From this morning’s dog walk on our hill.
Tag Archives: serviceberry
September marks the unofficial end of summer around here. Kids returned to school this week and most vacations are over. Harvest season is in full swing. The weather is beginning to feel like fall. Birds are flocking up for migration. And we try to squeeze in a few more hikes. Here are a few scenes from the end of summer.
Cutthroat trout in Blue Lake
Blue Lake
The back of Liberty Bell
Abundant flowers at the farmers market in Twisp
Yummy looking bread at the market
Rugosa rose blooming in the Twisp Commons
Seckel pears
Ginger gold apples – one of my favorites
garlic
Beautiful peppers
Turkey Vultures
A very late-blooming serviceberry
Lots of snowberry has become established in the two years since the fire
Interesting that the snowberry shows both flowers and berries at the same time
And snowberry is somewhat fire-resistant so that’s a good thing
Arrowleaf balsamroot
Dusk from our hill
We drove up Lester Road and walked to Campbell Lake yesterday. This is an area that burned in the Cougar Flats Fire, part of the immense Carlton Complex of wildfires started by lightning last month. This is the fire we could see from our house. Photos of it burning are here. We got home just as the next big rain storm with thunder and lightning was beginning.
These aspens are already sprouting new growth from the roots.
The patterns of green and burned are pretty amazing.
aspens
A huge mudslide that followed the last big rain event.
The rocks of Pipestone Canyon.
I think this is snowberry
New lupine growth!
What triggered this serviceberry to start blooming?
Rosehips – good food for the birds.
Chokecherries that survived the fire
We drove farther up Lester Road to get a closer look at the mud slide
Can you see MA and the dogs?
Snowberry?
Snowberry?
Currant
Yesterday the surface was parched dry and cracked
A spot of color
Yesterday’s storm turned out to be another wild one causing far more destruction to homes and roads.
It seems like the snow just recently melted and yet, already everything is dusty so this morning it was lovely to wake to the smell of petrichor – the pleasant smell that comes with rain after a dry spell. Thanks to Mary Ann for sharing this word with me. It’s just a very light rain so things will not be moist for long. I’ll be watering tiny garden plants again tomorrow or the next day.
The dogs and I had a nice slow walk around our hillside. I am still nursing a sore back so I don’t do anything quickly. It was a good opportunity to study the small plants growing in our normally arid landscape.
This lupine grows near our house is often the first to bloom. It is next to a rock so probably benefits from the reflected heat and light.
Serviceberry in full bloom!
Old serviceberry along our road
Choke cherry, not yet blooming
Dog with a stick in a hurry.
Balsamroot
Balsamroot in front of our neighbors’ small barn
Tent caterpillars on a bitterbrush. They seem smaller than last year.
Currant
I don’t know this one
Bitterroot leaves
Tiny lomatium.
Bluebells
Mullein. Some say it’s native; others say it’s introduced. It has lots of medicinal qualities. It is beautiful. Birds like it. However, it is very invasive.
The calendar says that fall is only days away. The forecast shows a high of 90 tomorrow. Smoke from forest fires changes the reality of everything. Colors from a distance are muted and without depth. Up close they seem brighter and illuminated. Nights are cool but by late afternoon the oppressive smoke held down by high pressure gives everything a cooked feeling. Maybe it’s just the ever-present smell of charred forests. Initially it’s like a welcome campfire and then you realize it’s not going away. Most likely, some of these fires will burn til the snow falls. And in the long-range forecast there is not even a drop of rain. Normally weather like this in September would be welcomed with open arms.
This morning I took the dogs and my cell phone for a walk and this what we came back with.
This soft image has a painterly feel to me. Patterson Mountain is in the distance. On a smoke-free day, you’d see the mountains of the North Cascades beyond it.
The chokecherries have lost most of their leaves while the serviceberries have turned yellow and orange in recent days.
There hasn’t been a frost on our hill yet. I think the bushes are doing this because it’s been so dry for so long.
There’s a chokecherry that has not yet dropped its leaves. Looking up, early in the day, there is some blue sky.
Maybe I prefer this in black and white…….
My Everyday Photos 