Busy Days in Chi-Town

After picking up my newly painted Winnie from Mike's Custom Painting at the beginning of June, I headed back to Chicago for my annual oasis on the prairie at Paul Wolff Campground at Burnidge Forest Preserve in Elgin.  The big summer skies did not disappoint!

Sonoran Serenity

By the beginning of February, I'd been parked at elevation 4,500 feet in central New Mexico for 4 months.  As much as I loved the people and Refuge at Bosque del Apache, I was itching to replace the Chihuahuan Desert's brown with some greener surroundings, do a little boondocking, and get back to "T-shirt and short-pants weather" (as Tioga George used to call it).  Southern Arizona's Sonoran desert was just the remedy!

Feathers, Foliage, Pies & Skies

That about sums up my first month here at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in central New Mexico.  When I arrived in late September, the sunflowers were still in bloom as daytime highs still hovered around 90 degrees.  One month later, Autumn is now in full swing as we begin to welcome back our famous winter residents.

Back to Bosque via Great Sand Dunes

I decided to spend my last night and morning in Colorado at a place I’ve wanted to see for a long time but had never managed to get to—Great Sand Dunes National Park near Alamosa.  As I descended down from Poncha Springs into the vast San Luis Valley, the storm clouds started building.

Lazy Days of Summer

It’s been 3 weeks since I returned to my little rolling home on the prairie.  The gentle rhythmic hum of crickets and cicadas have replaced the harsh, sudden screeches of the Ring-necked Pheasants.  Life on the northern Illinois prairie in late July and August is more calm and laid back than the hectic start of the season in May.

In between my weekly radiation treatments, I’ve been staying at my 2 favorite forest preserve campgrounds (Burnidge and Big Rock on the outskirts of Chicago). No better place to heal and get reacquainted with the nature I have so missed these last few months.

Inspired & Invigorated at Starved Rock

After my hectic first week back in Illinois in early May (which culminated in a insurance fiasco that postponed my cancer surgery until June), I now had 3 extra weeks on my hands.  While I still had plenty of “Pre-Op” errands to-do and lots of local friends to visit, I decided that I first and foremost needed a few days of alone time to be still, fully process my new reality of living with cancer, and to get my internal batteries fully charged and ready for the battles ahead.

Every time I return to the Midwest from a winter spent in the desert southwest, I desperately crave what the desert lacks—water, and the color green!  A few years ago, the Springtime Ozarks of southern Missouri recharged and refreshed me.  But with time so short this year, I had to look for a nearby retreat.  Starved Rock State Park, just 100 miles southwest of Chicago on the Illinois river, would do the trick!

Canyon hikes, waterfalls, lush green forests, and this quote by noted naturalist John Burroughs were sure to inspire:

I go to nature to be soothed and healed,

and to have my senses put in order.

Snorkeling With Sea Lions!

Some days, I struggle to come up with adventures that are blog-worthy…but this day was certainly not one of them!  Hans and Ursula had been reading the online forum of La Paz Gringos that had glowing reviews of the Espiritu y Baja Private Tour group and their day trip offering to Isla Espiritu Santo just off the northern coast of La Paz.  After friends Wendy and Bobby graciously offered to dog-sit Millie, and finding a few calm, sunny days in the forecast on WindFinder.com, we booked our all-day tour for the coming Saturday.

I was not too sure about the “swimming with sea lions” part of the tour.  I didn’t have my own wetsuit or snorkel gear, and rental equipment didn’t sound very appealing.  But, when we arrived to the Espiritu y Baja office along the La Paz malecon, all our worries immediately began fading away.

Is This Still Illinois?

I’ve been visiting some great nature preserves around the Chicago area recently in preparation for my first Master Naturalist presentation next week at an area library.  I’ve been to most of them before, but one last weekend, was a first-time visit for me, and I must say…I was blown away!

When one thinks of Illinois natural landscapes, you likely think of something like this entrance to the Green River Wildlife area (surrounded by corn and soybean farm fields):

Flat as a pancake…. boring…. get me out of this visually-depressing state!!!

Maybe if you’re lucky, you’ll find a patch of tallgrass prairie…

or a grove of bur oaks, a little creek, or even a sandy dune along Lake Michigan’s shores.  

One thing you would NOT expect to find this far south of Canada is a boreal bog surrounded by tamarack trees.  Yet, we’ve got one right here in northern Illinois-- Volo Bog!

Yes, this is in Illinois!

Finding My “Way” in the Dark

Ever since getting a bit of “dumb luck” in shooting this photo a few winters ago at Joshua Tree National Park, I’ve been fascinated by night photography, particularly night landscapes.

Last year, I discovered the Into The Night group on Flickr (as well as its excellent companion blog by Royce Bair) which provided a never-ending source of inspiration and knowledge.  But it seemed every time I tried to plan a nighttime photo shoot, I was stymied by one thing or another—wrong camera, wrong lens, wrong exposure settings, wrong time of year, wrong moon phase, or wrong weather.  With each failed attempt, though, I learned a tiny bit more than I had known before, so “progress” none the less.

This year, I set a goal for myself to finally capture photos of the Milky Way.  It’s taken months of planning and waiting for just the right conditions, but finally (FINALLY!) two nights ago, I did it!

Cold, Cloudy & GREEN!

It’s been unseasonably cold here in Chicago this week.  So cold that a few big, fat snowflakes got mixed in with the rain today!  But, fear not.  Spring has sprung, and the April showers continuing into May have delivered some exceptional green all around. 

There’s no better way to capture vibrant Spring greens than on cloudy, wet days, so I’ve been making the most of them!

Yesterday, I attended an all-day seminar at the Morton Arboretum (part of my Master Naturalist continuing education), and took a few, quick “drive-by” photos around the park before heading to class. 

The redbuds were in full bloom, and I even found a few Virginia bluebells too!

Feeling inspired, today I decided to head out to my favorite nearby nature oasis today, Bluff Spring Fen, to see how Spring was progressing.  As I expected, the cold and rain kept other visitors away and I had the whole Fen to myself!

The plants are most definitely a few weeks behind schedule this year, but overall the Fen is greening up nicely.  The Mayapples are lush and growing…

The Lilies of the Valley were abundant beneath the giant Bur Oak trees.

The Fen is also starting to show a few wildflowers.  Love these shooting stars!

and these marsh marigolds..

Thankfully, the rain paused just long enough to keep my camera dry while snapping these photos! 

I don’t know how this little bitty 95-acre Fen manages to do it, but every time I visit this place I leave feeling rejuvenated and energized. 

I didn’t realize how much I had been missing my nature walks these past six weeks until today.  So, I vow to make time at least once or twice a week for a hike-- no matter what the weather is like (or how many house tasks I still have left to do!).

Have you been out for a hike lately?  Where to?

 

 

Check out 300 of our most-favorite things!

M = Mesmerized by the Moon… and Snow!

We’re interrupting our previously scheduled travel stories program with some late-breaking news of the past 24 hours here in Chicago!  Our warming Spring temperatures took a plunge into the Arctic abyss yesterday when daytime highs barely got above 40-degrees F.  

By afternoon, the freezing drizzle turned into lots of white wet blobs falling from the sky.  Millie and I were mesmerized….what exactly was this stuff?  We’d not seen it at all this past Winter in Mexico!

By late afternoon, the blobby stuff had nearly covered the backyard in white, leaving only the tippy top of each blade of grass visible.

The skies had been gray all day, so I doubted the night’s lunar eclipse would be worth staying up for.  We just weren’t going to see it with all these clouds in the sky!

I’m a “night owl” and lost all track of time last night as I worked away on a computer project.  By the time my yawns made me shut down my laptop, it was 1:30am.  I went to let Millie out and happened to look up into the sky.  Instead of clouds, I saw the Moon beginning its Total Lunar Eclipse!

I’m not sure if that sight did it (or the “brisky” nighttime air only in the mid-20’s), but I was almost instantly re-energized and now madly scrambling to find my binoculars, camera, tripod, shoes, socks, and winter coat!

For the next hour and a half, I alternated between the frigid backyard and my warm living room, uttering all kinds of “ooos” and “ahhs” as I watched this amazing “Blood Moon” show.  My surrounding subdivision neighbors appeared to all be obliviously sleeping right through it (or else they saw it was “just that crazy lady again” out in her backyard in the middle of the night “howling at the moon” and went back to bed)!

The reddish color is a result of the Moon traveling perfectly behind the middle of the Earth while the Earth itself is eclipsing the Sun.  When the Earth blocks the Sun, the Earth’s atmosphere begins glowing bright orange from the Sun’s “backlighting.”.  It’s this deep orange “Blood” color that we see during a Total Lunar Eclipse.  (I found this excellent web page with great pictures and explanations that helped it all make better sense to me.  Give it a look!)  

The other bright object next to the Moon last night was the blue star, Spica, the largest star of the Virgo constellation.

If you missed last night’s show in your area, fear not!  It’s set for a repeat performance on October 8th, 2014, and again a couple times in 2015.  After that, we won’t see any more Blood Moons until 2032!

Finally, I am happy to report that as of noontime today,  the snow still visible on the Winnie and on my patio table this morning has now melted.  We now resume our regularly-scheduled Springtime programming!

 

 

Nature Weekend

To complete my Illinois Master Naturalist internship, I need to log 60 hours of volunteer service at a local park/preserve.  Doing some online searches revealed a wide range of options around the Chicagoland area.  The most-interesting ones were either already filled for the season, or required a year-long commitment.  No way am I staying in Chicago this winter!!!

So that left the most-common option for “drop-in” service – volunteer “workdays.”  I found 2 nearby parks offering workdays twice a month, so if I stick with these, I should hopefully have my 60 hours completed by this Fall.

I logged my first workday on Saturday at Poplar Creek Prairie in Hoffman Estates, IL  What a great experience!  I had not visited this forest preserve since I was a kid (during a huge Scout Jamboree weekend where thousands of scouts pitched tents and trompted all over).  Didn’t ever think there was much to see at this park, but this volunteer group began restoring the prairie in 1989 and has now transformed it back to quite a vibrant, natural place!

There were two other “newbies” volunteering with me, so one of the stewards, Steve, took us under his wing and gave us a great oral history of the park and the group’s work there.  For the first half of the morning, we went to the more established prairie in the Carl Hansen Woods section to collect porcupine grass seeds into large ziploc bags.

Porcupine grass is the thin yellow/brown stemmed grass with the long white/dark gray “whiskers.” 

I’ve not had a baggie full of grass since the ‘70’s!!!  But seriously, the seed stems really do look and feel like porcupine quills when there bunched together.  The moist paper towel keeps the seeds from drying out and curling up.

Halfway through our morning, the stewards gathered us together for a break complete with cookies and cold water (I’m gonna really like this group!).  We then split into two teams—the first stayed to replant their collected seeds in other areas of the main prairie, while our team drove down to a newer section of the park, the Schaumburg Road Grasslands, to plant our seeds down there.

 

It was interesting to observe the differences in plant diversity and insect wildlife between the main prairie (with 20+ years of restoration), and the grasslands site (where restoration efforts have only been underway since 2009).  Very rewarding to see what your restoration work might actually look like one day!

On Sunday morning, I headed out to do some photography at my old favorite (Bluff Spring Fen, in Elgin, IL).  Remember back in early March when I was out here to photograph one of the last snows of winter?  Well, a lot has changed at the Fen since then!  Here are a few comparison shots!

The main entrance stone

the banks of Bluff Spring are now nearly covered!

The hilltop of Burr Oak trees looks a bit different as well!

On this first weekend of Summer, the Fen was alive with waist-high plants, vibrant wildflower displays, singing birds, and interesting insects.

Foxglove Beard Tongue and Daisies were in full bloom--

and the purple coneflowers were simply magnificent!

Got a couple bird photos too--

A really pretty Baltimore Oriole

and the ever-squawking Red-Winged Blackbird!

While plenty of area forest preserves have birds, few have the diversity of butterflies, dragonflies, and insects that Bluff Spring Fen has.

This little lady was enjoying her milkweed plant (monarch butterflies were around, but too fast for me to photograph!):

 

While the butterflies were a bit too elusive for me to photograph, 3 different kinds of dragonflies sat and posed quite nicely for me!

 

a Black Saddlebags dragonfly

The cool-looking Calico Pennant

and this female Widow Skimmer who seemed to be saying “you lookin’ at me?”!!!

I’ll start volunteering at the Fen workdays in July.  Can’t wait to learn more about this little 100 acres of jam-packed biodiversity!