Suzanne's Mom's Blog

It’s a hot July, but we’ve had a good breeze and I’ve been able to take walks and shoot photos regularly by heading out early. So walk this way.

Black-eyed Susans come up every year where they will no matter what else is going on in the world. Blackberries ripen and Pat gathers them so Sandra can make jam on the dark winter days ahead. I took a picture of Sandra’s mother’s lovingly tended oleander plants. They don’t normally live up North, but Sandra pounces as soon as she sees an aphid and that’s why they are still healthy.

The rust-painted “Recycling” sculpture at the New Shoreham transfer station (former dump) is by Peruko Ccopacatty and shows the possibilities of reclaiming history.

Speaking of history, I think we need to enjoy old-time movie theaters now, while they last.

Outside the Spring Street Gallery, I added a grape vine to this “community fiber tree.” I am also planning to thread and hang a feather and a couple shells with holes if I can interest a grandchild in helping.

Inside the gallery, there’s a large ceramic version of a skate’s egg case. Next Nature herself appears, in the form of a blue claw crab who was about to release thousands of eggs into the salt pond. Blue claws are moving north, which is nice if you love to see them, not so nice if you realize it’s because of a warming climate. The little girl at the Nature Conservancy seining-net demonstration was entranced with a green crab, too.

Painted rocks of various sizes are next, followed by precarious ones threatening to fall from the ever changing bluffs. All islands have messages about about the precarious — what Nature makes precarious, what humans do.