Summer company

Let’s catch up on the progress of the local weeds.  Here we have Common Burdock (Arctium minus) in bud on July 14 and in bloom a week later. Below that there is a big, sharp thistle. It’s either a Bull Thistle or a Pasture Thistle and either way it’s a terror. Next to it is a plant I think might be Heal-All, but I have misplaced my trusty Stan Tekiela guide and can’t tell for sure. I hope it’s Heal-All, because thistle and burdock season is just beginning, and I will have a great many prickly things to get out of the Cowboy’s curly fur.

All of these are a present for Loreen Niewenhuis, who came back to Antrim County for a little visit recently.  Wait, wait – I did not mean that the way it sounded.  Good grief.  These photos are of things I think she will be interested to see! 

Loreen is the intrepid walker who trekked all the way around Lake Michigan last year, and has been working on her book ever since.  We met for breakfast at Chris and Sonny’s, and then walked from the Eden Shores circle access along the beach to Barnes Park, returning in the nice dappled shade along the back road.  Miss Sadie and the Cowboy came along for the walk part, and are tickled that they appeared on Loreen’s Lake Trek blog post about it this week.

I could tell you we discussed writing and knotty environmental issues, but the truth is we were engrossed in the burdock and thistles and odd things like the mushroom that was growing out of a tree across the road from the Writing Studio and Bait Shop. 

The oddities and question marks below are treats for the rest of you. OK, the nice lump of rock is specially for Mrs. Uhdd. I’m pretty sure it’s granite with a lovely seam of quartz running through it. Next to it is a large dead bee.  It was dead when I found it, which is the only reason I managed to capture it in such detail. Even though it doesn’t seem so, the rock is somewhat larger.

Then there is lovely Queen Anne, dressed in her lace, right next to something that is just plain odd. These little rosy growths were on the willow leaves down on the beach the other day. Any advice as to what they might be is very welcome. And that’s the update on what’s making my allergies kick up this week. But it’s all good, and it’s nice to have a real summer after last year’s Great Disappointment.

Loreen is a much more disciplined person, and wrote three different Lake Trek posts about her Return to Antrim:

• Lake Trek: Ellsworth Shale (in which Miss Sadie, the Cowboy and I appear)
• Lake Trek: Treacherous Manitou Passage (in which Loreen discovers a buried shipwreck)
• Lake Trek: Torch Lake/Lake Michigan (in which Loreen’s friend Ann appears, along with more rock and shale)