Help Me Think Up a New Title for My Blog

Living Retired in Western New York State doesn't really describe what this blog is all about any more.  Sharon, on Life with Jack and Jill inspired me to get off my duff and at least rename the thing.  Trouble is, I can't think of any title that sounds good.  Wandering Western New York is about as close as I can get.  So, I thought I'd throw it open to you all.  What are your ideas for a new title?

The Flowers of Early July

The Summer flowers are really beginning to bloom now.  The hydrangeas are covered with blooms.  A couple of bushes are multicolored, as usual, but one surprised me by showing all pink blossoms this year.

In a couple of weeks, this one may be ready for drying.  The blues retain some of their color when they dry and make a nice contrast to the delicate brown that the pink flowers turn.

And, the daylilies are starting to pop.  This is Border Music.  It's one of my new ones from last year.  One petal is a little flawed, but that only makes it more charming, I think.

I think I am going to cherish each blossom that this daylily produces.  Its name is Pure and Simple and I love it for the clear and clean quality of its color.  It's another one of my new ones.

I don't know the name of this yellow daylily.  It was one of my first, and came to me from a friend.  I suspect it's an older cultivar, but I have always really liked it.  It's another that I love for the its vibrant color.
Very possibly Touched by Midas

And, this is Strutter's Ball.  I've had it a few years now, and, every year, I'm struck again by its deep, velvety purple and the contrast to the yellow throat.  It doesn't fade too much over the course of its day long life, which, with the purples, can be a problem.

I love this time of year.  Going out every morning to see what has bloomed is a pleasure.

When You Just Can't Think of a Subject

Go searching for the cats.  They're always good for a little cuteness.

Lazybones that they are.

Happy 4th of July

I woke up this morning knowing exactly what I was going to post today.  I was going to embed a YouTube video of Jimmy Cagney singing "Yankee Doodle Dandy."  But, I found out that the videos of this wonderful song and dance sequence are all configured so that they can't be embedded.  So, I guess I'll have to settle for a picture of him in that role.

Back when that movie was made, people weren't afraid to appear patriotic.  I wish we still were more like that.  This is a country that has many faults.  And, sometimes I think that the extreme partisanship that exists today is going to tear us apart.  But, then I remember that, in our short history, we've endured much worse than a bunch of bombastic politicians who care more for getting elected than they do about their country, and I believe that we will survive this.

So, Happy Birthday America.  I love you, and I am grateful every day that I was lucky enough to have been born in a country as wonderful as this one is, warts and all.

By the way, I just looked at the schedule, "Yankee Doodle Dandy" is on TCM tonight at 8 PM

Out of My Rear Window 7-3-11

It's a lazy Sunday here in the Land of Many Greens.  I got up early, and, this is what it looked like.  Dark clouds hung overhead.  That didn't stop the squirrel festival from going on, however.

Or, one lone chipmunk from gathering more stores for the Winter.

Out on the front porch, Gina was enjoying the new cat tower, while Leon kept an eye out for critters.

I puttered around a bit, and, just as the weatherman predicted, the clouds left and sun shown over all.  It's going to be a beautiful day, and I hope all of you get the chance to enjoy it to the fullest.

North Ponds Park -- Birds and Babies

I'm trying very hard to get my walking stamina up again.  So, I decided that, on this day,  I would simply go over to North Ponds Park, and do a little walking on their nice paved path.  I took my camera along, but I figured that I probably wouldn't use it.  After all, North Ponds is just a small, man-made area, carved out of unused land beside a busy expressway.
It was a beautiful day for a walk.  On the pond, Canada Geese floated peacefully.

Oh wait, they've seen me!

Got food lady?

No?  What good are you?  For this year's babies, these guys are awfully porky!  That's either Mom or Dad on the left, trying to keep track of the rowdy bunch.

Once I extricated myself from the gaggle of geese, I resumed my walk.  At the quiet end of the pond was another Mother and her bunch of babies.  These little Mallards were much more well behaved.

They were so cute paddling along behind Mom that I took a short video.

Mom brought them to shore, where they paid absolutely no attention to me.  Mom had her eye on me, though.

On I went, and was almost at the end of my walk, where the picnic pavilions are, when I got divebombed by an angry Swallow.  Where there's an angry, divebombing Swallow, there should be a nest, so I looked around, and, sure enough, there it was, right under the eves of the pavilion.

Mom flew away as I got closer, and I was able to get a picture of the babies.  They look quite big, and will, I suspect, be fledging soon.

Boy, was I glad that I brought my camera along after all!

Inspiration from Woodswalker

I have a mentor.  I don't know if she even knows that she is, because I've never even met her.  I just read her blog, every single time, and I learn so much from it.  Her name is Woodswalker, and this is her blog.  http://saratogawoodswaters.blogspot.com/  If you're interested in the natural world, her blog is a must.

A couple of days ago she featured Swamp Milkweed.  I immediately thought how I would love to see some.  The best chance I had, I figured, was the Thousand Acre Swamp, so, off I went.  It was a trip well worth making.  This preserve is owned by the Nature Conservancy.  It is a varied landscape, with over 500 acres, consisting of swamp, woodland and meadow.  But, it has always been called The Thousand Acre Swamp.  I remember my Dad telling of days in the Summer that he spent exploring the area.  He must have been a hardy soul, because this was in the days before bug spray, and the area teems with biting insects.

You walk in via a grassy path and soon begin to see signs of the swamp.

After quite a long walk along this path, you come to the primary focus of the preserve, a boardwalk across a large portion of the swamp itself.

There, I soon saw the first plant that I had trouble identifying.  Is it a sedge of some kind, or something else entirely?  I don't know, but what caught my eye is how grasslike it appeared, and the spikey seed pod that appears to be located right on the leaf itself, not on a seperate stem.
Per Woodswalker, this is, indeed, a sedge.

Up in a tree, a little brown songbird was singing.  He was too far away for me to be able to positively identify him beyond, possibly, some kind of Sparrow.  Can you see him there, in the branches?

On each side of the Boardwalk, Cattails grew thickly.  It's still early enough in the season that the male pollinator is still attached to the top of the female part, that we are all more familiar with.  Later in the season, that male part will fall off, leaving the female cattail to mature.

The Boardwalk doesn't go straight across the swamp, but, zigs and zags.  Imagine my surprise when I turned a corner and came upon this Great Blue Heron sitting on the railing.  He didn't appear too concerned about my presence and I was able to get several shots of him, all the while creeping closer and closer.  This is the best of them, even if I did cut off his feet.

Finally, I did get too close, and he flew off.  The second mystery plant, or tree, was just ahead.  This small, weedy tree didn't look too healthy, but it had lovely white flowers, reaching high towards the sun.  They looked like the flowers of Queen Anne's Lace.  I'm still trying to figure out what kind of tree this is.
I should have thought of this one.  Again, per Woodswalker, this is Common Elderberry.

And then, there, right by the side of the Boardwalk was the plant that I had come to try and find -- Swamp Milkweed.  The flower is still in the bud stage, but, you can see the bright pink promise of the beauty it will become.

After you leave the Boardwalk, you go through a wooded area.  There, entirely different plants grow.  Wild Leek, or Ramp flowers were everywhere.  This area is greatly underutilized, I was the only one there for the entire time I was exploring, and, in this case, it's definitely a good thing as many people love to dig and eat ramp.

Wild Basil grew there, also

And, this plant, which has me banging my head against the desk in frustration.  It's past flowering, which makes identification difficult.  The leaves look like Rue Anemone, but the seed is wrong.  Maybe some other kind of Anemone?
Per Woodswalker, this plant is Blue Cohosh.  See why I call this woman my mentor?

There was a bridge over a little stream that was slowing winding towards the swamp.

On the bridge, a raccoon had stopped to admire the view.  How do I know?  He left a marker behind.  Looks like he's finding lots of berries someplace along his way.

The path through the woods eventually leads you to a meadow, which I was all set to explore, until I noticed that the path there was terribly overgrown with poison ivy.  So, I turned back and headed for the car.  I hiked quickly along the return path, trying to build up my endurance.

As I got to the small open area that is just before the parking lot, I noticed something that I had overlooked on the way in.  Another kind of milkweed, Poke Milkweed, was growing beside the path.  It always surprises me that, no matter how closely I look, I always see something new, when I pass that way again.

And, this is not Poke Milkweed, but Apocynum cannabinum or Indian Hemp, but not the kind you smoke, which is what I thought of when Woodswalker told me what it was.  Sigh, can't keep an old hippie's mind off the weed (no I don't smoke any more, haven't since I got out of college.)

I stopped at the information kiosk on the way out.  There is a place there where you can record your observations, which I, faithfully, did.  I don't know whether to be glad or sorry that I didn't stop on my way in, because I saw where, in June, two different people had written that they had run into a hobo there, begging for money, and that, at least one time, he had a gun.  Now, I'm a little bit leary about going in there alone, again.  But, all's well that ends well, I guess.  I didn't see him, and I did see lots of things that I wouldn't have seen anywhere else.

So, thank you Woodswalker, for your inspiration, and for all the things that you have, inadvertently, taught me.