Today's walk report: As Old As You're Young

 A nice walk today. I should've gotten out earlier but then again I should've slept later. There was a lot of meandering around during the walk and while I usually have a pretty precise measurement on distance traveled, today I don't. It would take too long to map it back out (Google Earth) but based on last weekend's 2.37 mile walk, I'd estimate it was 2.5 miles. I would've gone farther had it not warmed up on me so quickly. 

Here are some pictures taken along the way, some familiar subjects and some not so familiar. 

Saturday, April 18th

These are not the shrooms you're looking for.

 Oenothera speciosa,  pink ladies or pink evening primrose. They multiply quickly.

 This rose’s petals look like they were painted by hand.

 The last of the Pelargonium sidoides, AKA, African geranium flowers.

 Not the same Iris germanica 'Immortality' from last week but rather the one that opened next to it.

 Google says this is an Asparagus Fern, specifically identified as Asparagus retrofractus or Asparagus macowanii.  

 Bat-faced cuphea, Cuphea llavea.

 Heliotropium arborescens.

 Monarch on narrowleaf milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis). I spoke with one of the curators for the arboretum and the campus botanical garden and commended him on the abundance of native milkweed. I also mentioned my struggles in attempting to germinate and grow Asclepias fascicularis. The seeds need to be cold stratified to germinate and I have gotten past that part but they always (maybe three efforts at this) die on me shortly after getting the seedlings into soil. He said he would set aside a one gallon container for me to pick up tomorrow. Nice!

 Cabbage white butterfly (Pieris rapae).

 Most of my time sitting was spent watching these cliff swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota). While I've watched them in the sky fly catching dozens of times they are almost impossible to track for photos. Try it sometime, try following a bird trying to eat a fly in flight. I honestly didn't know what they looked like until today. I've seen the nests dozens of times too but this was the first time I was sitting down while they were actively working on nesting close by. Yes, that's mud and yes by human terms, they can make a mess of things. There is a long row of nests under this one overhang.

The bleeding wall. It's like a Poe short story.

 
Thanks again to Miss Junimoon for all of her help.

 
Look at the mirror over there, what do you see? Tell yourself a lie 
Are you as old as you seem? Feel something that you have to 
Being open, an innocent, wise only when age can mellow the haste 
New hopes, ambitions undone—you're only as old as you're young