The Sun is the enemy. Or Is it?

 When we lived in New Orleans and Houston, it was hot and humid for months on end. You may know that kind of weather. The kind where the air is so thick that it's hard to breathe, and the sun is so intense that all you can think about is finding some shade. During those sweltering months, Ward and his friends would often say, "The sun is the enemy." It became a catchphrase for them. (Although thinking back on it now, that may have been code for "Time to have a cold beer.")

Anyway, we have been experiencing the sun-is-the-enemy weather recently. The last time I checked, the temperature was 96°F. Tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter. So yesterday, to take advantage of a “cooler" day, Ward, Joe (a friend), and I went to the McKee-Besher Wildlife Management Area (McKee). 

McKee is part of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, and one of their goals is to provide habitats for a variety of wildlife.  Part of what they do to create a rich and diverse environment for the animals is to plant various crops for them to eat. They grow almost 2,000 acres of grasses, millet, sorghum, buckwheat, winter wheat, clover, and sunflowers, among other things.  Our goal was to see the fields of sunflowers that they plant every summer for migratory birds.  

We set out early to avoid the heat of the day. Did I mention that this is a wildlife area? That means that there were a lot of mosquitoes, ticks, and poison ivy. So, I was covered up from head to toe with a good dose of insect repellent to top it off. My preparations were successful for warding off pests, but I was hot! Too hot! As we hiked from one place to another, my mind kept going back to the saying, "The sun is the enemy."  Our "cooler" day was 90°F by the time we got back to the car.

However, the sunflowers were extraordinary. And I guess sunflowers don't grow in the shade, so maybe this time the sun was not the enemy. Of course, I only had this thought after I was back in the car, cooling off. 😅

Here are a few photos of our day.

They mow paths around the fields, but this is more for work access than hiking. Lots of tall grass makes it tick heaven. Ward is not as sensitive as I am and didn't wear his long sleeves.

The first field was just past its blooming peak.

but it was beautiful all the same.

The grass was shorter around the next field, but poison ivy was widespread throughout it. BTW, birds love poison ivy berries.

The flowers we saw here were not as mature as the first field. These fields are a photographer's heaven, and all the photographers have ladders to get better shots.

Ward was looking for the perfect flower to show Joe a Fibonacci sequence.

And he found it! Notice the intersecting spirals.

There's always one overachiever in every crowd. 😀

After the sunflower fields, we visited a pond and wetlands area.

Here, we saw a wildflower member of the sunflower family,

and wild rose mallow (hibiscus). Until today, I didn't know that Maryland had native hibicus.

Until next time...

Thankful Sunday, July 7, 2019

I am thankful for the sun 

and the life and beauty it brings.

A Second Look Revisit

As a housewarming gift, a friend brought me several mammoth sunflower plants he had started from seed. This was a much appreciated gift as I love sunflowers. The only problem was we didn't have a ready made place to plant them. All of the existing beds were either full or didn't get enough sun for the sunflowers to thrive. We decided to clear a strip in front of a fence leading to the backyard to plant them.

If all goes well, these sunflowers will grow 10' tall.

This should have been an easy job as we were only clearing a 2' x 12' patch, but it didn't seem that way to me while we were working. Ward and I worked together for at least two hours to clear the sod and break up the dirt. That was grueling because the sun was really intense that day, something the sunflowers would appreciate later, but something I didn't appreciate then. However, by the end, we had a nice bed all ready to pop the plants into.

I tackled planting the next morning. And once again what I thought should have been an easy job, took much longer than expected. By the time I gathered my tools, raked in fertilizer, cleaned a few more rocks and weeds out of the bed, it took me almost an hour to plant 5 plants. Ridiculous, I thought! I'm glad I don't do this for a living because I was so slow.

I fretted for a while about my lack of productivity, but then tried to shift my negative thinking. My attitude was ruining the time I usually enjoyed outdoors. I decided to reexamine the sunflower experience. First I thought about how I enjoyed talking with Ward as we shook the dirt off the sod. Next I thought about how I really did like combing through the dirt making piles of rocks I thought were interesting, separating out the grubs. making sure that all of the earthworms were returned to the soil, and breaking up any remaining clods we had missed. The process had been time consuming but interesting to me. So when I didn't worry about how much time it took to plant five plants, I realized that the whole thing had actually been an enjoyable experience.

There are plenty of times when I need to be efficient and accomplish tasks in a timely manner. But not always. Sometimes I need to slow down, enjoy the process, and appreciate what is around me. Just like I try to do in my Second Looks. However, somewhere along the way of working on our new house, I had forgotten about this. It's time to go back to my roots. Time to explore my yard and look past the work that is calling me and to see things with a different set of eyes. 

Here's the original post that inspired my Second Looks  Now let's see if I can remember it next time I go outside.

Look What I Found

or Sunflower Fields Forever

This is a crop for a local farmer.

 
Yesterday Ward and I visited the world-famous LeDew Gardens in Monkton, MD. Their claim to fame is topiairies with the most famous being a scene from a fox hunt.The day was overcast with the promise of thunderstorms which meant that we were practically by ourselves. We got an individual tour of Mr. Ladew's house and were alone most of the time while we wandered among the gardens. Did I mention that it was a perfect day? 

And do you know what topped it off? On the way home we found a large field of sunflowers. You may remember that we had a difficult hunt a couple of weeks ago for some sunflower fields. We eventually found them, and while they were pretty, they were engulfed with invasive vines.  The fields we found yesterday were very different. They were essentially void of weeds and were spectacular even in the rain that had just started to fall. 

You never know what you may find when you're not looking.

A Few of the Things We Saw at Ledew Gardens.

The hounds and riders of a fox hunting scene. If you look carefully, you will see one rider jumping over the fence and another to the side of him.

Passion vine flower

Terrace Garden leading up to house

Iris Garden. This is more colorful in the spring when the iris are blooming.

Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden

Swans riding waves in the Great Bowl Garden

Butterfly in the Pink Garden

Sculpture Garden

Sunflower Fields

or Always the Last Place You Look

Yesterday, Ward and I went in search of sunflower fields we had heard about in McKee Beshers Wildlife Management Area, MD. Apparently they plant sunflower fields every year as part of their bird management program, and they are spectacular to see. This quest was inspired by a lone, beautiful sunflower that bloomed in our yard this year.  

The inspirational flower in our yard

Our first two stops yielded only a historical marker and several overgrown fields. No sunflowers. We then decided to rename our sunflower quest, our wildflower walk. 

Some sights from our wildflower walk.

After our wildflower walk, we were on the road again to find the elusive sunflowers. During this part of our search, we had another "wildflower walk" and found a tree across the road that made things look pretty grim. 

Another field with no sunflowers

This roadblock was almost the last straw.

Ward was ready to give up after the tree across the road, but I encouraged him to try one more area. And guess what? We found them! They were in the last placed we looked. Isn't that the way it always goes.  :)

Our beautiful, vine-covered sunflower field

However, they didn't quite look like what we had seen in the pictures. Vines had engulfed them, only sometimes leaving their bright heads exposed. But they were beautiful all the same. I think it was the thrill of the hunt and the success of the find that made them that way.