Butterfly Mind

Wildflower hike at Cascades waterfall

April 11th, 2021

My husband and I talked this morning about how we’re numb from the routine of life, day in and day out, every day the same since the pandemic began: same meals, same surroundings, same walk around the neighborhood.

Today we decided to break routine and go for a hike at the Cascades, a waterfall nearby that we’ve hiked to in every season: late spring when the rhododendrons bloom and the meltwater rushes in torrents down stream, summer when the canopy is dense and green, and no sunlight hits the forest floor, fall when yellow and orange and brown leaves fall, and winter when rock faces twinkle with icicles and the falls freeze over.

What we realized today, though, is that we’ve never been in early spring, before the leaves come in and shade the trail. This time of year, sunlight can reach the forest floor, and wildflowers bloom everywhere. I’ve never seen so many flowers on this hike. I was delighted for all the pretty things to photograph with my new camera and lens. I shot all of these with a Fuji X-T30 camera and the XF 35mm f1.4 lens.

Flowers and fiddlehead. 35 mm – ISO 250 – 1/1700 – f/2.0

Trillium. 35 mm – ISO 250 – 1/1500 – f/1.8

Moss and mini waterfall. 35 mm – ISO 250 – 1/300 – f/4.0

Gushing water. 35 mm – ISO 250 – 1/640 – f/4.0

Unknown flower. 35 mm – ISO 250 – 1/750 – f/2.5

Trillium. 35 mm – ISO 250 – 1/1000 – f/1.8

Cascades waterfall. 35 mm – ISO 250 – 1/800 – f/8.0

Phlox? 35 mm – ISO 250 – 1/2200 – f/1.4
Periwinkle

April 4th, 2021

Vinca major, Fujifilm X-T30, XC15-45mmF3.5-5.6 lens. 45mm – ISO 800 – 1/400 – f/5.6

I’m still not great with my new camera. At least it’s warm outside now so that my hands don’t freeze while I fumble with the settings. I finally ordered the lens I’ve been saving for; it should arrive this week. I am eager for a fixed focal length and to be able to open the aperture as much as I want to. I worried I wouldn’t get the lens in time for spring flowers, but I think it will be just in time for the tulips, redbud, dogwoods, lilac, and everything else that follows.
My gardening vacation has ended, and the beds are all mulched

March 29th, 2021

Each spring, I take a week off of work to tend to the garden. Mostly this means spreading mulch over all the beds I killed grass for so I can grow butterfly-friendly plants. I’ve lucked out with weather each year, including this one. My vacation began on the spring equinox, and I had five days of sunshine and warm enough temperatures to work in short sleeves.

In previous years, I ordered 12 cubic yards of mulch to be delivered on the first day of my vacation. This year, thanks to the new bed I carved out in winter, I ordered 14 yards.

And it wasn’t enough. I called my mulch guy mid-week, and luckily he was able to deliver two more yards for me while I still had time to spread it. I finished on Friday, just before the rains of the weekend. Now, I’m back to work today, but the garden is ready for April rains, lengthening days, and sunshine. My chairs are out there, ready for me to sit in them as soon as it’s warm enough.

Back bed before mulch

Front pile in progress

Almost done with front pile

This is where most of the front pile went

Making progress with the second pile of mulch

Gah! Ran out of mulch

I couldn’t make it stretch; I needed at least 2 more yards

All done 🙂
I can walk in the evenings again

March 21st, 2021

In the before times, I would swim laps at 5:30 am while my daughter was at swim practice. I’d get my exercise and shower in before the work day began. Then, like the rest of the world, the aquatic center closed its doors.

When swim practice tiptoed back into our lives, practice times changed to afternoons and evenings, and the aquatic center had limited capacity. I no longer swam while our daughter swam. Instead, I walked on a nearby nature trail in the evenings while the swim team swam at the pool. Then the time changed, and it was dark during practice. I no longer walked while our daughter swam.

My scenes became the inside of our house, the views out of our windows, the views out of the car windows in our small town, and the yards, trees, and hills in a two mile radius of our house where I’d walk or run on nice days. I took up drawing. I sat in different chairs at the table. I obsessed about the garden and killed more grass.

Now, the time has changed again, and days extend to 7:30pm. I can walk on the Huckleberry trail while our daughter is at practice. Now, I have another place to observe the plants, watch the sky, and look for signs of spring. There’s not a lot of color out there yet, but it will come.

I wanted so badly for this nest to have eggs in it.

Old railroad ties along the Huckleberry trail.

My mom, blogger at Wandering Dawgs, is hosting a Lens-Artist photo challenge this week. This is my entry for her prompt, A Change of Scenery. Thanks for a fun prompt, Mom!
Happy first day of spring!

March 20th, 2021

FINALLY. The first day of spring has arrived! Daffodils pop all over town, forsythia canes begin to bloom, and I even saw a dogwood show some white blossoms in our neighborhood. Chartreuse leaf buds fatten on trees and shrubs, and bright green goldenrod leaves shoot up through the leaf litter. I have awaited this day since the first cold of November.

My new narcissus

Forsythia starting to bloom

Happy daffodils

Flowers in the first light of spring
Distracted by Spring

March 4th, 2021

Robins have suddenly appeared, pretty much on March 1. The sun shines, birds chirp, sparrows pull coconut fibers from the flower baskets for their nests, the sky is blue, my Mexican sunflower seeds sprouted, robins hop around pulling worms, and I want to rearrange my office right now so I can look out the window. But I have a ton of meetings, and I want to take a walk between my meetings and my coaching call, so I can’t do anything about it today. I’m taking our daughter to Richmond this weekend for a swim meet, so I have to skip gardening and office rearranging over the weekend as well.

I need to get to work because I have a bunch of stuff I need to do before my first call. I don’t want to though. I spent my workout time this morning drawing pictures in my garden journal: Mexican sunflower sprouts, the rabbit that ran across the top of the back hill, a robin in the rose bed. I want to throw responsibilities out the window and go outside, breathe it all in, and soak up sunlight. I have a meeting in 20 minutes, though, and I need to do some prep work. I’ll guess I’ll get to work now so I can take my walk this afternoon. It will be warmer then anyway, and maybe the extra few hours will give the first daffodils time to open.