When I see this photo of Epigaea repens, I automatically experience its magnificent scent. It's known as Trailing Arbutus, and may also be referred to as the Mayflower or Plymouth Mayflower, or Ground Laurel. This is the state flower of Massachusetts. Other plants are also known colloquially as mayflowers, for example the Canada Mayflower (Maianthemum canadense)
When that 18" of snow melted within days, followed by some heavy rain showers our yard quickly became flooded.
The wind- and snow- fall damage from the April 4 storm has been horrific to see. Healthy trees broke under the weight of their own branches that were weakened by snow accumulation on one side only, making the weight distribution very uneven.
Our boardwalk was lifted and buckled by a tree that keeled over into our cove
We also lost these two beauts: the far one lifted an incredibly large area of moss with its root base.
After our spring snowstorm, I found these catkins that had obviously come down with the broken branches. But they still matured and over a week later released a lot of pollen!
We traveled home the day after the eclipse (as did many other eclipsers) - traffic was slow and heavy, but moving along, at least. We had planned to stop and visit the King Arthur Baking Company Store en route home. It would not only break up the journey, but give us an opportunity to find the elusive rye flour that I've been seeking in my local stores .
Lots of other people had the same idea, though, and the line for the bakery was extremely long; so long in fact, that we changed our minds about buying confectioneries to take home.
Boy, did they have an array of flours and flour mixtures to choose from! Most were blends and mixes that made for convenience whilst baking. I usually mix my own blends, so wasn't looking for convenience, just basic raw ingredients.
The whole experience here rubbed me up the wrong way. First of all, it wasn't cheaper to buy regular all-purpose flour here - it cost the same as at my local Hannaford. I expected that shopping at their own outlet would have brought the costs down.
Secondly, I wasn't too impressed that the only package labeled 'rye flour' that I found was listed as a blend, with all-purpose flour listed as the first ingredient! Despite this cheaper mix, it was priced the same as the other pure, specialized flours. Okay, so I'm a little more picky than most, but I felt cheated being asked to pay specialized flour prices when regular flour was part of that blend. Not only that, I eventually found pure rye, labeled as 'Pumpernickel Flour,' but it was oh, so pricey - $15 for 3 lbs. It made me even more grouchy. When I got home, I also discovered that buying the same item online from Amazon would have cost 2/3 of the price ... in fact, we were ripped off! (Small things ... breathe ...)
So, while King Arthur might have appreciated Camelot, I didn't exactly find this to be my place of idyll and happiness.
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| Baking lessons at King Arthur campus |
Unless ... someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.” - The Lorax, Dr. Seuss.
It's up to us to take responsibility for what we have done to our planet by DOING something about it. Start by picking up litter that is not only unsightly, but some is hazardous to wildlife, soils, and streams.
April 22 was designated as Earth Day 54 years ago as a way to show support for environmental protection. It's a beautiful planet. It's the only one we have - let's cherish, and fix what we can. Start by planting a hardy native in your yard.
If you don't like picking up trash, do something else - begin composting, resolve to be less wasteful, leave yard debris for pollinators this year, practice No-Mow May, re-think your use of single use plastic bags, or remove fishing line from branches at the shore when you're out this summer.
Here's a historical pictorial summary of my obsession:
Here are some non-eclipse photos from our visit to VT.
Christa used to play board games with my kids, during which time German was spoken, as part of their homeschooling experience. As immigrants, she and I share a lot of common ground and we have remained good friends long after the kids flew the nest.
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It was whilst experiencing the eclipse that I realized I was IN AWE. Awe makes one feel small and insignificant in the presence of something grand and jaw-dropping - it's almost like a primal punch in the gut!
And according to NASA, "The prominences spotted during the eclipse were many times larger than Earth itself" - how small and insignificant does that make one feel! Seeing such a spectacle initiates a feeling of insignificance, and of how unimportant our individual lives are in the grand scheme of things - sobering indeed. It's grounding and humbling to realize that we are essentially inconsequential - illusions of grandeur or self-importance have no substantive role in the Universe, they are delusions we harbor about ourselves.
In considering and analyzing the nature of this experience even more, I became acutely tuned in to this phenomenon when 'the science of awe' was referenced in the book I was reading (Heartbreak, by Florence Williams). How serendipitous! I just had to read more!
Psychologists Dacher Keltner and Jonathan Haidt have studied the science of awe. They assert that while awe can be either positive or negative, the ability to be MOVED deeply is what helps put our understanding of ourselves and our place in the world into perspective. It becomes a transcendent experience - awe can "shift our attention away from ourselves, make us feel like we are part of something greater than ourselves, change our perception of time, and even make us more generous toward others."
This diminished focus on the self can be life changing. By seeing that we are part of something much bigger than ourselves, we can develop a healthy perspective and sense of belonging to the earth, and be open to wonder and amazement.
So, do you still have the capability to be awestruck?
A total eclipse is something to be seen to be believed. I've been completely gobsmacked by the experience. It's definitely a worthwhile and amazing event WORTH going out of one's way for. It's taken me a while to write about it, because I've been trying to process the awe and magnificence of being present for such an amazing spectacle.
The photo that follows was taken at the beginning of the eclipse, with just a small segment obscured by the moon. We used binoculars to project the image onto the deck.
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| Credit: Andy Kastrup, ProTronics Technologies, Inc. |
To view the total solar eclipse, we had the opportunity of staying with our friend Christa, whom we had not seen since the pandemic, which is way too long. Her home was right in the path of the 2024 totality, so we could comfortably watch the eclipse from her deck, and have the luxury of a hot shower as well! Other things in our favor were minimal cloud cover, and no crowds to jostle with - en route to our destination, we had seen vendors setting up stalls to sell eclipse t-shirts and other paraphernalia along the highway - way to help cause traffic jams!
But for us, the stars were (literally) aligned for a perfect end to our recent "suffering."
It was strange to observe the light dimming slowly as the eclipse began - the light being emitted seemed strangely flat; just a weird light. It wasn't very noticeable or dark initially, just a strange light emanating as if a storm was approaching ominously, or that a mildly orangey-yellow filter was being used. As totality approached, semi-darkness seem to RUSH in. It felt eerie and unnerving to have darkness upon us so early in the day, and to have it materialize rapidly, only to have it reversed 3 minutes later. It got suddenly cold, too (dropping in the region of 10°F). The return to light after totality seemed less unusual in color, and it was quickly bright again.
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| A series of stills, taken a minute apart, approaching and including the total eclipse's effect on the landscape. |
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| 3:25 PM |
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| 3:26 PM |
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| 3:27 PM |
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| 3:28 PM |
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| 3:29 PM |
