Fishing Spider

Whilst sitting quietly at the end of a cove, enjoying the tranquility and shade, I slowly became aware of this fishing spider, Dolomedes triton, so easy to miss.

Moving On

 

As summer winds down,

Aquatics start senescing.

Calm water reflects.

Searchlights

Peep, of the searchlight eyes, is super alert to noises that might in any way be associated with food. Though she looks demure, she turns into an ugly horror show when food is served, huffing and guzzling to the point where it seems she might pass out because she can't breathe as she inhales food instead of air.

She's also super tuned in to possibilities of encountering "the darkness," Linus' black cat, with whom she does not want to get on.

She's very vocal and a great, purry cuddler as well!

Gardening with Natives

    N a t i v e s   R u l e !

How happy it makes me to see how varied in color, texture, and form our native flowers are

        

There's always something new and different showing itself throughout the growing season.

Water Marigolds

I've seen a lot of Water marigolds (Bidens beckii) in our lake, but had never seen it flower till this year. Dale got some particularly nice captures of this bloom from our survey on Lake Madawaska in The County (Aroostook to most of us, but to inhabitants, it is the only county) in July.

Photo: D. Schultz

The leaves floating on the surface all around the marigold belong to other plants, the pondweeds. The flower looks a lot like a common old garden marigold. It has special leaves on the emergent stem from which the flower grows and stands above the water.

Photo: D. Schultz

The regular underwater leaves are visible in the top left of the picture below, as a finely divided, shaggy mass that can grow up to 8 feet long. 

Beauty in Small Things

"To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower"
- Auguries of Innocence, William Blake

Exotic Beauty

I came across this invasive Eurasian vine whilst kayaking near some wetlands on Lake Madawaska - the flowers are quite striking, and stand out from the rest of the vegetation. It's the Bittersweet nightshade (Solanum dulcamara), which has become a noxious weed in many parts of the U.S. and will grow in poor soil conditions where more picky plants won't thrive.

It grows over other plants, using them as supports, and spreads widely in this manner.

Ocean Visit

A wonderful and fun day with friends at their cottage on Wells on a perfect weather day at the end of August - what more could a person ask for? 

Details like the patterns pebbles make on beach sand after waves retreat fascinate me ...

Swimming in the ocean is always energizing and refreshing. I learned to play Bocce and Cornhole, too - one of these days I'll fit in!

New Sundew

So excited to have found the Spatulate-leaved sundew (Drosera intermedia) on our lake recently. I had only noticed the Round-leaved sundew (Drosera rotundiflora) around our wetlands till now, and was ecstatic to find this one thriving here as well.

Both types are common in the Northeast, but as you can see, their leaf shapes are a little different. They are very slow growers in nutrient poor habitats.

The sticky glandular hairs keep insects trapped until the plant can envelop them.

Aquatic Bloom

This flower has the common name large purple bladderwort (Utricularia purpurea), but it's hard to capture the color in bold sunlight - it seems to sap the color from the petals.

The messy-looking mass of brown vegetation floating beneath the flower are its leaves, stems and bladders 

The plant puts up a long flower stalk that can rise above the water

or often lies along the surface like a long piece of string.

AAA

AAA today stands for Amazingly Abundant Agalinis! The delicate flowers are strongly pink.

They're annuals - I have never seen them so prolific and dramatic as they are this year. How wonderfully cheery they look by the water's edge!

They are a false foxglove native to eastern North America and Canada.

Perfection

This exquisitely delicate and unique flower belongs to our native little floating bladderwort (Utricularia radiata). The white spokes that hold up the flower are regarded as specialized "leaves," and may also be referred to as stolons. There is a second flower forming beside the mature one - they first appear completely underwater, and slowly rise to the surface as the floats become more air-filled and buoyant.

This is how it appears in its habitat. The spatterdock leaves around it give some idea of scale and how small this plant is. The little spots you see around the base and floating in the water beneath it are the traps/bladders that catch zooplankton in the water - a magnificent carnivorous aquatic plant.

 I LOVE this plant - ingenious!

Carefree Caterpillar

 Not the best capture, but I liked the vibe of a smiling, carefree caterpillar.

Whee!

The Finger

My dream vacation ended with a thud, when the tenderness I'd noticed around a fingernail during our kayaking week became unbearable. It was swollen and hot, and I couldn't use my left index finger at all. I didn't recall an injury during our trip away, but I know I had definitely been digging diligently under swampy roots and soil with my bare hands to dislodge a good plant specimen for pressing. Perhaps a piece of reed got pushed up against my cuticle? I only really realized after it had been stuck there for a few hours that there was pressure between my nail and skin. 

I'd begun feeling throbbing pulses in my wrist and elbow by now, and was concerned that a bloodstream infection could compromise my artificial joints. I set off for the Waterboro Walk-In clinic in the morning, but was told the wait time would be many, many hours and that if I left to go shopping in the meantime, I would lose my spot. I could, however, sign into the website and reserve a time slot (the earliest being 4:30PM), but I couldn't reserve one with her at the front desk, nor could it be done by phone. 

I booked the 4:30 PM slot online, after being reminded that it wasn't an appointment, merely a reserved time slot - okay, whatever the difference is, I'd do it. Then I overheard the receptionist telling the next patient that Sanford's wait time was only 20 minutes - I then booked in at Sanford for the next available "reservation" (35 minutes hence) and canceled my Waterboro appointment. Why do things have to be so complicated, especially when you're feeling anxious and unwell?

In Sanford they iced my finger and then lanced it (ow, did that hurt!), collecting the discharge for lab analysis (it turned out to be an Eikenella species of bacteria). I was given a 10 day course of Doxycycline, a tetanus shot, and instructions to soak it 2-3 times each day with Epsom salts. The next day it felt a little better, but it was an open wound, so I had to keep it out of the lake water while I went out on my kayak ... not easy.

Then I managed to burn the thumb on my other hand with the hot metal handle of my bread machine, so I became rather impaired as far as dexterity goes for a few days.

On one of the evenings that I was soaking my finger in a cup on my lap, I fell asleep, only to be rudely awakened by a warm wet puddle between my legs! Silly me! Five days after being lanced and cleaned, it was usable again, and crocheting could be resumed.

And now it's practically back to normal, with some new skin growing in - no more pain, and no sign of anything still embedded there!

Hospitality in The County

The amazing couple who hosted our activities, meals, gatherings and botanizing space in northern Maine, who sorted out logistics, and who put out fires left, right and center, coming to our rescue whenever an extra can of gas, or a vehicle, kayak or spare anything was needed, went above and beyond what hosting means - they welcomed us as family. I am awed by their graciousness.

They let us invade their home en masse, and though we were each expected to provide our own food for the week, they spontaneously provided buffet breakfasts with loads of choices before we set off each morning. They also made us a lasagna dinner, organized a pizza night, a community BBQ, and a night out together at a local restaurant. It really unified the team to be eating together as opposed to separately, in our own time. We took over their couches to get rid of 'kayak-butt' at the end of the day, had meetings at their dining table, and charged our phones at their kitchen counter.

The generosity and energy of our hosts was exemplary - when they could have had a quiet night-in once in a while, instead they offered a night cruise on their pontoon boat or a lakeside fire to gather around. They truly made it an unforgettable week for our team - northern Maine hospitality rules!

Here we are enjoying the fireside glow. The sunset and moon were orange for a few days due to the smoke from fires elsewhere in the country.

The camaraderie and fun we had together as a team was inspiring and is always worth coming back for. This is my idea of a dream vacation 😀 

Lovely Bones

Here are a few close ups of some of the more interesting bones I found at the water's edge in northern Maine. This first one, a vertebra, looks like a face:

I'm not sure which animal this small skull belongs to, but I'm keeping it for my collection.

I also have these long bones with some interestingly splayed, or winged, edges.

During cleaning, I became aware of a piece of lead embedded in one of them. 

I think it had entered from the other side, where there was a little hole, and presumably bone had started growing across the entry point - OUCH, poor animal.