Nature Nerd @spookysoyboy - Tumblr Blog

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Some of my finds from a hike a few weeks ago. This was as the last of the spring ephemerals were blooming, right before the canopy leafed out.

Middle right

Viola eriocarpa (Smooth Yellow Violet)

Bottom left

Viola sororia (Common Blue Violet - Most likely)

Bottom right

Enemion biternatum (False Rue Anemone)

#nature #naturecore #forest #forestcore #nature walk #cottagecore #springtime #spring flowers #spring ephemerals #plantblr #ozark mountains

rebeccathenaturalist

I miss storms.

Growing up in the Midwest, I was scared of them. Tornado drills in school from a young age brought home the fact that one of these destructive maelstroms could come through and wipe an entire town off the map in minutes. Twister came out when I was in high school, fueling both fascination and fear when we watched it in a science class so we could pick apart the fact and fiction. And I was terrified of getting caught out in one if I had walked too far from home, and up from the southwest came dark clouds, wind, and a growl of thunder in the distance. Yet I also felt security as the winds blew around the house, tucked into my bed in the dark; so long as a tornado didn't snake down from the sky, I could rest amid the thunder and lightning, watching the trees blown back and forth by the wind.

But when I moved to the Pacific Northwest in 2006, I found after a few years that I began to miss them. It wasn't just that their relative infrequency had defanged them. Rather, I found that the part of me that curled up while the wind howled and the sky rumbled missed the feeling of safety amid the chaos. Sure, there was always the chance that factors would align to bring a powerful spiraling juggernaut racing across the land, but the vast majority of the time things passed without incident, other than perhaps a few small branches and leaves washed into the storm drain by a sudden torrent.

The few true thunderstorms that raged when I lived in Portland, and then on the coast, became special occasions. Unless I was absolutely uninterruptible, I would stop whatever I was doing, turn off the lights if it was dark, and bear silent witness to the passing of the flashes of light and their resultant chorus. Sometimes there would be no more than one or two distant disturbances to the south or the north; other times we would get a few minutes that almost--but not quite--felt like being back in the Ozarks on a muggy summer evening. These times became so special to me that if my partner were awake later than I was as was often the case, and a storm rolled in, he would gently wake me and sit with me while we enjoyed the show together, before I drifted back to sleep.

So now that I come back here a couple of times a year, I always hope that there will be a storm or two. And as I write this, the southern edge of a storm brushes past Rolla, following I-44 toward St. Louis. It's not an especially wild beast here; the leaves barely move, the rain drops sluggishly, and the thunder only occasionally speaks a ways away. But I am curled up in my old bedroom, blinds open to watch the lightning flash, listening to spatters against the windows.

spookysoyboy

This is beautiful. I know if I ever move I will miss the storms dearly as well. I too was terrified of them as a kid, because I had seen massive branches fall too close for comfort to our house, and trees I played under uprooted or snapped like matchsticks. But now, I find a wild, relentless beauty in their power, and comfort in a safe home to watch them from.

I work from home today, and I woke up to the muttering thunder and soft rain. I couldn’t help but step out onto my covered porch to watch the rain fall on my roof, feel the damp breeze on my face, and hear the thunder a little closer. Then I put on my coziest clothes, made a cup of hot tea, and sat down to work with my cat snuggling me. I love the sunshine, but these are my favorite days.

#storms #thunder #lightning #thunderstorms #rain #nature #arkansas #ozark mountains

#nature #forest #forestcore #nature walk #decay #abandoned #truck #old car

Cronus florida

Flowering dogwood

#nature #naturecore #forest #forestcore #nature walk #springtime #spring #spring flowers

Oxalis violacea

Violet Wood-sorrel

#nature #naturecore #forest #forestcore #nature walk #springtime #spring #wildflowers #ozark mountains #ozarks

Recent finds of morel mushrooms (morchella americana), a deer skull, and delicate new maple leaves

#nature #naturecore #forest #forestcore #nature walk #springtime #bones #spring

minmos

i have a disgusting amount of dreams that just involve me identifying birds like i come out of my dreams with lists of birds that i saw and i was like "i know who that is. Great Blue Heron. Cedar Waxwing"

minmos

spookysoyboy

Omg I’m not the only one!! Mine are usually birds that I’ve never seen before and that don’t actually exist. But I love it because I dream about one of my favorite moments in bird watching, the joy of finding an incredible species I’ve never encountered before.

#birdwatching #birds #dreams

The bizarre and beautiful forms of unfurling hickory leaves

#they remind me of fossilized crinoids #or maybe weird hands #hickory trees #spring #forest #forestcore #nature #naturecore #woods #nature walk

Daffodils found growing wild in a hollow near me

#daffodils #spring flowers #woods #nature #naturecore #forest #forestcore

Top: Cardamine concatenata (Cutleaf Toothwort)

Left: Glechoma hederacea (Ground Ivy)

Right: Corydalis flavula (Yellow Corydalis)

Plants I saw on a forest walk a couple weeks ago! I had Cutleaf Toothwort and Ground Ivy leaves in my salad. The Toothwort was milder than spinach, and the Ground Ivy had a complex herbal taste, like if sage, oregano, and mint had a baby.

I’m an amateur, so remember always do your own research and confirm your ids thoroughly before eating anything you gather from outside! Stay safe and show nature some love 💚

#nature #foraging #plants #springtime #forest #ozark mountains