October 2021 Texas, Gentian at Hemlock Crossing, Ludington State Park, Grand Haven Pier

 We have had a beautiful and warm autumn this year.  Today is November 11 2021 and the trees are still so bright and golden.

This is our driveway, no sun but still warm and glowing gold.

I took my third trip to Texas for the year, this time I went to just play with our youngest grandkids, ages 6, 4, and 2 years.  We played lots of hide and seek at their new house, went in the pool, visited a nature preserve, and a pumpkin patch!  Grandkids amaze me!  What interesting and curious people they are. Each one has their own uniqueness, they are curious and have their own ideas in those adorable little heads. 

 

I really do love being up in the clouds!

After Texas, my sister from Minnesota visited Michigan.  We took her to Hemlock Crossing Park and Nature Center.  This is the park I have been watching some beautiful Closed Gentian, and we checked on those gentian and they were still blooming!  Mid October.

Hemlock Crossing 

We went into the nature center here at Hemlock Crossing and talked with Kristen Hintz, she has so much good information, it was fun seeing her again.  She works for Ottawa County Parks. 

Four sisters go for a walk!  We went together to Ludington State Park, we walked  Lost Lake/ Island  Trail.  It was a wonderful walk and so nice the four of us could be together on a perfect day.

In Grand Haven we went all the way out on the south pier on a very calm day.

That is it for this post.  I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for stopping by.

Bass River Recreation Area

September 9, 2019
I took myself for a walk at Bass River Recreation Area to check on the beautiful Bottle Gentian and I found them blooming. 

 

 



And the white variety...

I also found the Nodding Ladies Tresses blooming along with some other pretty flowers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mid September 2018 - Beauties of the Meadow, Gentians and Ladies' Tresses and more!

September 07  Port Sheldon Natural Area  Ottawa County

Port Sheldon Natural Area has 440 acres including gently rolling terrain, swampy woods, several ponds and Ten Hagen Creek, and wildflowers.

   Virginia Meadow Beauty
This was the main reason I took a walk here in September, to see the beauties of the meadow!  There were hundreds of these plants in various stages of bloom.  I had the whole park to myself, never saw another person.

The Meadow Beauty ring this pond with hundreds of plants.

No blue sky on that day, but the plants were very impressive.

September 10  Black Lake Park   Norton Shores  Muskegon County

Black Lake Park is a 58 acre parcel, located near the southern boundary of Norton Shores, between Wood Road and the eastern shoreline of Little Black Lake. The park provides passive recreation opportunities for nature lovers with a number of bird, animal and plant species to observe.

 Little Black Lake

 First time I have come across a Stinkhorn, and no I didn't give it a sniff.

Bass River Recreation Area - Ottawa County, Michigan - September 11, 2018

 Bass is high on my list of favorite places to explore in Ottawa County.

Bass River Recreation Area, a 1,665-acre site in central Ottawa County, consists of open meadows, open brush land, mature hardwoods, small ponds and 300-acre Max Lake. It has approximately three miles of frontage on the Grand River. The park is used primarily for boating, hiking, mountain biking and horse back riding, as well as hunting.

         Bottle Gentian   
     I think it should be named Stunningly Beautiful Gentian!

    Here at Bass we also find the white variety of the Stunningly Beautiful Gentian

Also in this awesome place we see orchids!  Nodding Ladies' Tresses

We saw a Monarch chrysalis, caterpillar, and adult butterfly.

We even saw two Monarch cocoons on one plant, and nearby two caterpillars on one plant.  I tried to capture it in a photo, it isn't very clear so I circled each in red.  Caterpillars on the left, cocoons on the right.  There were aphids covering the plant stems.

 Mike and I have been keeping up our evening walks, usually at Connor Bayou, occasionally we head to Hofma Park and Preserve.  September 15 we walked at Hofma Preserve, again, no blue sky but some of the trees were showing just a bit of color. 

Next time I will finish up the month of September, and soon we should be seeing the fall colors!  Thanks for stopping by.