I know that many of you envy the life of an internationally obscure writer, but I beg to remind you that sometimes there can be hazardous materials involved. Consequently, today I am modeling some DIY hazmat gear for the budget-minded author. Handy for wearing while reading reviews of your own work. This is not, as some of you might have waggishly opined, an erotic fetish costume, nor am I re-enacting a scene from an early Woody Allen movie. But I am on the farm in Ontario, and there is heroic work to be done. (I think I mentioned to some of you that I got the septic tank cleaned out two days ago — this has nothing to do with that!)
I also went to the grocery store, always a stirring experience, especially at sunset when the dear old Foodland parking lot is bathed in splendour.
Then I went to the woods to hunt for ramps. They are up, but we have so much ramp pesto from last year that it seems a shame to raid the beds again this year. And I forgot to take pictures of them. Anyone who wants to correct my identifications here can leave a comment.
Shadbush or Serviceberry
Daffodils Jean planted here and there in the woods
Mayapple
Hepatica
Trout-lily or Dog-Toothed Violet or Adder’s Tongue
Modern agriculture: You plant rye as a cover crop in the fall. It pops up in the spring. Then you spray a defoliant to kill the rye, disc up the land, and plant something new (the guys were out with the tractors today discing up this field). I took the picture a couple of days ago.
But then there is this.
—dg
Does Lucy have a hazmat suit too?
Margaret, Poor Lucy is a bit ancient and rarely ventures out of the yard these days. She with me but largely absent on my adventures. Poor thing.
Man, you could handle the worst kind of review in that outfit.
🙂 Robert, I can see you understand the possibilities.
How can you hear my corrections on your botanical identifications in that suit?
Carrie, I think I am going to back off on any more identifications. The hepaticas are probably spring beauties. I should stick to something I know…
Tell me about it. I accidentally called them helveticas once.
Doug, for once I’m speechless. But “Mayapple” is a beautiful word–far more appealing than, say, “septic” or (one of my old favorites) “pus.”
Pat, speechless? Wow. Now I am speechless. I work hard to shock and surprise readers. 🙂
I love those daffodils planted in the woods, a lovely Spring surprise. Bravo, Jean.
Glen, She also planted blood root and put in colonies of wild leaks here and there.
Love the pictures of the woodland flowers and sunsets, and there is something unnervingly contemporary in the fine old Ontario house looming behind the toxic waste suit. I thought of aliens, moonlit investigations of scorchings and oozings left behind in the rye. (Yes, I’ve watched too much X-files.)