Swamped

I am overflowing with work, and under the weather to boot. While I strive to keep my head above water, please enjoy these images taken by TAD in Everett, Washington, used with permission for Arboreality.

What you see here are the skunk cabbage I grew up with in the forest wetlands of Western Washington. We first saw skunk cabbage at Arboreality when we explored the local forest and springs here in Eastern Pennsylvania.

Thank you all for your wonderful comments, and for visiting Arboreality!

Also, thank you TAD for the use of your pictures, and for the much welcome glimpse of Washington.

Sunset in the forest

Maybe I can’t go wandering around in depths of the neighbor's forest again, but that doesn’t mean I can’t go up to the edge at the back corner of the springhouse, right?

Last night we had a wonderful five minute rain that started around 5 or 6 pm. It was given to us by a big, beautiful, purple-grey cloud that covered the farm, poured out its bounty, and floated happily on its way. PAL said that he saw rainbows in his part of town!

I made my way along the south side of the hedge towards the back of the springhouse. Now that I knew what I was looking for, it was relatively easy to navigate my way back to where I ended my journey last week.

The sunlight beamed between the wet trees, illuminating the small spring like a silver thread through the swamp plants. With everything freshly dampened, the forest smelled rich and full of life! While I never see them during the day, I know I can hear frogs down here at night (they appear to squeak more than they croak).

Mangroves

We’re taking a short break from exploring Pennsylvania today to step into the beautiful world of Placencia, Belize.

Here are some mangroves for my blogging pals Trailhead and Gil (and for everyone to enjoy, of course). I fell in love with the mangroves in Belize – something about them really sings to me. Perhaps it’s because they look so much like an aquatic version of my beloved rhododendrons. Or maybe it’s because they are so captivatingly beautiful, and home to so many creatures. Whatever it is, I think you’ll agree that they are amazing!

We took a couple days to cruise through the mangroves with a local guide: Bernard of Ocean Motion Guide Service owned and operated by Bernard and Leslie. We traveled up the Monkey River and through the Placencia Lagoon. Among those roots we found fish, birds, bats, insects (some amazing butterflies), and huge, lounging iguanas. There are three types of mangroves in here (although they’re hard to distinguish in the pictures): the red, the black, and the white.

Mangroves propagate with these long bean-pod-like fruits which grow from the mangroves’ white flowers and sprout while still on the trees. The little sprouts drop into the water and catch hold of a bit of mud, and voilà, a new mangrove is born! Our navigator Bernard careened us through the narrow tunnels between the clumps of mangroves at amazing speeds, slowing only at the narrowest hair-pin turns! What a ride!

Bernard was extremely knowledgeable about the environment and culture of Belize, and told us so much about the plants, animals, and people, that these days I wish I’d taken notes!