I had plenty of company along the Effigy Mounds hiking trail, mostly creatures of a quiet nature.
A bashful peek-a-boo deer…..
A fritillary butterfly…..
Some sort of snail….
A napping snake…..
And, a friendly chipmunk who did noticeably announce his presence as he skittered and scurried through the underbrush…..
Recently, I treated myself to a birthday outing, so let’s take a break from the flower photos and wander down the wooded footpaths of Effigy Mounds National Monument, situated on a high bluff above the Mississippi River on the eastern edge of northeast Iowa.
The row of conical mounds leads to the top of the bluff and if you make it that far on the trail, you will be rewarded with a grand view of the mighty Mississippi. The photo is looking south.
This bizarrely flowering plant shows up on our farmstead every year, near the foundations of old sheds and in the yard around the house. Its name is Motherwort. (I finally looked up “wort” in the dictionary and it simply means “a herbaceous plant”.) A googling of “Motherwort” reveals that this plant has an illustrious medicinal history making me wonder if a midwife might have lived here on our farm in the old days.
A few days ago I blogged a pink one, but a wild rose by any other color is still a wild rose. 
These wild-growing Sweet William are blooming in the roadside ditch. They teeter precariously on rather spindly stems and must rely on more sturdy neighbors for support.
Yesterday I traipsed across one of our hayfields to a small prairie area to see what might be in bloom. The coneflowers and bee balm will flower later in the summer, but this feathery-leafed yarrow was beginning to show some tiny, tentative blossoms.
Another wildflower with an unattractive name (who in the world named these flowers?!), currently making its annual appearance along the roadside near our farm…..
Last year I planted a package of assorted flower seeds. These dianthus waited until this year to reveal themselves.
Wind-curled though it be, the lovely pink color remains….
A few weeks ago this spirea bush had a spring fling with the color red…..
Since then, it has settled into plain green garb for the summer.
There is a chance of severe storms in our area later this afternoon. Just think…..my house and all its cluttered contents could be snatched up by a tornado, whirled about and violently flung across the surrounding farm fields, but my blog would remain comfortably intact. If that isn’t a good reason to blog, then I don’t know what is!
For several days now I’ve been attempting to get a halfway decent photo of this Aquilegia Denver Gold Columbine.
The problem has been the wind. Though possessing surprisingly sturdy stems, these comet-like flowers continually danced and swayed, almost making me seasick as I tried to corral them in my camera’s viewfinder.
Speaking of words, it occurs to me that my blog could use a different name---for two reasons. First of all, at 53 it is most likely true that I’ve long since exited midlife, as surely the chance of living to 106 years of age is minimal to non-existent. Secondly, this blog doesn’t seem to be much about farm stuff anymore, although most of the flowers I take photos of are found on or near our farm. On that note, maybe “Life by Farmlight” would be a better fit, or “Life by Flowerlight”, though that particular title would limit my photo-taking to blooms and blossoms---applicable only as long as I remain in the mood for such. Decisions, decisions…..
An abundance of blooming flowers---including this blue bachelor button---has convinced me to blog on a Saturday.
A random patch of this wildflower is blooming in our lawn right now. The unattractive name, “Ragwort”, doesn’t seem to fit the cheerful look of the blossoms which are about an inch wide.
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