muskrat house
nuthatch into the tree
cedar lake park
snow in cedar lake park
skiers, snowshoers, and anyone who likes the deep whiteness of a fresh snowfall will be delighted over the next few days when upwards of 20″ of fresh snow will fall onto the land and water of cedar lake park.
Solstice
The sun will be rising at its southernmost point of the year solstice morning Dec 21. Its path is marked in alignment with the center of the double-spiraled Cedar Grove. This is the Heart of the Park. Here there is a henge, where the cardinal directions and the sunrise and sunset of the solstices are marked.
Celebrate the Return of the Light.
prairie flowers
Prairie Update: The gorgeous Orange Butterfly weed is still in bloom, but is just about to go to seed. Other bloomers are Prairie coneflowers (black cone with yellow droopy leaves), Black-eyed Susans (yellow), Monarda or Bee balm or Wild bergamot (lavender pincushion-like flowers), Tufted fleabane (smail white flowers with a yellow center), and Hoary vervain or verbana (purple spike-like flowers).
One of my favorites is a native-species flower that CLPA volunteers have planted over the years: Lead plant. It has small, delicate oval leaves and a spike-like mass of deep-purple flowers along the uper two to seven inches of the plant.
As always, please enjoy them, but leave them in peace for others to enjoy too!