August from seed is gracefully adorning my front yard. The kale in the back, however, seems to be a Thanksgiving feast for some animals, as it is nibbled away.
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It was a beautiful fall day last week when we visited the East Brunswick Butterfly Park. It is off Ryder’s Lane; one can park at the neighboring Oak Tree Park that has a lovely playground for children.
We didn’t see a lot of butterflies, but the autumn foliage was enough to keep our interest.
Yellows and reds are dominant in the landscape at this time of year.
Milkweed! With an aphid. My husband said, look at that bug, and I was proud to be able to identify the milkweed aphid.
Wish I knew the name of this pretty yellow wild flower.
The last two purple blossoms of the year stood out on this butterfly bush.
Sedum turns to such a lovely muted shade of red in autumn.
The path in the butterfly park swings off to a path into the woods. However, one is never far from a busy road or highway when going on hikes in New Jersey. One can hear and see traffic of Ryders Lane.
Can you guess which animal kept our interest for a while in the woods? Can you see him?
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Goldenrod was growing by the Raritan River near Rutgers Gardens. Goldenrod is blamed for allergies, but that’s because it blooms at the same time as ragweed.
Thursday Challenge theme is GOLDEN (Jewelry, Coins, Sun, Leaves, Fields, Hair,…).
Next Week: MESSY (Children, Rooms, Garage, Yard, Disorganized, Hair,…)
There are some lovely paths by the Raritan River in the back of Rutgers Gardens. We enjoyed walking through nature last Sunday.
Some leaves were changing to red; not all the leaves looked so healthy. I wondered if it was because of the dry summer we had.
Is this what Monet saw before he painted his famous lily pads?
I believe this pretty lavender flower by the river is a cleome.
I was excited to see milkweed, as Michelle of Rambling Woods has talked about it on her blog as attractive to butterflies. And I even saw some milkweed aphids, too.
And since many of you enjoy seeing my family, here’s my husband and daughter. The chocolate around her mouth is probably from an Oreo cookie, which may not be a very natural food, but it’s in her nature to enjoy cookies.
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I photographed this cardinal in my backyard in early September. Today I saw a robin in my backyard. I usually see the cardinals in pairs or groups – the bright red birds are a delight.
Here’s the September cardinal again, profile view.
I looked around in my backyard for what to photograph for Nature Notes, and the rose hips caught my eye. “Rose hips are red, my kale is green, one evergreen died, my harvests are lean.” I’m growing kale in my front and back yards instead of grass. The ones in the front are doing quite well; the ones in the back look like someone nibbled on them. One of my little evergreen bushes died this summer — it could have used extra watering in our drought-like August. Oh, well.
There is a rowing of burning bush plants near our supermarket. They are starting to turn red, though I noticed one was brown. Perhaps those also could have used more water this summer. Will fall foliage be less brilliant than last year’s due to the summer drought?
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As soon as we entered this small, two pathway long butterfly garden in Washington, DC, I thought of Rambling Woods and Nature Notes. How pretty were all the flowers in the garden!
The butterfly garden is near the National Gallery of Art and next to the Natural History Museum; both are on the National Mall.
Despite all the butterfly-attracting flowers such as butterfly bushes, we didn’t see any butterflies. Perhaps the many people and cars and big, concrete buildings of Washington, DC scared them away?
I am guessing this lovely red bloom is a cardinal flower.
On the last day of our vacation we visited Mount Vernon, Virginia, home of President George Washington. There I spotted – a butterfly!
There is a lovely butterfly park in East Brunswick, New Jersey.
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There is a lake at Batsto Village in the Pine Barrens in southern New Jersey. There one can see all sorts of natural elements, like wildflowers and a pretty butterfly.
This star-like lavender flower (spotted knapweed – thanks to EG Wow) was also growing next to the lake. There is a nature center at the village, but we didn’t get a chance to visit.
This cattail is situated in a man-made pond created by 19th century businessman Joseph Wharton.
For more nature notes (and this week’s post about lawns) visit:
This family of birds was living in the rafters at the Longstreet Farm in Holmdel, New Jersey.
My daughter had the opportunity to milk a cow at the farm. On the left is that cow’s calf, whose birth helped the cow be a plentiful nurser.
In local sad news, the mama of the guinea pigs we adopted for the summer has died. We buried her in our backyard. In the words of my veterinarian friend, she was “geriatric” (over four years old). The guinea pigs’ original owner comforted me over the phone, saying, I was afraid this might happen. I think I was more upset than my daughter. My daughter noticed that I’ve been checking on the remaining two a lot, and she said I’m glad you don’t fret over me like that.
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In memory of Bobbie (click to read Michelle’s memorable post about her dear friend):
