No whining allowed on a bright winter day

Do you find yourself complaining about winter when it drags on past January? I have to be honest: I do. But Jen at Muddy Boot Dreams and a group of like-minded garden bloggers are asking us to suspend the crabbing, at least for one day each week this winter.

Their theme this week is "structures in winter." And gosh, structure is so easy to spot without the distraction of foliage and flowers.

Whether we're talking the structure of snowmobile and ATV tracks on an ice- and snow-covered lake;

or the structure of that same ice/snow layer exposed at the edge of the beach;



or the man-made structures brightening winter trails...they're all eye-catching in the stark winter landscape.

I have to admit, I've been less than excited about photographing my own garden this winter. I guess I have a bit of cabin fever. So it was good to head over to the lake this past weekend.

On Saturday, the air temperature was in the mid 20sF (-3C to -4C). After the arctic blast we had last week, the weekend weather felt balmy and springlike--perfect for celebrating the beauty of winter.



And taking a walk out on the lake.



Don't worry, the ice was very thick as you can see from this picture near the shore. An ATV almost went through the ice the next day...but that was out in the middle of the lake where the ice was much thinner.



Anyway, I enjoyed seeing the ice shacks lined up across the lake, and hearing the ice expand and contract along the shore.

And then I took a short hike.







It's always a pleasure to see the bright red of the Black Raspberry canes and the Red Twig Dogwood, and the bright blue sky.



And the ice shacks like happy flags celebrating the joy of winter sport.

I waved goodbye...

Watched the afternoon sun lower in the bright sky...

And said a prayer of thanks for the bright beauty of winter. No whining...just simple gratitude. No more cabin fever...at least for one day.

To find out more about the "No Winter Whining" meme, visit the group's Facebook page. And add your own link!

Plant of the month: False Rue Anemone

As I gladly watch the deep freeze of 2013 recede, I'm now seriously ready to move out of hibernation and into spring planning mode.

One of the most exciting plans is to spend more quality time in the woods with my camera and the local native wildflowers (sounds thrilling, right?). Last spring sped by way too quickly for me to capture many shots--a lot of the ephemerals appeared and disappeared within days during our early, unseasonably warm spring.

I did manage to get a quick glance at a patch of Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense) and False Rue Anemone (Enemion biternatum) before the drought hit. And I'm looking forward to welcoming these natives back to the garden.

The Wild Ginger will have to wait for its special month until I can get some decent shots of its unique ground-hugging blooms. So it's time to highlight its frilly companion on the right in the photo above.

False Rue Anemone, a member of the Ranunculaceae family, looks a lot like Rue Anemone. The flowers and foliage are similar. The main differences are the deeply lobed foliage and always-five sepal blooms of the "false" version. Click here for a nice comparison of the two plants. I hope to get some better shots of the blooms next spring, too.

While False Rue Anemone seems rather common around here, I was surprised to find out that, while it's native to the lower 48 U.S. states, it's uncommon and even endangered in many states. Click here for a map of its common distribution today.

A few fun facts about this woodland beauty, culled from the University of Illinois Extension and the Robert W. Freckmann Herbarium:

• Appears and blooms in early to mid-spring, goes dormant in summer, and reappears in autumn. (Apparently it's evergreen through the winter, but I couldn't see it under the ice and snow in my garden.)
• Grows in partial shade, open woods, and thickets; prefers moist, well-drained sites.
• Thrives in USDA hardiness zones 3 through 7.
• Appears as an erect, 4" to 16" perennial, with slender stems; roots are small tuber-like masses.

While I realize we have weeks of winter left (and I'll try to enjoy them day-by-day), knowing these beauties will greet me in April will make the wait easier.

I'm linking in with Clay and Limestone's Wildflower Wednesday (sorry I'm a day late) and Elephant's Eye on False Bay's Dozens for Diana. Thanks, friends, for hosting these excellent memes!

Wild adventures and misadventures: a book review

Extreme adventures can be invigorating, but obviously they also often bring great peril. If you're a natural risk-taker, you know this firsthand.

Some of us prefer to balance a few personal adventures with a healthy mix of reading or watching movies about others' exploits. A well-written account of a great adventure can almost make you feel like you've been there...as in the book, "The Wild Muir: Twenty-Two of John Muir's Greatest Adventures."

Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: The Yosemite Association
Amazon price: $9.36









Muir often found himself in perilous situations, and nearly lost his life numerous times! For example:

• After walking from the Midwest to Cedar Key, Fla., he developed malaria and typhoid, and was bedridden for three months.

• When hiking a glacial peak in Alaska, Muir's companion slipped and dislocated both shoulders. Muir placed himself precariously underneath the man on a precipice to rescue him and drag him to safety.

• During a windstorm in California's Sierra mountains, Muir climbed to the top of a 100-foot Douglas Fir for a better view of the storm. He remained in his "lofty perch for hours," dismounting only after the storm had passed.

Photo by Francis M. Fritz [public domain],
via Wikimedia Commons.

Crazy man. Here is Muir's reasoning for his risky tree-climbing adventure:

"...when the storm began to sound, I lost no time in pushing out into the woods to enjoy it. For on such occasions, nature has always something rare to show us, and the danger to life and limb is hardly greater than one would experience crouching deprecatingly beneath a roof."

As nutty as this type of behavior may sound to those of us who are more cautious, it also brings benefits. Muir's essay about his experience at the top of that tree was published in Scribner's Monthly and was republished many times. And it helped establish him as a respected nature writer for the major magazines of his day.

"...my eye roved over the piny hills and dales as over fields of waving grain, and felt the light running ripples and broad swelling undulations across the valleys from ridge to ridge, as the shining foliage was stirred by corresponding waves of air."

"...the colors were remarkably beautiful. The shafts of the pine and libocedrus were brown and purple, and most of the foliage was well-tinged with yellow; the laurel groves, with the pale undersides of their leaves turned upward, made masses of gray; and then there was many a dash of chocolate color from clumps of manzanita, and jet of vivid crimson from the bark of the madroños, while the ground on the hillsides, appearing here and there through openings between the groves, displayed masses of pale purple and brown."

Throughout the book, short explanations set the scene for each of the 22 highlighted adventures. Lovely black and white scratchboard illustrations help tell the stories. If you enjoy the adventure genre, you'll enjoy these true-life essays about John Muir's most harrowing experiences.

(Note: Patricia of Woodlouse House mentions that many of Muir's books are available for free download as Kindle books on Amazon. I also noticed that many are also free in text format on the Sierra Club's website.)

I'm linking this post to Holley's (Roses and Other Gardening Joys) Garden Book Review meme. Check it out!

Caught between ice, snow, a rock, and a hard place