Australia - bushwalking

Bushwalking = Hiking. Good to be out in the dun coloured wild with the eucalyptus again!

Wild Mulberry tree

We found this mulberry tree growing wild on one of our walks today, and paused to pick what we could reach. Mr 5 is always game to try something else. It is only the beginning of the season, so hopefully we can drop back around to eat the unripe ones.

Leaves at night

Cicadas - batch X

Periodical cicadas come out every 13 or 17 years. And the scientific community that is interested in this sort of thing has labelled the batches. This year they were expecting Batch VI in Virginia but they were surprised to see Batch X emerging as well, four years early. We only saw about 6 all up, so I presume the rest will come out on time.
The conjecture is that it is about a warmer earth temperature, making the nymphs grow faster to their adult size. Whether any manage to mate and lay more eggs (or if they all got eaten) is apparently going to be answered in about 17 years.

Some of my favourite trees

All green with their spring growth!

Double Cherry blossoms

The double cherry blossoms are out!

And we have an awesome camera.

Yellow flowers

I have no previous memories of seeing these trees come up with yellow flowers! They're beautiful, and might account for the yellow pollen that blows about this time of year.

Cherry Tree

Peak bloom for the cherry tree by the playground!

Cherry Blossoms in DC

We made an effort and went and saw the cherry blossoms in DC anyway, and they were beautiful. Obviously not a huge mass bloom, but enough little pockets that we could get some blossoms. There were obviously some trees that were done, and other trees (like the grove we found) that had bloomed ok.
Kids thought the best thing about the afternoon was getting the ice cream. Sigh.

Cherry Blossoms

The cherry blossoms were roaring towards a record early bloom, and along came an icestorm, effectively, coating everything in a layer of ice. The day we were going to go admire the blooms, it was 32F maximum and windy (and bitterly cold). About 50% of what was out was destoryed. So the cherry blossoms in DC were smaller this year, to say the least. You have to feel for the people who made the trip of a lifetime to see them. However, a bit further east, our cherry blossoms were lagging, and have just started coming out, and they are not affected by frost, and are beautiful to see! The disadvantage is there isn't a mass bloom to admire like there usually is in Washington. Maybe next year!

Daffodils!

I must admit, in January, when it is cold, and you're always having to bundle up to go outside, and the sun just seems weak, I long for the daffodils. I've never particularly liked them as a flower, but as a sign of warmer times, they're very welcome. Waiting for the tulips now!

Plum blossums

Love the blossom season! I had forgotten about these, but we had a tree at one of our places when I was a child.

Sticky snow

We got a light dusting of sticky snow overnight. Very hard to clean off your car, but beautiful for the landscape. All gone by 10am.

Proper snow

Our second lot of snow was better - about 3 inches, on a Saturday, so everyone (dads included) could enjoy it.

The kids sledded down the path out the back

And in the evening we went for a walk (the boys took their shovels). There were the most beautiful sunset colours I have seen for a while.

First snow!

A light dusting fell overnight. Not really lots, just enough to make the place look cute for a bit.

Squirrel facts of life

I finally understand why squirrels are so nervous.

There is no photo with this one. I saw a big bird of prey in the garden next door. I was quite interested, we hadn't seen one that close before. I called the boys to have a look. Mr 4 decides to go for a walk off the porch towards the bird to see it closer. The bird takes off, and the entire family gets a front seat view of the squirrel carcass the bird is holding in its talons as it flies away. Luckily, Mr 4 turns around with expression of complete amazement and says "it had a squirrel mum!" (instead of losing it over the poor squirrel...).

Freezing Rain

Freezing rain overnight, resulting in a small build up of ice until the temperatures rose above 35F (about 9am). This marks the end of the cold snap in the Eastern states, but Winter is definitely arrived.

National Parks Passport

The US National Parks Service has provided our family with innumerable adventures, activities, pit stops and learning experiences during our time here. They truly do a fantastic job preserving natural areas (e.g. Shenandoah, Catoctin, Cape Cod), historical sites (forts, monuments, battle sites, buildings) and culture (e.g. Jazz in New Orleans, American Impressionists at Weir Farm), and we are at the point where we (hubby) tends to plan trips around National Parks he'd like to visit, or at least check out the National Parks on the way to, or at, the locations we're visiting (and he would say it always works out!). One part of the fun is to satisfy the inner nerd by purchasing a National Parks Passport and collecting dated cancellation stamps from the sites one visits. Hubby's book is getting quite full. Some parks will have one stamp. Other parks will have different stamps for different locations within the park. We hope it will be a nice way of remembering where we have been.

Squirrel Nests

I believe the bundle of leaves in the centre of this photo is a squirrel nest - a drey. It will be lined with finer things like moss and pineneedles. They're used to keep warm and to presumably have babies (in June, apparently in January it is preferable to have a hollow in a tree). Lots are becoming obvious now the leaves are falling.

The end of the leaves

A bit of wind went through, and we're officially obviously past peak foliage...