Maine's Fabulous Flora

Although we're here at the end of the flowering season (not quite late enough for fall color though, sadly) there is still an abundance of photogenic floral feasts for the eyes in and around Portland.

The super-cheery daisy-ish flowers you can see above were evident in many gardens. As were some related species...

Another flower type that shows up a lot in Portland yards are these hydrangea trees. In my part of the world, you only see much smaller versions in pots, but, it's amazing what happens when you have adequate rainfall and cool nights all year...

We also have altheas (or Rose of Sharon, as they seem to be called up here) in Texas. Although I think they're more common in Houston than in San Antonio; the ones in our yard came from my Mom's in big-H. But even over there you don't see such stupendous bushes of these flowers...

Close up, they look just like mine, although my guys don't have nearly so many friends!

Before venturing further afield, here's a selection of some more lovelies in the Deering neighborhood:

the morning glories, especially in the–duh!–morning, were incredible 

ENORMOUS sunflowers in the community garden

nasturtiums–which always remind me of our yard in Montana

and how about these lily-like beauties!

There's a nice little woods nearby that is a favorite walking destination, partly because of these lovely flowers...

...well, not just the flowers, at least for the younger set. Their seed pods, which are beginning to develop, can be induced to pop open, rather alarmingly. Showing this to Gramma was great fun for the experienced Mainers I was walking with. But I liked the flowers, too.

On my previous post about the various coastal views I enjoyed, you can see some of these striking goldenrods. But here is a closer view:

a few individuals in a large field of the flowers

Also near the coast you can find some incredibly aromatic beach roses...

Sorry I couldn't provide the fragrance!

At another beach, the blooms were gone, but they left behind the largest rose hips I've ever seen! They look like very healthy cherry tomatoes, don't they!?

I don't know if they would make good tea or not, but they were excellent for decorating sand castles!

Wordless Wednesday: potential sandwich thief getting sassy

Maine's Amazing Coast

 

I've gotten to see several examples of fabulous coastline during my current visit (just look at a large-scale map of southern Maine's coast if you want to see the most complicated meeting of land and water anywhere!). The water, the islands offshore, the fog, the seaweed (it will get its own post later) and of course this lovely, lovely black slate...it's quite a feast for the eyes.

We've been to Kettle Cove twice so far, once in fog and once on a clear day. That's where the picture above was taken, on the sunny day. Here's a look at it in the fog...

The Cove is a popular beach spot and has several nice amenities (like bathrooms!) such as this cool bridge over a stream draining into the cove...

...as well as some late summer flowers that provide very photogenic foregrounding...

(You know I'll have more to say about Maine flowers in a later post!)

Another really spectacular spot we visited was Two Lights State Park. We picked the particular day to visit because the first (there was eventually another!) hurricane that threatened our area, Henri, was swinging by and we thought there might be some spectacular surf.

And there was! The photo above doesn't really do it justice. I could have sat on the rocks watching the waves pound for hours. So very cool!

Even the Adorable Granddaughters enjoyed the view. Here's one of them taking in the stormy environment...

As it turned out, neither Henri nor Ida did much violence around here; Henri didn't even give us much rain. We were of course very lucky not to have been hit like they were lower on the Atlantic coast.

Another gorgeous day found us at Fort Williams beach in Cape Elizabeth. The tide was low enough that there was plenty of beach for playing on... 

...but except for lots of good seaweed photo opps, I was most interested in the rocky sides of the cove...

The expert climber Adorable Granddaughter and a friend also love the rocks, for more active interaction. But here they are sitting together and resting after a strenuous workout on Ft. Williams' boulders...

Good company, good weather, good scenery, and rocks to climb...what more do you need?

Of course, Maine has lots more to offer, and I'll show you some more of its wonders next time.

Wordless Wednesday: you know you're in New England when...

 

Wordless Wednesday: trees are resilient!

 

Chama fauna and flora

 

Our trip on the Rio Chama this year was early enough in the summer that we were treated with the sight of several families like the ones above: geese parents and their adolescent offspring. 

Some of the other animals we saw weren't as pleasing, like this scary-looking something-or-other...

But the worse specimens were a lot smaller. We unfortunately hit the river right at gnat hatching season. Amy had the right idea for keeping the critters at bay...

You really had to cover up this completely to get any peace in camp! It would have been nice if they'd met the same end as this guy...

...but unfortunately they were with us all the way down the river.

The early summer flora, however, did a little to make up for this annoyance. Here are some samples:

some prickly pear were in fine bloom

as well as some cholla

we caught a few late-blooming paintbrushes

as well as lots of daisies

anyone know what this is? impressive, no?

Even the guys that were already past their prime offered some good photo opps...

And, of course, there are the fabulous trees...

When I next find time to blog, I'll be taking you across the country. From the near desert to a much more verdant clime. Stay tuned!

Rockhound heaven

 

I know I've told you about the Rio Chama's gorgeous rocks before, and on this trip I told myself I wasn't going to take that many pictures of them. I mean, I have a million (est.) already! But I couldn't resist snapping a few. Here are some of my favorites...

Typical spectacular canyon view

rocks as bird apartment blocks

"desert varnish" on display

another typical day in the canyon

up close and personal

dodging rocks at Aragon Rapid

rock shelves at Big Eddy

not a bad view