Walk on the Wildside 2

This past weekend was granddaughter time again. The house comes alive with laughter, noise, laundry and cooking! Amidst all of that, we had party for all of the April birthdays-there are 5 of them. 2 granddaughters, a daughter, a son-in-law and Hubby all were born in April. The party was NOT here this time and that made it even more fun for me. :) We did bake and frost 2 cakes, made a batch of brownies and a big bowl of from scratch coleslaw with lots and lots of help from the grands.

The adventure-a walk in the same woods of 2 weeks ago, we saved for Sunday afternoon. It was a little wet and the plants and briers had all grown some, but that didn't stop us! Our first wildflower...

is unknown, but has very tiny delicate blooms.

Next we saw Mayapples. I was thinking they should be in bloom, when one of the girls looked underneath and found the flower.

One to a plant, and you had to get low to see them, but it was well worth the effort.

The girls and I decided this one was pretty enough to bring home to my gardens, but we thought better of it and left it for the woodland creatures to enjoy. Any ideas on what it's name is?

Golden Ragwort-thanks Linda @ Garden Girl!

We visited the tadpoles again, showing the youngest granddaughter the joys of scooping them up in cupped hands. This was her first walk in the woods. Fortunately, none of the girls are squeamish and all seem to enjoy anything to do with nature. : ) Just past the pond we saw this tree with these buds. Looks almost like a honeysuckle bud, but it is a tree. Again, I need an ID.

I've saved the best for the last. At least, I think so. I am thinking it is some type of lily. It reminds me of a peace lily in shape-sort of. What do you think it is?

                              Jack in the Pulpit or Lords and Ladies-thanks to Lisa, Cheryl and Joey!

What would a walk in the woods be with out climbing on a fallen tree?

One final note. If any one would like baby maple trees, just let me know....

I have a gazillion of them!

To all those who have suffered damage from the storms and flooding, take care and know we are all praying for you.

Have a great gardening week!

A Walk on the Wild Side!

This was a Granddaughter weekend and four of them were here. The four middle ones to be exact. The two older ones are usually working or spending time with their friends and that's alright. That's what they are supposed to be doing at their age. The youngest was with her step grandma enjoying learning to ride a horse. And that is alright too, as we have to share. (I guess)

Papa was busy helping his brother plant corn. That left us free to have an adventure. After a nice lunch out, we decided to take a walk in the woods just south of our town. These woods, about 20 acres, are owned by The University of Illinois and are left completely natural except for a few semi cleared paths.



Our adventure starts.

There are always one or two who like to lead the way. :)

We were on a search for wildflowers. I was inspired by Lisa's post on wildflowers found in her area. These are wild phlox and the woods was covered in them.

The ones in more sun were lighter in color.

We found yellow violets! I would love to have some of these in my garden.

As well as the purple ones which are Illinois State Flower.

And a butterfly! Surely a survivor from last year this is a female Spicebush Swallowtail. The females have blue hind wings where the males have more green. At any rate, we were thrilled to see such a beauty.

And other wild creatures were found. This slug on a walnut was the subject of much discussion and wanting to bring it home with us. We left it where we found it. :)

Earth worms are wild creatures-aren't they??

A stink bug? We couldn't be sure.

Deer tracks were found and again were the subject of much discussion. The mud made for perfect impressions of these and what we thought were raccoon tracks. Also, we saw a huge paw print that was either of a very large dog or as Papa said later, could have been a wolf's tracks.

A very small pond was found and....

proved to be very interesting and...

full of new life. The girls tried scooping up the tadpoles to get a feel of them.

Oh no! A misstep and into the mud! Bottled water saved the day and was used to rinse mud off both feet and flip flops.

Jack-in-the-Pulpits were blooming.

Such a pretty sight.

May Apples were not blooming yet but their foliage was a brilliant chartreuse.

Someone decided she needed to collect walnuts for our squirrels at home.

I told the girls this was a gaul, but now am not sure. Any ideas?

These will soon be in full bloom. What a mass of them!

Trout lilies or Adder's Tongue are so delicate. We only found one blooming but it's beauty has us going back in a few days to see that whole area in bloom.

This is the leaf of a tree that...

had these almost spent blooms. I couldn't tell the girls what tree it was. Does anyone know?

I thought this a weed, but the girls said it was another wildflower. Does kind of look like a wild cleome doesn't it?

A small glade that is perfect for picture taking at the end of our walk on the wild side!

Today was a "Mental Health" day. Every so often when my Fibromyalgia gets the best of me, I allow myself a day to do nothing. I sit and watch TV, read, play on my laptop, and or nap. I don't do dishes, laundry, dust, or cook. (luckily my husband is gone most of the week). I haven't had many of these lately as I am on a wonderful new medicine, Lyrica! For the most part, I feel better than I have in years. But today was just one of those days.

I'm sure it has to do with the weather. It has been cold!! We had more snow during the night. No sun again! And the fronts have been moving through at a rapid pace. Feeling like this today, I can't get up the energy to even think about the garden.

So I thought I would show you my true flowers. My blooming beauties! The joys of my life! These flowers need no trimming, pruning, weeding, or watering. They need only love, tenderness, and a willingness to let them grow at their own pace. And in return, they give me happiness, delight, pleasure and abiding love.

I hope thier smiling faces give you a moment of joy, too!