A Perrysburg Wedding

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In a quiet and eloquent little ceremony performed by Judge Osterud, Susan & Chris were married (again), on a warm and sunny Friday last week in Perrysburg.  

 The imprint is from an olive tree leaf.

They both swore to “keep” each other.  By the time they got around the corner to Stella’s to celebrate, it was already public news at Mills’ Hardware store and downtown.

A brief two day honeymoon in Cincinnati took in the large Museum of Art, with a modern (2000) Kyoto Globular Vase by Kitamura Junko:

Harvey Littleton glass
 and an Eva Zeisel tea set.

 Overnight was spent in the charming art deco Nederland Plaza
 
Next day a visit to the highly recommended bug house in the Cinci zoo, where it was warm enough for honey bees to be seen outside upon the November Asters.
 Beautiful red roses arrived just after they got back home to Perrysburg – to be color matched by a happily lunching Red-Bellied Woodpecker.

The bees were huddling for winter warmth and, on inspection, they unequivocally said (by hurling themselves at the photographer – note the large blurry one near the middle of the photo) that they did not want to be disturbed – so their covers were quickly replaced.
 
And out back, on the little “Garden Island” in the Maumee River, it seems that two bald eagles are also settling in, hopefully for the winter.

Sandy Storm Stories

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Hurricane Sandy sank the replica of HMS Bounty on her way south as she tried to squeeze between Cape Hatteras and the storm which had been tracking NNE but then suddenly backed 90 degrees, headed to NJ and NY, and fatally closed the gap.  The week before all had been tranquil at Cape Hatteras, NC.The light winds and calm sea only showed shore breaking swells (too high to go out int0) from very distant actions, but a reminder of the Cape’s ferocity.

The sand dunes do show how past winds have scoured out the sand. Here I’d say a good meter (3 ft.) depth of beach has been lost.

A dead sea turtle, with damaged shell perhaps from a propellor, washed in on the waves.

In the grasses a wild color mushroom hinted of other thrills. Nobody touched it.

The house architecture does show prepardness for floods to sweep across the sand banks. Note the front door 1 1/2 floors above ground level.  So tall that they noticeable shake in the wind.

On the sound side of the outer banks the windsurfing was gentle. In the far distance there was a line of many thousands of cormorants flying south day after day.


The barometer fell briefly, bringing one night of wind and lightning (Thanks to Glen Gardner for catching the brief flash).  The colored lights are from light sticks attached to windsurf sails braving the dark in search of good wind.


but for the most part we watched in vain for the Green Flash of sunsets. I can’t explain the circular sun even though it is half below the horizon.


One single mosquito held still for its final photo:

before I left for Washington DC to accidentally catch up on the latest in young men’s fashions: 
Considering that a day pass on the metro (subway) costs $12 these stylish young men could hardly be considered poor.

Looking for storm signs in the sky there were perhaps some hints of something as we drove home.

When Sandy proper arrived the satelite photos showed that in Perrysburg, Ohio we were on the very outer edge of the huge cloud swirl – little wind but scary red sunsets.

A week later back in New Jersey I saw the remains of the early snow storm damage that added to the hurricane problems.


And in Manhattan the Flatiron Building at 23 rd. and 3 rd. Avenue, looked like the bow of the Titanic.

Nearby is an outstanding new Italian food market called “Eataly” – not to be missed if you are near by.

Autumnal Reds

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Last week, Perrysburg’s trees were splashed with red as the trees’ internal chemistry saw that the days were getting shorter and it was time to prepare for winter by shutting down chlorophyl production and dropping leafs so winter snow and ice won’t break the branches.

 

The Fall colors jump out at you as you drive past but are hard to capture with the cell phone camera. At Niagara Falls I shot the same classic Canadian maple tree against the sun, with the sun from the side, and once more with the sun behind me. You decide which lighting is best?

Back home the mystery of the milkweed red bugs deepens. The following sequence of photos covers about 2 months from the time they first appeared, alongside yellow milkweed aphids on the full seed pods of the milkweeds I’d planted to attract monarch butterflies. 

After a month or so I think black ants and ladybugs ate  all the yellow aphids – none are left now.  But the red bugs continually prospered and morphed. First they acquired stronger black dots.

Next two pale colored long, queen bee like variations appeared.

Now there are very regular looking box elder bugs among them. 

All the time they were very conspicuously atop milk weed seed pods and yet no one ate them. Now it’s cooler at night so they hang out under the pods at night for shelter and come up on top looking for sunlight by day.  I really wonder if they are all the same species?

I’ve since left the reds of Perrysburg and have driven south-east through sunset and the last red of the PA mountains.

I’m writing this in warm sunshine at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina where there are only green, storm sculpted low evergreen trees and shrubs among the wind swept sand dunes of the outer banks.