Tuesday, July 19, 2016

A Month's Worth of Rides

This year seems like a runaway train with no emergency brakes.  The months have flown by like blurry images, just glimpsed through the windows, then gone. Where are March and April? May and June ... whoosh! And here we are, past the middle of July, with autumn (seemingly) right around the corner.*

This is one reason I take my camera on rides. Perhaps it would be better to live purely in the moment, but sometimes life is so fraught, or the moments so packed, that we have trouble remembering the good ones. A camera lets us capture some of those good moments - bits of beauty, things that give us joy - so we can enjoy them again later. And it lets us share them with others.

I haven't blogged any cycling photos for over a month, but I have been riding. Here are some of the things I've seen....

June Evening Ride


Wildflowers from left, top row: Common Milkweed; Yellow Sweet Clover (with bike wheel); wild Gaillardia; White Campion. Lower row: seldom-seen white Hairy Vetch (usually it's purple); Early Meadow Rue.

Late June Ride


Wildflowers from left, top row: Wild Parsnip and Fleabane; wild alfalfa blossom. Lower row: the first Field Thistle (with Yellow Sweet Clover in the background).

Early July Sunday Ride


Wildflowers from left (top row): Crown Vetch; Dog-fennel (Anthemis cotula); more Crown Vetch. The lower-left photo shows a cluster of butterflies on the ground - I couldn't figure out what they were doing, but at times there was a solid circle of them there.

This Week's Sunday Ride


Wildflowers from left, top row: Clasping Milkweed, Rudbeckia, Fireweed. Second row: Hedge-parsley; Swamp Milkweed; Turk's Cap Lily.


A lonely horse (above left) watched me take a picture of all its friends in the pasture across the road (lower center).


And I found three new barn quilts for my photo collection. :)

*I always get a little pre-autumn gloom about this time of year. Maybe it's because "August" looks so much like "Autumn". I need to stop looking at the calendar....

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How's your summer going? Like a runaway train, or a sedate excursion?

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12 comments:

  1. Always enjoy your wildflower posts and yes, the month are zipping by. As the weather here is hot and humid I think Autumn sounds awesome.

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  2. Wonderful bike rides, Sue and so many beautiful things in nature to capture. I love that big blue sky and the clover in the early July Sunday ride and the lovely horses and cows and especially those barns with their barn quilt decorations - maybe inspiring some future crochet patterns?

    Yes, stop looking at the calendar and live each day for the gift that it is! I love autumn, the cooler temperatures are a gift to me!

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  3. Gorgeous pictures from your ride. I'm happy that we have the ability to take so many photos now. Days for me are just flying by way way way too fast.

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  4. Beautiful pictures! My summer is flying by quickly. Too quickly it seems.
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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  5. Runaway train, going down a very steep hill with something heavy pushing it to go faster! That could be an exaggeration, but it isn't!! I don't know what is happening, but I am glad that it isn't just me. Let us hope that August and the autumn go much slower for us both!

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  6. I love your photos of your rides. You are blessed to live in such a lovely spot of the world. I always look forward to your posts. Wishing you a lovely day sweet friend. :)

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  7. Yes, a runaway train is a very apt analogy.

    I do enjoy your wildflower pictures, some of which we don't seem to have here. Enjoy the rest of July.

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  8. I am in the middle of Summer gloom as it is so hot here I feel like I am melting. Love your rides Sue.
    Meredith

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  9. Most definitely a runaway train......I can't remember the last time life felt like a sedate excursion (I quite fancy trying it for a while though).
    I love seeing your cycle photos, your landscape and even the mix of flowers is so different from here. Virtually none of those flowers grow here.
    I wonder if the butterflies were sipping minerals and salt from a drying patch of mud? I think they do that sometimes? Juliex

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  10. Beautiful photos! Wonderful views of the countryside.
    I so envy you and your bike rides. In the UK I cycled everywhere practically. I so miss my bike! You risk your life cycling in the city here they are still not very bike friendly! We are in the hottest part of the year now and it'll stretch into the beginning of September.

    keep well

    Amanda xx

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  11. Hey Sue, love your photos! This summer is so doggone HOT I can't even think straight, so finding it hard to write anything and when I do, the writing is strange and disjointed.
    Take care! xx

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  12. You get such awesome shots on your rides! I'm going to have to start following your lead and taking time to shoot the wildflowers. They'll be mostly gone in just a month, and I'll have mostly missed them all!!!

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