Pink Oriental Lilies

These oriental lily photos are obviously from earlier in the year. I do still have some daylilies blooming (very few) but no oriental lilies left. This first one is called Oriental X-otica, you can see the coloring of my daylilies in the background. The X-otica is planted in the edge of my largest daylily flowerbed.

You know me, I have to get closer and closer.

Although they all look like the same lily to me, the last one is Pink Pearl, the oriental I posted early July, here. The Pink Pearls are planted up close to the house, you can see the brick in the background.

Just taking a little time to blog. I am going to try to visit some too.

American Chestnut Tree closeup

As promised in the last post I have some more photographs of the American Chestnut Tree. And I do now believe it is an American Chestnut instead of a Buckeye. What do you think?

This last photo is more blurry, but it really shows the leaves.

Not home for long....just long enough for Jimmy to mow and me wash clothes, but I did also post on my other blog, Photography By Leedra with a much prettier photograph. Have started a knit project for myself. Taking a weekly knit class right now, and am learning so much. Also keeping Mason on Wednesday mornings, and just have to go see Wendy and Noah one day during the week. Staying real busy. Hope all is well with all of you.

There are Buckeye and then there are Buckeyes

We have 2 Buckeye trees in Rockwood. They are so full of buckeyes that 2 limbs broke off one of the trees. Last year when we bought the place one limb was broke out of the front Buckeye tree, we didn't realise until this year, when it happened again that it is the weight of the Buckeyes that was breaking the limbs. If I had been meaning to photograph the tree I would have taken a better photo (hopefully), but I was actually taking a photograph of something else and then decided to crop it and use it here. I just realised I have these next 2 photos in the wrong order. Oh, well. This one is the empty buckeye hull, after I have snatched the buckeyes. Which you have to be real careful, the hull can be worse than a cactus when you get close to those pricklies.
The next one is a hull with the buckeyes still there. Most have 2 or 3 buckeyes, so the first one I found that had 4 I acted like I had found the four leaf clover. I kept them separated from all the others.
And I have lots of 'others'. I have a dish full. You have to get to them before the little black worms find them. The hulls have to just be turning. There are lots more on the 2 trees, but now the worms have found them, so I am not sure I will get anymore good ones this year.

After finding the 4 in one, then I found the real prize. The hull with only one buckeye. Notice it is round. Look back up at the hull with 3 in it. Notice one side is flat. So I was really excited with the single buckeye.

I had to go back and look for more.

I was able to find five. Had to flip them over for you to see the other side.

Then the beautiful Buckeye Butterfly, one of my favorites. I have another story to go with it. I took this photograph in the summer of 2007, I was in awe of this little butterfly. Look at those eyespots, with such detail. In September 2007 we went to the Grand Canyon, there was a lady there going on about the beauty of the canyon (and it IS GORGEOUS!), saying anybody that did not believe in God needed to visit the canyon. I told her all somebody had to do was look at the beautiful details God put on the Buckeye Butterfly to see there has to be a God. I just am not sure how the Buckeye Butterfly was ever referred to as the Common Buckeye. There is nothing common looking about it to me. He is beautiful!

I haven't been around my computer very much lately, except at work. I am going to Rockwood to be with Jimmy alot more, he is working 6 days , and 65 to 70 hours each week. My knitting is more mobile (with no internet access in Rockwood) and I am doing alot of knitting for the grandbabies. Not sure when I will get around to visiting, but I told one of my blogging buddies last year that I wanted to do a post on the buckeye tree and butterfly together. Sorry it took me a whole year.

Now just in case you want to know more about the Buckeye Tree I have included some information I found on the web.

The name Buckeye comes from the folklore of the Native Americans who noticed that the nut of the Buckeye tree resembles the eye of a buck deer, a buck eye. They also roasted, peeled and mashed the buckeye nut which they called Hetuck into a nutritional meal. The poisonous and bitter taste can be eliminated by heating and leaching. People wondering if they can eat buckeyes can but only after they have been heated and leached . Some believe that the buckeye relieves rheumatism pain. The symbol of General William Henry Harrison's presidential campaign was a string of buckeyes and a log cabin decorated with raccoon skins. His campaign song called Ohio the bonnie Buckeye state, as a result citizens in Ohio became know as "Buckeyes ." On October 2, 1953 the buckeye tree officially became the state tree.

The Buckeye tree is very adaptable to it's environment, thrives in conditions not suitable for other trees and is hard to kill once the buckeye tree is established.

Alot of people say buckeyes are lucky and keep one around the house, mostly in with their jewlery or carry one in their purse, or pocket. But they are not lucky if you try to eat one and not so lucky for cattle or some other animals if they try to eat one. Buckeyes are toxic , but not to squirrels, who eat them when other food is not available to them.

UPDATE: Please look at the comment from The Fishing Guy. He says it is possibly an American Chestnut tree instead. Here is the link he referred me to. I will try to get a photograph of the leaves this weekend while I am in Rockwood, so be watching and I will let you know which it is. And here is the link to the Buckeye tree, notice the buckeyes don't appear to be in a hull like the nut tree we have. Thank you The Fishing Guy for clearing this up for me.

Cabbage White Butterflies on Purple Liatris

There are really just 2 photos here. First I show straight out of the camera, then the soft focus of the same photograph.

The 2nd photo now.

There is more difference on the second photo, the first one already had some soft focus to it. This is about all I can do with a photo when I get it to the computer, well, I can change to black and white or sepia. Most photographs you see on my blog or website are straight out of the camera. Which one do you like the best? Oh, by the way, these are a Cabbage White butterfly on purple liatris blooms.

We have been spending a LOT of time in Rockwood (no internet there). This past weekend we went home for a few hours, just long enough to mow the yard. I am at Wendy's right now, and Noah is waking from his nap. So off I go again.

Colorful Sunflowers

These sunflowers were all in a row in Alice's garden when I went to Deer Lodge to visit her a couple of weeks ago.

This one looks like a painting instead of a photograph.

Sunflowers always bring a smile to my face.

Hope everybody will have a wonderful holiday weekend.

A few Butterflies and a Hummingbird in the yard

Skipper on Blanket Plant bloom.

Two skippers on a zinnia bloom.

The next 3 photographs are a Variegated Fritillary.

Sorry I didn't have the correct lens on when this single hummingbird came for a very short visit to the zinnias in one of my flowerbeds next to the driveway.