Late summer on the pond, Plainsboro, not Golden

This time of year is a mixture of late summer, with hot and humid weather, and early Fall, with sightings ranging from sumac getting its berries to wild asters breaking out, see below,and fall fungi starting up -- I don't pick these, since I'm not expert enough to be sure. I do know where morels are, but I honorably don't pick them either, since they're in a wilderness area.





Then there are colonies of mosses and lichens all over the place, typical in a region like this with a lot of humidity, warm nights, hot days, rain and mixed woodlands, conifers and all kinds of hardwoods and deciduous trees.



And a mystery plant, by the water, but this is not a loosestrife, that invader, I know those pretty well, but some other plant. Any insight gladly accepted on the identity of it.



Have you noticed how in the wild purple is a majority color? white and yellow, a bit of pink, but most often purples and mauves.

And the bridge over the Pond, which I wasn't happy about when they first built it, since it opened up the end of what had been a nice little island, perfect for letting your dog run safely. Except for my dog Kerry, the collie/terrier mix, who ran right off the end of it into the water one time and found herself learning to swim...the joke at work when I said, she's a wonderful dog, she blends the best of both breeds, was, yeah? you mean she herds rats? Bob H. was the author of this bon mot, so must take the blame for it.

But then the barnswallows found the bridge and adopted it as housing, so the nests they built under it, one of their favorite types of habitats, produced generations of barnswallows who kept the mosquito population down dramatically.

So I present it to you. All these pictures were taken in a half hour walk beside Plainsboro Pond today while HS was visiting HP.



Giverny? who needs Giverny????