Peggy's Jibber-Jabber: For You

So, here we are. Playing catch-up.

I don't know what this guy is. I can't see his head. I've narrowed it down to either a Gypsy Moth or a Lace-border Moth. Seeing the head would make all the difference in the world.

A lot of times they see me coming or hear the click of my camera and they don't sit for long. This guy did. I reached out behind him to lower the branch to get a better look at him but this is the best I got before he took off. Then my eye sees the berries are turning red. Oh! Wait! That's my nail polish! It truly is what I thought.

All kidding aside, a week later and the berries look like this!

The end of the back driveway is so wet that this grass grows. I haven't been able to identify yet. It's about a foot high, there aren't any leaves, and it gets just the one brown head per stalk. Maybe as it matures I'll be able to find it.

Mountain Laurel! The state flower of Pennsylvania and Connecticut.

I was watching for it to bloom along the road going into town, that's where I've seen it before, but they've worked on the bank since then and must've destroyed it. Then, one day as we were going to Dushore, I spot a bunch of it along that road. The two times we passed it the traffic was such that Mike couldn't stop for me and there wasn't any place to pull over that was close besides I didn't have my boots. I don't like to climb around in the weeds without them.

We stopped at the Kipps for something-or-another and Miss Rosie says, "Did you see my Laurel bush?"

Right there in her yard was one I could get all the pictures of I wanted!

How about some bridge work pictures? See all the hooks on the side? I think they're sandblasting our bridge, maybe in prep for a new coat of paint.

They have to wear special gear.

Mike and I stopped at a stone place to see what they charge for a pallet of stones. Mike has a project he wants to finish.

This place used to be home to a garage and it's where the old wrecker sits in the weeds.

"Is it all right if I take pictures of the wrecker?" I asked.

"Sure. Go right ahead."

I took a bunch of pictures and have narrowed it down to these six to show you. Okay, six might be too many. Let's just do four.

Rain. So much rain! Smudge got a drink from the garden totem.

This wildflower is Heal-all or Self-heal. You can eat the young leaves in a salad or the whole thing as a potherb. You can make it into a tea. It contains vitamins A, C, and K, as well as flavonoids and rutin. Yeah. Don't ask. It's too complicated for me to explain what they are.

In folk medicine, it was made into a poultice and used on irritated skin, disinfecting, and to pack wounds if they couldn't find anything better.

The Speedwell is losing its blossoms. They fell into the little creek and floated toward the pond. It was actually quite pretty but this picture of a single blossom was my best shot.

Speaking of losing its blossoms...

This huge blossom is from the Catalpa Tree. They're falling too and that's the only reason I was able to get this picture. The branches of the tree are trimmed so high I can't reach them.

The name comes from the Muscogee Indian name for the tree and means 'winged head'.

An interesting side note here is the Muscogee were the first Native Americans officially considered to be 'civilized' under George Washington's civilization plan.

The Catalpa is the sole food source for the Catalpa Sphinx Moth caterpillars which make excellent fishing bait.

When walking the pond with Ginger I can always tell when we get too close to someone's youngins. They squawk and flit from branch to branch trying to draw us away. I sometimes go looking for the nest but haven't had any luck finding them.

This may be the only shot of the Milkweed flowers that I ever get. The deer like them.

This is the fruit of the Bedstraw. At this point, I call them Stick-tights.

I've called this one Prickly Lettuce in the past because the flower looks like one. However, I'm not convinced that's what it is. If you know this one, please let me know.

This one's easy. Crown Vetch. It was introduced in the 1950s for erosion control and is now considered invasive in Pennsylvania.

I saw my first Deptford Pink last week. Sometimes it's hard to know the size of flowers in pictures unless I give you a point of reference.

A Slaty Skimmer Dragonfly.

This is a Silver-spotted Skipper. I don't know what the flower is. It was in town and someone had planted it.

"Peg, what were you doing in town?" you ask.

I'm so glad you asked! Our little town had an arts and crafts festival and closed the street for it.

Mike and I walked around and the only thing we bought was a hot dog from the Methodist Church stand.

We parked on a side street and cut down an alleyway I've never been on before. "Look at this second-floor window! Isn't it fabulous!" I said to Mike.

"It's not energy efficient," he says.

"Maybe not but it sure has a lot of character."

The Wyalusing Valley Museum Association is refurbishing one of the old stores for their new home. This lady was demonstrating an old player piano. She had to pump the foot pedals to make it work.

"We have a whole box of music for one of those," I told her. Maybe someday we'll get a player piano — but where would I put it!

"It has the words written here to the side," she said.

Besides the festival downtown they were also having their community yard sales. I'd gotten bored and decided to walk the stands while Michael stayed and listened to music. I got to the end of the street, spotted a yard sale, looked back to see if Mike was coming — he wasn't — and browsed the yard sale. I didn't buy anything but I took a few pictures as I strolled around town.

My phone rang. It was Mike. "Where're you at?"

"I'm heading back to the festival."

"I just fell," he tells me.

"OH NO! Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I didn't go the whole way down but it happened right in front of the sandwich shop. Everyone's probably sitting inside laughing at me."

"I'm sure they're not. They're probably more concerned if you're okay." Laughing at someone who falls is a foolish kid thing. Adults don't laugh, don't think it's funny at all.

"I'm sitting in front waiting for you."

"How did you fall?" I asked when I caught up to him.

"I was looking around looking for you and didn't see the step off."

We drove around and hit a few more yard sales and I scored!

"What'd you get?" I know you want to know.

At one sale, I bought a box of jewelry for $5 and an athletic skort for a dollar.

I'm not crazy about pink, but I love the skorts. They remind me of my best girl in Missouri. Linda wore skorts to workout in.

Once I got it home, I noticed there was a pocket. Cool, I thought. It's a great place to put the car key. I wonder if there's anything inside, but I didn't really think there would be. I unzipped it and fished around and look what I found! So I bought a skort, a box of jewelry and a five dollar bill for six dollars.

At another sale, I picked up a bunch of pant hangers for a quarter, something I was a little short on and thinking of buying. She also had two boxes of greeting cards. Ten for a dollar, the sign said. I flipped through them but tired quickly and started to walk away.

"If you take them all I'll give them to you!" she told me. "You'll never have to buy another birthday card."

"Are you serious?" I asked.

"Yup. I'm tired of looking at them."

I started back up the hill to where Mike waited in the Jeep. I didn't want to carry them that far so I was going to have him pull the Jeep closer. Just as I get to the Jeep I see the lady coming after me carrying both boxes of cards. "You're not getting away without these," she told me and I laughed.

I gave her a couple of bucks anyway.