Early Spring Splendorness and a Cold Day in Hell

You might be thinking, "Holy crap, that's a lot of flower pictures!" but, truthfully, this is only a small sample of the bazillion or so photos that I took during two recent outings at Trout Park nature preserve. It's one of the most gorgeous little pockets of wonderful around, and, sadly, extremely rare in its diversity and status as an IL Nature Preserve. Joules started the tradition of hiking through it every spring, and I've lost track now how many years we've been going there. Suffice it to say, I never tire of seeing the miraculous emergence of the rare native wildflowers that survive there, despite the proximity of I-90; toxic runoff; destructive, ignorant idiots who treat this place like their own personal garbage can; and the invasive plants against which dedicated volunteers wage a continual war. Roland works there a lot and recently helped build a splendid log walkway over a wet portion of the trail. Yay Roland!

Here we are starting out (click on any photo to see it larger) -- Joules, Jennifer, and Joules' neighbor, Strange. Yes, that's her name, or at least that's what Julie calls her. Jennifer's daughter was also with us, but she had darted out of the picture at this point. Jennifer and I have been friends since first grade, though this is about the only time we see each other anymore.


The trilliums are fairly abundant here, which is amazing considering how much deer love them. They're not what you would call spectacular, but I think they're beautiful, and it always makes me happy to see them.



Jack in the pulpit. It's like the plant is hosting its own little puppet show.



Hepatica, or liver wort, so named for the shape of its leaves and the liver-like color of its leaves in the fall (you can see last year's leaves in this picture).


This is the first time in all the years we've been coming here that I saw twinleaf in bloom. There used to be one tiny little colony of this high quality plant, and now there's a whole neighborhood intermingled with the Virginia bluebells. Twinleaf is rated a 10 out of 10 in plant guides and is indicative of a high quality preserve. And it was blooming!! Did I mention that?


Not the best shot, but this is a sweet little trout lily blossom. They're very tiny, and they take seven years to bloom.


Skunk cabbage is the first native to appear, sometimes poking through the snow as early as February. It generates enough heat to actually melt the snow around it. I should have gotten a close up of the skunk cabbage blossom -- it's very prehistoric looking. This plant is pollinated by flies, because it stinks (though I don't think it's any worse than garlic mustard).


This skunk cabbage was growing right up through a thistle. Who will win the smackdown? My money is on the thistle. When I went back the following weekend, the thistle did seem to have the upper...leaf.


The contrast of the grey and brown of early spring and the glowing marsh marigolds is spectacular.


Wild ginger. I don't think it tastes like ginger; I've never tried it, actually. This plant is pollinated by ants.



There are springs and creeks running all through the park. Volunteers regularly rake out piles and piles of watercress, which can clog the creek to the point of stopping the water altogether. Then they have giant tea sandwich parties.


Dutchman's breeches, which are in the bleeding heart family. The flowers look like little upside down pants. How cute are they jiggling in the breeze?!



Bloodroot, so named for the red juice in its stem and roots. The flower is utterly perfect.


During the second visit, Roland, Amy, Lenore and I went on a guided walk where we also saw poison ivy being borned (everyone gathered around to look but not touch).


Awww...it's so cute and rosy!



And carion flower (I'm not sure if it's a native, I think it is), which is also pollinated by flies because it smells like rotting meat. (Mmmm!) I took our guide's word for it. I forgot to take a picture though.

Lenore took a picture of me taking pictures. :)
I'm wearing my hip new peace sign tiny backpack bag, which we purchased at a local head shop. This shop, I think it's called Igor's, has been in old town C'Ville forever -- at least since the 70s. Marty said they have fun tie dye stuff in there, so we stopped by to browse. My bag still smells odd...that weird incense smell? I hope it goes away eventually. Lenore bought a card there and mailed it, and the recipient said she could still smell the shop too.



This past weekend rained, so I caused Hell to get just a little chilly by cleaning my house. Hoops was all, "Hey, my spiders, my spiders! I need those cobwebs for my whiskers! Whadya doin' with that vacuum cleaner?! I cannot support this activity and must hide forthwith! Call me when it's over so that I may resume ignoring you in peace!"

I also experimented with a crockpot recipe for lentils (good but very much not photogenic) and bread (also surprisingly good). I used dough from the "no knead" routine (i.e., refrigerated, no-knead dough I had mixed up last weekend) which I let rest for 40 minutes and then "baked" on high in the crockpot for about 4 hours. If you try this, be sure to prop the lid open a teeny bit with a wooden spoon or chopstick. This method of bread making holds great promise for the summer, when I am loath to turn on the oven. The next experiment will be pasta-free vegetarian crockpot lasagna. I know -- crazy! You use eggplant strips instead of noodles and then layer all the other junk in the normal lasagna-like way.

And, I got my hair cut with a side of highlights. Same salon, new gal, and I like it.



(Since learning what "rabbit ears" are, Hua now thinks it's *very* funny to do this in photos. Except I'm about the only one in the office who's short enough to be her victim, so I must be sporting and endure.)