It was a fairly busy weekend, mounting a big mirror on the wall, putting up light-fixtures (they are tricky), sitting in the back garden, drinking beer, picking up relatives at the airport, you know - long weekends.
Yesterday, earlier in the day we picked up Spring's mum from the airport. Once we got home, I went for a hike down into the valley.
This spider was just hanging out.
They're quite perfect - spiders - when viewed close up.
I thought this out-of-focus picture of blue berries turned out really well, somehow. I can't figure out what these are, however.
This yellow and orange flower is an obvious one for me. It grows all over the valley among the moist, marshy field floors.
I looked it up in my Peterson Field Guides "Edible Wild Plants - Eastern/Central North America" text.
This is called Spotted Jewelweed or Touch-Me-Not (Impatiens capensis Meerb.) and is also known as Silverleaf - because water beads over the leaves, leaving a cast of silvery-air bubbles trapped beneath.
The leaves can be picked, crushed between the palms to squeeze out the slightly sticky juice, and rubbed on the skin to treat the contact dermatitis rash that develops from Poison Ivy and Nettles.
The flowers were used by Native Americans to make orange dyes. The young shoots can be cooked in water for boiled greens.
Well, that's it for now. Stayed tuned for mushroom pictures!
Cheers,
Mungo
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