Further south, around New York City and New Jersey, I read reports of tornadoes and storm damage, while up here all we got was dark clouds.
On occasion we have had some fairly noisy and damaging storms, but as often as not, we have found ourselves just at the edge of serious weather problems, be they snowstorms or torrential rain.
Perhaps it is tempting fate to write those words!
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Going out on Tuesday night to look at the sky, I noticed the sunflowers standing proud and couldn’t resist another shot. Fading grey light gave them a whole new appearance.
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A couple more plants presented flowers for me to photograph.
Yarrow is good for treating wounds and to stop bleeding, It is also good for digestive problems and may be used as a facial toner for skin inflammation.
Perhaps it’s time I tried some of these things.
We do have a very large crop of this.
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We are not short of Great Mullein either. I was not surprised to read that it is listed as invasive since it seems to pop up everywhere. It is good for the respiratory and immune systems.
As I write, Grant is preparing an infusion from yarrow, but I doubt I’ll be experimenting with mullein as it always looks so ratty. There’s a good scientific term. I’m not sure if insects feed off it or quite what happens, but the leaves shrivel and dry up. I suppose early harvesting would be the answer.
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= Ratty.
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More important by far….I had been keeping an eye on a plant that shot up by the hedge near the entrance to the groundhog burrow. I had not planted it, so it was likely a “weed”, but I was happy to give it a chance and curious to find out what it would turn out to be.
When I crushed a leaf in my fingers, I thought it smelled minty, but not quite. Grant insisted it wasn’t and it has been a long time since my mum used to make mint sauce for the roast lamb, so perhaps I’d forgotten and I waited for the flowers that might offer a clue.
What is surprising is that the cats did not find it since it turns out to be catnip.
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Tuesday night’s heavy overcast was still hanging around early on Wednesday, yet Mount Tom was visible through the cleft, indicating that smoke had been carried off. A relief, though we have no right to complain. My friend Tim lives in Brooklyn and from the 46th floor of his building, he had a great view of its true awfulness.
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20 minutes later, the clouds rolled back.
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And teased us awhile.
As I watched the sky, a squirrel darted across the grass and I couldn’t fail to notice its very grand tail. I caught up with it on the patio where it had the tail tucked in.
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Eventually it unravelled, but as the squirrel rushed off I got only a momentary view of the tail that was impressive more by its length than by the pattern I thought I’d seen.
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But in the meantime I managed to catch a Blue-jay that sneaked in for a peanut.
A most handsome bird.
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Thank you, Carolyn, for the interesting observations on wild plants and beautiful photos of the sky!
Joanna
The lovely Blue jay, squirrel, sunflowers, and beautiful clouds… and you see all of these in one day and in your own garden! You are a very lucky lady, you know 😉.
Perhaps you could cut some of the Catnip and take it inside for the cats? The Blue Jay does look attarctive, I agree. We now have two resident squirrels in the biggest Oak tree at the back and they come down onto the lawn every day to look for food. We have been putting out peanuts (in shells) for them, and have named them Ton and Jerry. (One is much larger than the other) They are very skilled at nibbling open the peanut shells to get to the two nuts inside.
Best wishes, Pete.
*Tom. Typo.