Rock Treasures

I love bringing home a meaningful, special rock from places I've visited. I saw many that called out to me to take a look at them whilst in Aroostook County, Maine for our survey work. By week's end, I think I'd collected about 1 each day, for their texture, color or patterns that struck me as unique. This one below is what I would call my pièce de résistance - to me it is magnificent.

I don't quite know how it was formed and whether those ridged lines crisscrossing it are simply harder pieces that haven't been weathered as rapidly as the rest or the rock, or whether it's form something that was wrapped around the rock (roots?) that became fossilized. The patterns look too angular to be from roots. Fascinating.

Some of the other rocks had interesting markings on them, requiring them to be brought home too.

Here are a few more

Rambling about Ployes

Our gracious hosts on Cross Lake introduced us to Ployes, the Acadian specialty made from buckwheat, grown locally in Aroostook County. 

We came home with packages to try out and I made my first (successful) batch, which were totally yummy, just like our hosts served.

It's a blend of an American pancake and a crepe in that the 'cakes' are made with a batter thick enough to form the size of a pancake, but rolled up like a crepe when served. Another unique feature of these flatbreads, is that only one side is cooked on the pan surface - they are never turned. As the batter cooks, it releases gases (just like lake sediments, yes!) and the bubbles pop at the surface, creating a lovely substrate for pools of butter to melt into! Add a little maple syrup and ooh, boy is that delicious.

I was intrigued that Ployes were offered as a side dish to a dinner meal at the restaurant we visited - it seemed like a breakfast or afternoon tea offering to me, but I ate it at dinner, anyway: when in Rome, ...

I was curious about the name used for these flatbreads, as the spelling and local pronunciation didn't seem pure French to me. Here's what I found on Wikipedia:

Inherited from Middle French ployer; variant of plier (which later underwent further modification), both from Old French pleier, ploiier, from Latin plicāre, from Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- (“to plait, to weave”) [from 13th century].

So the 's' would be silent in French. I then realized that the original word plier (to bend, fold) could be conjugated to the ballet term plié (to bend the knees outwards).

Of course, the Maine town of Calais is pronounced Callus in our state, and not Calay, as in France, so French pronunciation is not generally observed.

I think I've just plié-d myself into a series of ramblings - it's fun to play with words and speculate, though. 😀

Lake Bubbles

We came across these bubbles frothing to the surface on Lake Madawaska, undisturbed or initiated by anything visible to us. Fascinating! We surmised it must have been the result of gases being released from the sediments and rising to the surface.

Photo: D. Schultz

Here's a link to the bubbles in action

So, essentially the lake is burping ...

Daigle Pond

Six of us opted to survey Daigle Pond (36 acres) whilst the educational plant paddle was being offered to the community, since we weren't all needed for that. This is a very small set of 2 ponds, with tons of vegetation that clogged the outer edges of the lake, making our passage through it very difficult. The water was icky, leaving one's hands feeling frothy and scummy, so eating lunch on the water was not an option. This lake, too, has issues with water quality and is well below the minimum standard.

Photo: D. Schultz

We ended up spending way more time here than we ought to have, as we kept finding new and interesting things - freshwater fingernail clams (only about an inch long, not seen in the other lakes) and dragonfly carapaces, which I successfully removed by threading their delicate "legs" up and off the top of the tapered bulrushes.

We also encountered many more stands of Calla lilies, some bulbet-bearing water-hemlock, and lots of Coontail with fruits, the first time I've seen them at that stage. I hope I can retain everything (or most) of what I learned in the field.

    

 

That evening we attended the community event at the Senior Center - a BBQ was laid on for the volunteers, and 3 presentations were given to the community.

 

Team photo at the community outreach evening

Photo: K. St Peter

Lake Madawaska

Lake Madawaska is also, unfortunately, categorized as "Impaired" since it too harbors algal blooms due to excessive nutrient loading. The water was clearly and obviously full of algae so we declined to snorkel there - slimy green algae can be seen between plants below.

Dale borrowed a tandem kayak, and pushed the front seat all the way back against the rear one, so that he had a ton of room for his long legs - he thought it was pure luxury, but it's what the rest of us are used to! It was 16 feet long and very difficult to transport.

Interestingly, a large portion of the two basins of this 1,600 acre lake were also sparsely populated with plants, except for one or two rich areas. I was fortunate in being assigned some of the most productive and diverse habitats to survey - boy, was I thrilled! This is where we came across our first Bog lily, trailing buttercup in bloom, flowering water marigolds, water lobelias and a new native milfoil for me (in addition to the Northern and Alternate flowered water-milfoil): Farwell's water milfoil. So much to learn!

As you can see, the area was pretty spectacular and remote.

I got out of my kayak to 'use the (wild) facilities/bog,' and also investigate a terrestrial plant at the same time - I was pleased to confirm that it wasn't purple loosestrife. There were many interesting rocks with intriguing markings and textures on them, and then I noticed some bleached bones right near the shoreline - it looked like a collection of different animals. I made sure to pick some of them up before climbing back into my kayak - boy, were they stinky! Here is my collection of treasures, all cleaned up and ready for my nature display cabinet.

Ellie, Dale and I were teamed up for some of the time on Lake Madawaska. Our view scopes, used to help see down through the water column, weren't very useful because of the murkiness from algae. I usually float the scope off to one side of my kayak, where the light is best and oh, man, does one's neck hurt by the end of the day from keeping it turned one way for so long ... luckily we were so tired by the time we went to bed that even those aches and pains couldn't keep us awake.

Photo: D. Schultz

This is our team on Madawaska

Photo courtesy of K. St Peter

Cross Lake

Cross Lake, Maine (rated Impaired by Maine DEP water quality standards), is amazingly shallow for long stretches, which meant we could see plants along very wide segments from the shoreline out into the lake. We noticed different plant communities were established more or less in swathes parallel to the shore, so we needed to cover them all.

Photo: K. St Peter

Where the lake gets deep, it gets pretty deep: 45 feet. Our hosts did a brilliant job of ferrying us with our kayaks to the furthest reaches of the lake so we could spend all our time scanning the water in each assigned sector and not waste unnecessary time and energy paddling all the way there and back.

Photo: K. St Peter

Bunny and I teamed up together on the first day, and had to take shelter on the shore when a raincloud came over while we waited to be picked up by the pontoon 'ferry.' It didn't amount to much - we get more wet whilst paddling in our kayaks on a regular, sunny day!

Photo: M. Wescott

I had a very special, close experience with 4 eagles in a cove around me one day - magnificent, and unforgettable.

One afternoon was too choppy and windy to survey, 

so we used the time to identify plants we'd collected and questioned IDs on.

Photo: K & C St Peter

A Week in Potato Country

A week ago Dale and I returned from Aroostook County, near Fort Kent, a few miles from the Canadian border, to spend a week surveying northern Maine lakes for invasive plants (good news, NONE were found). This is part of the Lake Stewards of Maine's Northern Maine Initiative, to bring a Travel Team to lakes that don't have a plant surveying team of their own. This area is potato growing country, and runoff from agricultural lands has impacted water quality locally. Our hosts on Cross Lake have been working with local farmers and organizations to try and improve the situation and it seems to be paying off - their visibility readings are much improved this year (let's hope it stays that way).

We stayed in cabins with kitchens, hot water showers and queen beds! Luxury.

View of river from our cabin

The lakes were so different in character from our Lake Arrowhead, being much more open with wide expanses of water, so that we were badly impacted by winds whilst kayaking. There was much more development of camps right at the water's edge, close to each other, with barely any trees overhanging the shoreline for the most part. 

Photo: D. Schultz

Though we didn't have much rain to contend with, the cloud cover was pretty thick most days.

This was one of the more heavily vegetated shoreline areas

We teamed up in twos and threes to survey, switching team members every now and again. Dale and I opted for snorkel surveying one morning, but I found it really chilly, and by afternoon I was back in my kayak. Many areas we surveyed were bare of aquatic plants, which made surveying boring, but it helped speed up the rate at which we could cover ground (or should I say water?)

Photo: K. St Peter

Photo: K. St Peter

  

We had many great meals and evenings together at our hosts' home

Photo: K. St Peter

Calla Lily

My first sighting of the bog arum, Calla palustris was in Aroostook County with the Lake Stewards of Maine during an expedition last week. I had no idea if what I had found was native or invasive, since it wasn't featured in our field guide and doesn't appear in my lake. Thankfully it was recognized and ID-ed by a staff member before I sounded the alarm that we'd found a foreign plant! They were abundant along the edge of the shoreline in boggy areas, where we would normally see pickerelweeds in our area.

It's a more northerly plant that produces red berries after flowering, similar to Jack-in-the-pulpit. Here a spider is exploring the beginnings of the berry stage

The leaves are heart shaped and fleshy, nice, juicy eating for wildlife! I wish I had seen the flower blooming too, but maybe next time ...

Impaired Lake

Here are some shots taken at Lake Madawaska in Aroostook County, Maine. It's designated as "impaired" due to its poor water quality from non-point source runoff that overloads the lake with nutrients, such as phosphorus. This then leads to excessive algal growth. I must say, I find the swirling patterns made by the algal growth and the waves quite fascinating and beautiful in their own way - they're pretty artsy.

We decided not to snorkel and possibly imbibe some of this algae, which also compromises visibility in such lakes. It's such a pity, for this is a very beautiful waterbody, with some very interesting wetland plant communities.

Magnificent Exoskeleton

I find this dragonfly exuvia to be extremely beautiful. The color gradations and markings in mottled browns are exquisite. This is merely a cast off, chitinous exoskeleton that is left behind when the insect molts.

And then I can't help wondering who eats or benefits from this crunchy form?

Little Rascal

Look at this sweet, adorable face - who could ever imagine he'd get up to ANY mischief?

This delightful little "innocent," punished me for leaving him behind while I enjoyed myself Downeast 350 miles away, surveying northern lakes for invasive plants. I returned with an American Arrowhead specimen that was perfect for pressing and preserving whilst still in spectacular and delicate flowering glory. I took special care to keep it well watered and protected whilst packed in the car on the long journey home, making sure not to let anything brush against its delicate, papery-thin petals.

Once back home, I stood it on the kitchen counter in a basin of water, ready to be pressed the following day, but before I could finish my morning coffee, I saw that Cattus mischiefous had jumped DOWN off the counter (from which he is prohibited) and was licking his lips with relish. When I investigated, the only possible edible thing I could find on the countertop was ... my Arrowhead specimen ...

Yes, indeed, that little rascal had gnawed the juicy fresh flower off the top of the flower stem, as well as a few off the side! Some flowers were already past peak, but he picked the good ones! What a naughty little scamp - the very part that I was most concerned about preserving! He's lucky he still breathes (it took a whole day after the act before I could bring myself to photograph the damage)!

But seriously, I found it so hard to remain angry with him (he's unbelievably adorable), and was concerned he may get sick after chewing them off, so checked up on Google and found he wasn't in ANY danger. Now I can laugh about it, but I'll have to try pressing a new sample.

I also found him on the dining table later that day, licking his lips again. Uh-oh. When I checked the table, I saw that he'd pushed the lid of the butter dish back in order to feast on one of his favorite forbidden snacks. In all the months he's been with us, he's never opened the butter dish before (and we always leave it out). Well, now we keep an elastic band over the lid. What a little rascal.

Monochromes

 

Simplicity

A solitary canoe in the early morning between Cross Lake and Mud Pond in Maine - so much beauty in simple things. 

Just for perspective, here is the same dock sticking into the water on the satellite image from Google Earth

Feathery Beauty

A beautiful white feather adorned with dew. It looked like icy snow at first glance, but seeing as it's August in Maine, I did a double take and decided to investigate.

Morning Bliss

 

Morning stillness shared

Yet it feels like solitude,

Serene and blissful.