Summer Foliage

I'm surprised that there don't seem to be as many wildflowers around this summer as there were last.

Jubilee and I usually take a walk in the park in the early morning because it's getting fairly hot during the middle of the day this week, 90s I think.  The park is always shady, and very quiet except for the birds.

I'm noticing a berries trying to ripen, and other things going on...

 This is as close as I can come to finding wild flowers ...

Mostly I'm noticing the wood and the leaves ...

 Sometimes this fallen wood seems so "present" that I have to touch it.

Beaver Run Race Track

This morning John went to a vintage and classic car race at the Beaver Run Race Track.  He took a lot of photos of this event.

Click HERE for more information about the races and a list of cars by class.  John says that there were no real old ones.  We have to go somewhere next weekend for that.

mid summer

It's mid summer here in Western PA.  Everything is green and lush.  More bugs than buds.  This is what our favorite park (Knob Hill) looked like this morning.

The few swamp Cabbages that are left standing around the banks of the stream look to be in their last stage.  (The stream itself is just a trickle, since there hasn't been much rain lately).

I didn't see any sign at all of the mayapples (umbrella plants) that were so predominant when we left.  Not even apples.  There was a new path cleared through what used to be a more rugged route.

Only a couple of wild flowers ...

 

It's still the same old place, though.  Birds singing.

one more time

One more time Jubilee and I made our trek north.  Below are the random photos from the trip, top to bottom is south to north.

This is the Florida morning sky the day we left (Thursday).

 And this was our first stop, the St. Lucie rest area.  I had never stopped at this one before and was surprised at how nice it was - small, shady and not crowded.

 We passed the point of no return at Daytona and I waved to my friend, Tony.

Typical fare at the gas stations.  I brought fruit, bread and cheese so we didn't need to buy food.  My Yaris ran like a little top even though it only holds only 10 gallons of gas, I think it made up for it with the better gas mileage.  A/C was so cold I had to turn it down!

 

Must be Georgia!

Stopped for gas in an area called The Liberty Trail. Looks like it could be interesting.

 Overcast, hazy (even smokey - fires?) as we made our way into South Carolina.

 We did go through North Carolina (even spent the night there) but I guess I was too tired to take a picture.

Doesn't this guy look like a Civil War general or something?

 Made it back to the cave by mid afternoon on Friday.  Saturday morning we went to the Cranberry TWP Farmer's Market and got good stuff.  It's delightfully summer here.  Not hot, not humid.