©voyager, all rights reserved
It’s another gray day with skies so dull it’s looked like early evening all day long. We did find a few pockets of snow to reflect some light, but even that seemed thin and wan. Nonetheless, we had a pleasant walk together in companionable quiet on the trail of our favourite forest path.
Nightjar has sent us some fabulous photos of the fully fruited-Persimmon trees near where she lives.
These are some photos from local persimmon trees. As you can see, as of December 23 all leaves have fallen but the fruits remain on the trees. Most haven’t fully ripened yet and are showing no signs of falling. This is unusual for this time of the year, persimmon season should be over by now. I have no explanation for it, but the result is many alternative “Christmas trees” around the village, naturally decorated with unconventional orange balls. I think they look amazing right now and I thought you would enjoy them too.
Yes, Nightjar, I am enjoying them and so will everyone else. Thanks.
©Nightjar, all rights reserved
Alas, we did not find the beaver, ©voyager, all rights reserved
Jack and I found this beaver chewed tree at the end of the trail today. We looked around a bit, but couldn’t find any other signs of beaver activity. This tree tells me that they’re here, though, and once the ground is frozen and less boggy we’re going to walk closer to the river to see what we can see. I’ve never seen a beaver in the wild so this is all very exciting. What could go wrong?
©voyager, all rights reserved
Our day started with sunshine peeking through the drapes, but by the time we were up and about the sky was thick with heavy and listless gray clouds. The whole world looks gray and listless in this light and it was tough to get ourselves out the door today. As motivation, we decided to make the short journey to our favourite wee forest hoping we might find a bit of an adventure. Alas, we did not, but we might have heard a few pixies giggling and I’m almost certain I saw a fairy dart into this hollow stump and just disappear. Poof, and he was gone. Not even a whiff of breath left behind. Jack tried to follow, but wisely decided he couldn’t fit and gave up the chase. We made our way around the rest of the trail slowly, and heard nothing more than the creak of the grandmother trees in the wind and the lonely caw of a single crow.
So, yesterday evening the tree was still all curled up. Today morning when I woke up, the shoot was there, straight and starting to unfurl its first two leaves, with a bit of soil still holding on to them.
©Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
Today, we have something even better than a Christmas tree. Avalus has sent us an absolutely enchanting forest photo for this Christmas Day Tree Tuesday. Thanks so much, Avalus.
Zauberwald means magic forest.
Hiking an a misty morning last fall on a path in the Odenwald suddenly the sun appeared between the trees. I think the slight misfocus adds to the “magic forest” feel I had that moment.
Zauberwald, ©Avalus, all rights reserved
©voyager, all rights reserved
This may look like a small hill to you, but to Jack it’s a mountain and he could be Sir Edmund Hillary standing at the summit of Everest giving his best rugged explorer face to the camera. Or, he could just be squishing mud between his toes.
Well, hopefully. This won’t be easy to pull off and it may fail at any time even before it really takes off. Plants sometimes fail to take root, and even when they do, they fail at becoming a bonsai tree, and even if they do, they sometimes just die after decades of work for causes unavoidable or unknown – like my most precious cypress tree did last fall and many others this spring.
But I hope this takes off. Last month I had encountered a very rare thing – a seed in a store-bought persimmon, fruit of Diospyros kaki. This was a first seed ever I have found and I have bitten into it and damaged it a bit because I did not se it originally. Luckily for years I am always cutting the fruit lengthwise in crescents and never across, because I have been actively looking for a seed. But the variety is mostly seedless and usually all that can be found are tiny under 5 mm unfertilized seeds, which are useless. This was clearly living one, it was over 20 mm in length, with the shape of a plum seed and consistency and hardness of an apple seed.
I have washed it carefully and thoroughly in luke warm water so it does not mould and my mother (because I had to work overtime and did not have time to do it myself and also I am a bit superstitious about my mom’s touch – she could make a broom blossom if she planted it) had planted it in a bit of heat-sterilized porous substrate immediately the next day. The pot stood near a heat radiator for the last month and I splashed in a bit of water whenever I remembered to, which was about twice a week. I was actually just beginning to worry that I underwatered it, which is just as bad as overwatering when…
A seedling Diospyros kaki popping out.
…today I found out that the seed started to come out of the ground, which was a rare moment of joy for me (I try not to drag you down with me, but you know those are small and far between). I will keep you posted on its progress. I hope for many infrequent updates for years, but you will get the info even if it fails.
Thin Ice, ©voyager, all rights reserved
The sun is trying to shine today, but it’s weak and can’t quite overcome the gloomy clouds that fill the sky. Nonetheless, we had a pleasant walk down by the river this morning. We saw a few ducks, heard a lot of crows, found some mud and even saw a few shards of blueish sky. Jack really wanted to go swimming, but I didn’t think it was a good idea so soon after surgery so I kept him on dry(ish) land with the help of a few liver treats. He’s a good boy and does what he’s told, but he really wanted to get wet. Oh well, I did let him hunt for mice (he won’t ever catch one) and get some mud between his toes (fun!) so he was happy enough.
Hurry up, mum. ©voyager, all rights reserved
Ha! I found the battery charger for my camera and as I predicted it was in the last place I looked. Actually, it was found by an out-of-town friend who reminded me that I had the charger with me when I visited her a few weeks ago. She was certain that I hadn’t left it behind so I took the short walk to the cupboard and finally found the damned thing in the pocket of my suitcase. I am relieved. And embarrassed. But mostly relieved. The photo today is my sweet Bubba enjoying life without a grapefruit sized lump in his armpit. If you look closely you can just see the shave growing in on his right arm. He was prancing around the woods today like a puppy with his tail set at sail and obviously happy. I think that some of the slow down that I’ve been attributing to age might have just been Larry The Lump™ giving Jack the pip. He’s a bit frustrated in this photo because I am taking too many pictures!
Morning at the park, ©voyager, all rights reserved
I know the perspective is wonky is this photo, but it was taken with my phone camera which I really don’t know how to use. Unfortunately, it’s the only camera I have right now because I’ve lost the charger for my real camera, making it more of a paperweight than a camera. The charger is a biggish thing that should be easy to find, but it’s hiding somewhere in the chaos that is my house right now. I’ve been scatter-brained lately so it could be anywhere and my short-term memory sucks at the best of times so it may be a few days before I find it, but find it I will. Predictably, it will be in the last place I look.
Sent in by Nightjar, our trees this week tell a cautionary tale about the effects of climate change.
Mushroom Hunting Part 1...We went mushroom hunting last weekend and I decided to share some photos. I split them in two parts. The first doesn’t show mushrooms but rather our journey to find them. I knew that the wildfires last year had affected this area, but wasn’t sure if our favourite spot had burned or not. It did. I say green isn’t always hope because that green in the third photo is mostly acacias (Acacia longifolia) taking over the place. The future of these historical pine forests doesn’t look bright. We turned around and drove a bit south until we found a patch of forest that escaped the fires and didn’t look as dry and sterile. That’s when the mosquitoes attacked me, but there was also a lovely damselfly to make up for it.
Mushroom Hunting Part 2 will be posted tomorrow and it’s chock full of interesting photos of fungi found in the forest. Be sure to check it out. Thanks, Nightjar.
1. The road that no longer leads to mushrooms, ©Nightjar, all rights reserved
This is one of my most precious bonsai trees – Crassula ovata. My mother has got the plant before I was born and she tells me it was already relatively big at that time. It is therefore safe to assume the tree is at least circa 50 years old. I started converting it to bonsai about twenty years ago. It continues to grow succesfully each year after pruning, and in case you wish to start growing bonsai yourself, this species is ideal for a beginner. It responds well to pruning, it grows quickly but not too much so, insects do not infect it much, and if you forget to water it from time to time, nothing happens.
I want to share a picture this time around, because this year something special happened – the tree flowers. It has done it once already a few years ago, but not as much as this year.
©Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
©Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
©Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.