Summer in Colorado is glorious, but then every season is.
My favorite season here is typically the one I'm in,
My favorite season here is typically the one I'm in,
and right now summer is in full bloom, so favorite it is!
Aurora, Colorado USA
June 29, 2024
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue All Rights Reserved
I can't remember the last time I did that, probably just before we cruised the South Pacific.
What a difference eight months can make!
The last time I strolled along my beloved creek,
I was having trouble walking and seeing.
Now I'm back to my old self.
Well, I still have to build up my muscles again in the gym,
but I'm working on it.
Saturday was lovely with puffy clouds in a vibrant blue sky,
the deep blue sky that occurs at 6,000 feet in our arid climate.
June 29, 2024
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue All Rights Reserved
My only concern was that some of the cottonwood trees are getting really huge,
and they're lurking over the path, hulking with danger.
Some have fallen in recent years, and one fell over the path into the park last year.
Its jutting limbs have been trimmed back,
but its massive trunk lies half hidden in the grass as a warning.
June 29, 2024
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue All Rights Reserved
This cottonwood tree is one of my favorites, and it worries me the most.
Its enormous trunk leans toward the path,
and its weighty limbs hang above me as I scamper to safety.
It is easily as wide as it is tall.
I still can't resist a quick look inside the cavity marking the spot of a lost limb.
In the past it has housed birds or squirrels, but it is empty this year.
June 29, 2024
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue All Rights Reserved
June 29, 2024
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue All Rights Reserved
The trees following Piney Creek are plains cottonwoods (Populus deltoides monilifera),
a subspecies of the Eastern Cottonwood (Populus deltoides).
They are native to Colorado in elevations between 3,500 and 6,500 feet.
I missed cottonwood sex in the park this year.
The trees are dioecious, bearing male and female catkins on separate trees.
The reddish-purple male catkins release pollen into the wind
which carries it to the light green flowers of the female catkins.
This occurs before the cottonwood leaves open so the pollen can spread unhindered.
Showy Male Catkins
Along Piney Creek
April 30, 2022
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue All Rights Reserved
Opening Female Catkins
Along Piney Creek
April 30, 2022
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue All Rights Reserved
After pollination the female catkins develop small green capsules
that burst open and release cottony seeds far and wide.
A single female tree can disperse tens of millions of seeds,
a seed event that can look like snow flurries in the wind
and cause cottony drifts scattered on the ground.
Bursting Capsules
Along Piney Creek
June 29, 2024
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue All Rights Reserved
Cottonwood Seeds Waiting to Fly
Along Piney Creek
June 29, 2024
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Cottonwood Seeds Floating in the Air
Along Piney Creek
June 25, 2018
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Drifting Cottonwood Seeds
Along Piney Creek
June 25, 2018
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue All Rights Reserved
Over the years I have been watching the milkweed plants expand their territory.
This is a good thing, because milkweed a vital resource
for migrating monarch butterflies and many other insects.
Blossoming Milkweed
June 29, 2024
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue All Rights Reserved
I reached my turnaround point, the upper pond in our stretch of Piney Creek.
I've walked to this spot hundreds of times over the years, and I never tire of seeing it.
Serene Beauty
June 29, 2024
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As summer progresses all the lush greenery will age and brown.
The scenery is ever-changing, but remains captivating.
Flourishing Grasses
June 29, 2024
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Lush and Vibrant
June 29, 2024
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I'm so grateful that I can walk much better and see clearly again.
I will make the most of this new lease on life.
Almost Home, a Half Mile to Go
June 29, 2024
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I'm linking to Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date, Tom's Aloha Friday, Gillena's Lunch Break. and Nicole's Friday Face Off.
For Rain: Herbs ~
Roll'd, a Vietnamese restaurant in St. Leonards Forum Plaza,
serves great food like this soup.
Roll'd was a lifesaver when Terry and I had white pneumonia.
It's located in St. Leonards, a suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, Australia.
Food for the Soul
Roll'd, the Forum Plaza
November 6, 2023
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue All Rights Reserved
For Tom: Aloha ~ I just want you to know, Tom,
that your Aloha theme has me very homesick for Waikiki!
Beautiful Kūhiō Beach Park
Waikīkī, Honolulu, Hawai'i, USA
February 24, 2024
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue All Rights Reserved
For Gillena: Family ~ I don't have a beautiful granddaughter like you,
but I have many wonderful nieces and nephews.
This is my niece Natalie who has overcome more obstacles than anyone I know.
Here she is getting her doctorate! A veterinarian!
She proves that grit and determination can overcome anything!
Have a great weekend!
OOPS! If you read this and saw baby pictures from last week's post,
then you know I forgot to do my final edit,
and you know I write new posts by using the previous post as a template.
And I forgot a face for Nicole. I'm just going to let it go.
It was a lovely July 4th for Terry and me. What can I say?
Till next time ~
Fundy Blue
Standing Into Danger https://selkiegrey4.blogspot.com
Copyright ©2024 – All rights reserved.
My next post will be
Friday, July, 12th 🤞
On the Bay of Fundy
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All Rights Reserved
