Category Archives: Nature

Sights and smells of the great outdoors.

CMMC: August Color Red

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  • Tulips. Reiman Gardens, Ames, Iowa. April 26, 2021.

Red is the August color for Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge. I browsed my digital files and found more red in 2021 than I imagined I had!

Flowers first: tulips, a fairy duster (who knew there was such a thing?!!), and a rose.

  • Baja Fairy Duster. Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix, Arizona. May 16, 2021.
  • Red Rose. Des Moines Rose Garden. May 26, 2021.

Next up: a glimpse of my visit to the Iowa Arboretum. The school house is so small there’s just enough room for a student or two with the teacher. The metal sculpture of a cardinal is the best cardinal photo in my collection – maybe someday I’ll get the right equipment to take live bird pictures.

  • Little Red Schoolhouse. Iowa Arboretum. July 20, 2021
  • Metal Cardinal. Iowa Arboretum. July 20, 2021.

For a little fun, here is a new fire hydrant looking at an older relative to see if it is safe to remove its covering.

  • Fire Hydrants. Hamilton, Missouri. July 16, 2021.

And, finally, the side of a red barn.

  • Barn. Jasper County, Iowa. April 22, 2021.

CMMC July Word Ends with “K”

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Bark (Japanese Red Pine)

It’s the July Word week for Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge; this time it’s words that end with the letter “k“.

Rock with Sidewalk Chalk
Drawing Chalk
Pink & Black Quilt Block (x2)
Book Stack on Desk

The books in the book stack were selected with the challenge in mind: Folk, Steinbeck, Potok, Think, Monk, Frederick, Dusk, Black, Nick, Black (again), Gleick, Deepak, Peck, and Desk. I’m sure I could have found more books to add to the stack but decided to stick with what was on the shelves in the one room.

FOTD: Yellow Wildflowers

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Yellow wildflowers are in full bloom at Big Creek State Park. Scroll through the pictures to see (1) Compass Plants standing tall above Black-eyed Susans, Grayhead Coneflowers, and Oxeye Sunflowers; (2) Grayhead Coneflowers in a field of what looks like Little Bluestem; and (3) Black-eyed Susans in various stages of blooming.

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Another response from yesterday’s walk for Cee’s Flower of the Day photo challenge.

Flower of the Day?

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I noticed it on my walk this morning along the Neil Smith Trail in Big Creek State Park.

It is not a flower. Or maybe it is.

Whatever it is, it is on the end of a grass of some sort. And it is teeny.

The color caught my eye. Red. On what is clearly a long stalk of grass.

If I’ve set it up right, you should be able to click on the pictures to enlarge them.

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Posted as part of Cee’s Flower of the Day (FOTD) Challenge because I think grasses are sometimes just as interesting as flowers, leaves and berries. 😉

UPDATE (7/26/21): My friend Kristy suggested (see comments) this is Side Oats Grama and I think she’s right. So it is a grass which has oat-like seeds along the stem. I’ve learned something new today.

#TreeSquare: Fruits

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Peach. Hamilton, Missouri. July 16, 2021.

There are fruits of trees that you might eat.

Apple. Ankeny, Iowa. July 19, 2021.
Black Walnut. Iowa Arboretum, Madrid, Iowa. July 2021.

And fruits of trees that are not for human consumption.

Bald Cypress. Iowa Arboretum, Madrid, Iowa. July 20, 2021.
Pinecones Old and New. Iowa Arboretum, Madrid, Iowa. July 20, 2021.

Posted in response to Becky’s July #TreeSquare Challenge.

CMMC July Pick a Topic

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Sunflower and Corn Fields. Near Badger Creek State Recreation Area, Iowa. July 19, 2021.

It’s my favorite week of Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge: Pick a Topic from Her Photo! Find the challenge photo here. Cee says, “This photo is of the small grape vineyard with hay fields. Possible topics: children’s play area, haystack, grape vines, trees, green blue, red, stairs, lines, field, trees, green, tan, etc..“

Steps. Ledges State Park, Iowa. July 20, 2021.

Since I thought of pictures I’ve taken at different times in very different places, I chose to go with a variety of topics: fields, steps, tree line, roll, hay, and slide. The first three pictures were taken earlier this week as I was out exploring in central Iowa.

Tree Line beyond Wildflowers. Big Creek State Park, Iowa. July 21, 2021.

The round bale of hay in Cee’s challenge photo reminded me of large rolls of materials used to make mattresses.

Roll of Quilted Fabric for Side Edges of Mattresses. Brooklyn Bedding, Mesa, Arizona. May 2021.

When visiting family in May, my brother gave his wife and me a tour of the mattress company where he works. I was amazed at how much of the factory floor is set up for large scale quilting! I knew that the top, bottom and sides of every mattress are quilted, I just had never thought about how it was done.

Fabric Rolls for Top Layer of a Mattress. Brooklyn Bedding, Mesa, Arizona. May 2021.

I’ve share these last two pictures before but thought of them when I saw Cee’s picture.

Round Hay Bales. Neuman Ranch, Montana. August 2012.

See my original post with the theme of stack here.

Slide. Ankeny, Iowa. July 2019.

See my original post with more pictures of playground equipment here.