Sunsets around the world

Tonight, while driving to pick up LA, there was a golden-red sunset in the west.  One of those that we described in Swedish as 'the sky is on fire" (himmelen står i brand). It made me think of other amazing sunsets I have seen around the world, and how amazing it is that a fireball far away affects our colors and emotions so much.  So, here is a trip around the world in sunsets:

 
Brazil, near Itaiaia National Park, between Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, sunset on thunderclouds in the rainforest.


Costa Rica, over Palo Verde marshlands in early spring.


Sunset over Stockholm in September, Sweden (of course)


Chicago sunset, in Illinois, USA, out on Lake Michigan. A hot day in August.


Sourland Mountains, New Jersey, USA, with oaks and ash trees in the foreground.  Home. 

Insects and critters in New Jersey - a photo essay from this summer

A dead False Potato Beetle (Leptinotarsa juncta) was waiting for me, dead, outside the door to my office building one day. It is similar to the infamous Colorado potato beetle, but its stripes are brown, black and white.


Some amazing galls by some unknown insect on grape leaves in our garden.  Each yellow 'bottle' was about 1 cm long.


This is a fly (2 wings), not a bee (4 wings), sunning itself in the sunflower.


LA found a small, but distinctive, larvae of a walnut sphinx (Amorpha juglandis).  Spinxes are big moths that fly at night. This was the first photo from New Jersey in the Bugguide.net, a great online photo guide!

We also saw two mosquitoes in the last week that looked like the invasive Asian tiger mosquito.  I am less happy about that. They were tiny, flew during daytime, and have black and white-striped bodies and legs. They can spread diseases, that is their problem (and ours).

I love all the life in our garden, even if it sometimes bites and stings. This morning the fog had made all the spider webs visible, like white cotton thread.  Giant praying mantis are hanging out in the butterfly bush, aiming for the big swallowtail butterflies.  In the garden, too many marmorated stinkbugs are creating problems... it is always something.

More insect photos are coming soon! 

Iceland tour

EH and Ans are touring on Iceland for a week. A few snapshots from the scenery.

Outlook from Dyrholaey, Vik, Icelands southernmost point.

Seljalandsfoss, 65 meters high

My companion for a day.

Spring sign of the Day: Tulipa

Tulipa neustruveae

Azaleas by our front porch

azaleas by my front porch, originally uploaded by Vilseskogen.

I just love this season.... I don't know the species name of this Rhododendron, but the flowers are enormous, and the plant is tall enough so the deers can't reach the buds in the winter.

Flower of the day; Blåsippa

A beautiful, very pale blue Hepatica.

Spring proof from NJ

Here are some very quick photos to show that the spring is here, finally.  In the last two weeks every plant has burst open and things grow faster than I can photograph. This is among the best times in New Jersey, before the horrible hot and humid summer.

Right now, flowering in the garden is: gooseberries (krusbär), plums (plommon), dandelions (maskros), pear tree (päron), peach tree (persika), dead nettle (rödplister), daffodils (påsklilja, pingstlilja), Scilla (scilla), crown imperial(kejsarkrona), bleeding heart (löjtnantshjärta), hairy cress (hårig bräsma), goldenbells (forsythia), birch (björk), veronica (trädgårdveronika), and common rocket (sommargyllen).

I have been busy prepping the raised beds for the sowing of carrots, onions, chard, radishes, peas, lettuce and beets, and they are all coming up now. There is plenty of space for the tomatoes and peppers, which have to wait until last frost date, May 15. I bet they might have to revise that soon, considering our increasingly warmer climate.

 

Pirate cat

Grrrr says our cat Smokey... 

A wonderful meatball dinner

meatball dinner, originally uploaded by Vilseskogen.

Some dinners are just simply amazing and simple.  Tonight my husband (PP) made these giant meatballs (from local beef from Jane et al and local lamb from Harry & M). He cooked them in olive oil and served them with some pasta, my homemade tomato sauce from last summer, and cooked broccoli rabe with cannelini beans on the side.  It was incredibly delicious.  Wow, those meatballs were to die for.  I wish all of you friends and family could have been here to share this meal with us.  And thanks Jane and Harry for excellent meat.

Sunrise over Norway in winter

Sunrise over Norway in winter, originally uploaded by Vilseskogen.

Norway looked very cold and very wintry when I flew home to USA in January. The sun is just rising and hitting the highest peaks of the mountains of Hardangervidda and the fjords stretching their fingers into the mountains.

Morning walk: misty trees

From a few weeks ago.

Snö (Snow)

We have all kind of words for snow in Swedish, and even more in the native language Samiska.
Here in my part of Sweden we have had snow on the ground continuously since 29th November 2012. Last night we got a new layer of 10 cm (4 inches) and it is still snowing slowly outside. I read New Jersey have a blizzard, Nemo. How are you faring on the other side of the Pond? (The Atlantic Ocean)

Snö på svenska: blötsnö, kornsnö, kramsnö, snödrev, pudersnö, lovikkavantar (jättesnöflingor!), frost, slask, skare, nysnö, snöflinga, snötäcke, snöfall, snöstorm, snöyra, snömodd, tösnö, snöglopp, klabbsnö, snöboll, snölykta, snögubbe, snögrotta, snödriva, snöhög, snöskred, hängdriva, snöbro...

LS added - here are some translations of the Swedish snow words EH wrote down:
 blötsnö (wet snow), kornsnö (when the snow is like small grains), kramsnö (perfekt snow for snowballs, 'krama' means hug or squeeze), snödrev (drifting snow due to high wind), pudersnö (powder snow, very cold and powder-like), lovikkavantar (jättesnöflingor!) (snowflakes that are as big as mittens), frost (frost), slask (halfmelted snow, slush), skare (hard frozen layer of snow on top of soft snow, that often breaks through when you step on it), nysnö (newly fallen snow), snöflinga (snowflake), snötäcke (snow cover), snöfall (snowing), snöstorm (snow storm), snöyra (blizzard), snömodd (halfmelted snow, mixed with slush), tösnö (melting snow), snöglopp (sleet), klabbsnö (snow that is melting on the surface in the spring and sticks to your skies, not fun), snöboll (snowball), snölykta (snow light, made from snowballs), snögubbe (snow man), snögrotta (snow cave), snödriva (heap of snow, naturally made, snow drift), snöhög (heap of snow, made by humans usually, snöskred (avalanche), hängdriva (hanging snow drift, which can sometimes becom an avalanche), snöbro (snow bridge, often over small creeks of running water, not very safe to ski over)...

Happy Birthday AREA!!!

light house and pebbles, originally uploaded by Vilseskogen.

How does it feel?
How does it feel to be nearly 20?
Yippee, you are the best!
Congratulations with a scene from Little Cranberry Island in Maine. Remember this place?

Saguaro's bend

This photo is by our great friend and railroad photographer EW, and is from the state (Arizona) that might, might become the college home of LA next summer. 

Nice saguaro cactus, and, oh wait, there is a train there too!?  Click on link for larger image. And if you missed it, here is another amazing photo by EW.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANS!

CONGRATULATIONS on the big day, mamma!  Here are some flowers to enjoy in wintry Sweden on your birthday and in the future.  (Click on the photos for more information)

And now...

Rock Dassie (Procavia capensis), originally uploaded by Vilseskogen.

... I think there is time for something totally different than hurricane Sandy. Don't worry, there will be more hurricane info, but I think we all need a break.

So, here is a rock dassie (also called hyrax) , an animal smaller than a hare or groundhog, and a relative of elephants (DNA says so). It is looking out over the Southern Ocean, at the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. It was so unafraid, just let me take the photo with my little point-and-shoot camera, unfazed by us. If you click on the photo and enlarge it you can see how its toes actually look a bit like elephant toes.

just some garden photos from this summer...

We found a nest of robins in the katsura tree, and they grew so fast and hopefully disappeared before getting eaten.


The blueness of morning glories never seize to amaze me:


The strange weed that had been loving the raised bed over the winter turned out to be poison hemlock ('odört' in Swedish), the toxic plant that became Socrates' last drink when he was sentenced to death.  I watched it grew, flower, and then pressed it in the herbarium press before it could set seed! :)
 


Once again the hollyhocks got attacked by the hollyhock rust fungus.  It just isn't the place for hollyhocks, too bad.  In Swedish, hollyhocks are 'stockros', and I have never seen any sick ones in Sweden. I am telling you, gardening in New Jersey is a kind of warfare againsts pests, vermin, fungi, viruses and bacteria.  I don't remember my parents complaining about blister beetles, stink bugs, late blight or anything like that.  OK, we had that potato disease, I remember that... and birds eating cherries, but nothing like this. The good thing is that I can always bring in every fungal pest to my colleagues at work who really appreciate the addition to their teaching collection of fungal pathogens.


This (Glechoma hederacea, ground ivy, 'jordreva') is one of those purple flowers that turn blue when you take a photo of it.  The sensitivity of the digital sensor in the camera is different from our eye, because this flower certainly wasn't blue.  I have seen the same thing happen with slide film, especially Kodachrome.


This was a really cool beetle in the goldenrod flowers, imitating a wasp. I wonder what it is called?

Stamp of the day: Finding Funky Fungi

It is the season of the fungi, these strange creatures that are actually more animal than plant.... evolutionarily speaking.  I have seen a lot of interesting fungi lately in our wet fall in eastern USA.

(above) Earth stars in the Pine Barrens...  I haven't seen an earth star in many years, so this was fun!

Cobolt crust fungus in our garden, found on an old stick (sorry, no photo, check out the link to see the amazing color)...

Tiny little black specks on a rotten branch was Diatrype, an ascomycete (related to morels)...

and then jelly fungi of course, these jellyfish-looking things that come out of branches as gelatinous exudates...

The stamp of the day is from Taiwan and was one of the few mushroom stamps I could find that had an earth star among it.

Enjoy!

"This is my place"

fleece cat - Smokey, originally uploaded by Vilseskogen.

Says Smokey the cat, content in our garden.

memories of another summer trip

flying in, originally uploaded by Vilseskogen.

A few years ago we went to the coast of Maine, and it was gorgeous. I want to go back and see more of the blue water, brown seaweed, darkgreen forests, and gray and pink granite. I reminded me a lot of Sweden, and it had the same smells and very similar plants.... nice!

This photo is from Mount Desert Island (Acadia National Park), and the seagull on the right just happened to fly in when I took the photo.