Garden peas

Usually the first thing I plant in the spring is garden peas, or English peas as they are known in these parts.  I put a lot of effort into digging up a place for them.  It's rewarding to see the little plants emerging in a row on each side of the wire pea fence I use.  I plant the Wando variety.  It is a heat tolerant variety, and we almost always have hot weather by the time the peas are producing.

The apple tree

The apple tree is in full bloom and the bees are loving it.  I spent some time digging up wild raspberry briars that have encroached on the area under the tree, and I could hear the hum of the bees above me.  The tree is a golden delicious tree, and it usually succumbs to cedar-apple rust each year.  If it does bear, the squirrels vie for the fruit.  But right now, it looks great.  The honeybees are not mine.  I think they are flying in from a farm which is a good ways down the road but probably a half mile or less as the crow flies.

 

The butterflies were enjoying the blossoms as well.  I saw several silver-spotted skippers like this one (in addition to a few swallowtails).

 

The ticks are out

Just a little warming in the weather and the ticks are out.  I found one Friday crawling across my shirt.  I had only been walking around the yard.  Saturday I was working in a very weedy area, and I woke up Sunday morning to find a tick attached to the back of my thigh.  I never could have seen it, but fortunately it itched just a wee smidgen--enough for me to reach back and feel it.  Today, after I hung some sheets on the clothesline, I came back inside only to find a tick hurrying across the laundry basket.
It's that season. 

Spring freeze

Wednesday morning we had a spring freeze.  It would be too time consuming to try to cover everything, so I let nature take it's course.  It's interesting to see what can make it and what can't.  I cut a few bouquets Tuesday evening in case some of the flowers froze.  It was a good thing I did.  Here is the azalea bouquet...

 

...and here is what the azalea bush looked like after the freeze

 

I made a bouquet of the kerria, but it seemed to fare better than the azalea.

 

 

Believe it or not, the Knock Out rose was already showing some blooms this early in the season.  So far it seems not to have fared too badly.

 

The apple tree looked fine, too.  Of course we have another freeze coming up which may be even colder.

 

When I walked around the house Wednesday morning, I smelled a unique smell that took me a few minutes to place.  Then I realized it was the distinctive smell of wilted fig leaves.  Poor tree!  It will put out more figs this season, but this first crop is demolished.

 

 

Some plants were protected by an overhanging tree and some plants are just more cold hardy.  We have another freeze coming tomorrow night.  We'll see if more things freeze then. 

 

 

 

The white irises

The white irises have bloomed and they are indeed lovely.  I snapped a picture Saturday morning in the misty weather.  I hope they thrive here.  They are off to a great start.

A nature walk with my sister

I recently enjoyed a nature walk with my sister.  She shots some pics of the spring flora and fauna we saw.
The insects--

tiger beetle

 

little blue butterflies (spring azures?) drawing minerals from the mud

The fungi--

a little brownish gold mushroom and a couple more forming to the right

 

The flowers--

Carolina jessamine (or as the folks back home call it, jasmine)

 

redbud

 

loblolly pine

dogwood
 

--so much interesting life all around.

Mural in Carthage, NC

Recently ds and I rode through Carthage, NC, and I imposed upon him to shoot some pictures of a mural there.  I think this is a fairly recent mural.  It was done by Chapel Hill muralist Scott Nurkin.  The mural commemorates former Carthage resident James R. McConnell.
(all of these pictures taken by Caleb)

 

 

We looked at the dates... 30 years old when he died.  I'm old enough to think, "Just 30.''

Ninety-nine years ago, just 5 days after his thirtieth birthday, James R. McConnell died in battle fighting for France in WW1.  He flew with the Lafayette Escadrille.

 



The mural depicts the statue that was placed at McConnell's alma mater, the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, VA.

 

I thought it was a good idea to paint a slice of history on a brick wall.  Good job, Carthage!