Sunday, May 2, 2010

Ugh-- it feels like summer out there!

And I'm not a big fan of summer. Too hot, too humid, too miserable. Blech. We went from downright chilly to unbearably hot in like two days. Bring back the cold weather!

Do you love this picture as much as I do? I think it looks like an entrance into a fairyland. So green and mysterious.

And why do people hate dandelions so much? Look at all the white fluffiness!

I have my 25 year high school reunion coming up at the end of June. Last September I posted a message on the reunion facebook page saying I would be willing to lead a bike ride sometime during the weekend if anyone was interested. I never heard anything, so I figured nobody wanted to ride. Well, I just heard that people ARE interested! Uh oh, lol. The problem is that I've never led a bike ride in my life-- what in the heck was I thinking when I volunteered myself!?

So now I need to buckle down and get myself ready to do this ride. Right now I'm averaging 15-20 miles a day. I don't think the reunion ride would be longer than that, but going those distances isn't always easy for me. There's plenty of stopping and picture-taking going on that gives me plenty of rest time. So my goal in the next two months is too increase my stamina to regularly ride 25 miles over somewhat hilly terrain. That should put me in good shape for the end of June.

Getting back to today's ride, I found wild strawberries growing on the side of the road this morning-- it's actually a fairly busy road:

According to my Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers, they are edible. Here's what it says:

"This plant produces the finest, sweetest, wild strawberry. The edible portion of the strawberry s actually the central portion of the flower (receptacle) which enlarges greatly with maturity and is covered with the embedded, dried, seed-like fruit."

And finally, I got a picture of a bluebird down at the meadow reclamation area-- and he caught me in the act! It's kind of blurry because I had to use the crummy zoom feature on my camera.

5 comments:

Heidi said...

I *do* love that first picture so much! You are right! It does look like an entrance to a secret land!

Sunshine and Shadows said...

That top pictures is so beautiful. It does look like a fairy land.

**MIGNONNE** said...

I totally love that first picture!

My kids always say "mom, look! Scummy water!" because they know how much I love, love, love green water.

Unknown said...

That first picture is soooo dreamy. I love the shades of green represented. It is amazingly calming.

wholarmor said...

That first picture is very cool! I'll have to show that to my daughter. We're learning about different habitats in science. Does that qualify as wetland?