Welcome to my World

Welcome to the domain different--to paraphrase from New Mexico's capital city of Santa Fe which bills itself "The City Different." Perhaps this space is not completely unique but my world shapes what I write as well as many other facets of my life. The four Ds figure prominently but there are many other things as well. Here you will learn what makes me tick, what thrills and inspires me, experiences that impact my life and many other antidotes, vignettes and journal notes that set the paradigm for Dierdre O'Dare and her alter ego Gwynn Morgan and the fiction and poetry they write. I sell nothing here--just share with friends and others who may wander in. There will be pictures, poems, observations, rants on occasion and sometimes even jokes. Welcome to our world!

Friday, October 11, 2013

Sneeze weeds redux


We had a very windy day yesterday but I did get out and walk with Ginger before it got really gale-force. And I took some pictures! As I mentioned the other day most of our fall flowers are yellow-gold. The ubiquitous "sneeze weeds" certainly are. Here are two shots of the local variety. Different from the common sun flowers, ox-eye daisies, Gerbera daisies etc, they are all yellow, including the center. I looked them up in my weed book and they are called Nodding Beggarticks, apparently in part because of the odd seeds, quite different from those of the sun flowers that most of us have munched. But they are in the same family. The sun flower family is one of the largest featured in my big western weed book!

Once I got to looking though, I saw there were some white and red, magenta or dark pink ones as well. I wasn't able to identify them all yet. I 'll probably have to have a sample in hand and really compare closely to the information in the book in order to do so.

I do like to identify things because it makes them feel like friends instead of some exotic specimen or something insignificant seen in passing. For the same reason, I have learned the names of most of the late spring to mid fall constellations and their principle stars, and try to identify most of the birds and beasties I see, too.

Lastly, there were late day clouds as the trailing end of the storm that brought snow to the high country west and north of us, near the Colorado line, blew past us dry but made the day's end interesting. Although not quite as spectacular as the beam a friend of mine, Sue-Ellen Welfonder, featured on her blog Tartan Ink a few weeks ago, here are my rays of light seen last evening. The clouds almost form a "domino mask" with the blue peeking through above the rays! And as a reminder, if you click on any picture in my blogs, they will all come up in another window, larger in size, and you can scroll through them!

3 comments:

  1. Wow, your sun rays picture is spectacular!! It beats mine a thousand times. I see more than sun rays. I see a great sky god, maybe an elemental, with his head face-down, looking at the ground, and his arms/wings wide-spread. Just magnificent!

    Also love the reason you research and identify the plants and flowers who greet your day, the stars that grace your desert night sky. Beautiful sentiment.

    I am going to post this link on Tartan Ink so everyone will know to look in here.

    Lovely post!

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  2. A little late getting in here but very interesting. You have so much to teach us. You are a joy in my life even if it is only through the internet.

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  3. I love pictures of the sun shining through clouds like this; just gorgeous.

    My husband is into identifying weeds, flowers, herbs - anything that may be beneficial for general health or of medicinal value. I can often find him out in the neighbor's fields or walking up and down the roadway. He's found some interesting things. He usually makes different teas. So far, they taste pretty good.

    And then there was the time, just recently, where we stopped on the highway and he picked the fruit off a cactus and informed me I was going to make jelly. I've never made jelly. Had no idea how to make jelly. But now I can say that I've made Prickly Pear Cactus Jelly!!

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