A Summer Walk

One of my favourite poems is William Wordsworth’s I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud. Here’s the first stanza:

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Last week, that’s what I did. I followed a trail I seldom took and let it lead me to serendipity, like sighting this bald eagle. I didn’t see any daffodils, but lots of wildflowers which I couldn’t name.

Many, many summers ago, I was pondering about which subject to major in for university. Botany came to mind, for I was fond of plants. At the end, I decided on studying humans instead, hence, remaining illiterate when it comes to flora of all kinds, especially their technical terms. I must say, though, as you may well know, humans are much harder to decipher. Knowing names is the easiest part.

Here are some of the wildflowers I saw. If you can help me name them, so much the better. But let’s start off with this one which I know, and that’s our Provincial Flower: The Wild Rose.


Are these some kind of wild daisies?


Love the colour of these delicate blue petals:


A kind of Goldenrod?


Fuchsia isn’t a favourite colour of mine, but it looks stunning for flowers. This one particularly stands out, for it’s almost 6 ft. high:


I’d to stretch my hands way up to take this closeup:

A similar kind that’s a bright bluish purple. I caught it just when an insect was heading straight to it:


That’s when I realized, surely, for me these might be objects of natural beauty, for many, they are food and sustenance. Like these bees feeding on nectar:


And of course, berries for the birds:

I’ll let Wordsworth have the last word. Just replace daffodils with any of the above…

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

________________

Try it, dancing on the couch.

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Arti

If she’s not birding by the Pond, Arti’s likely watching a movie, reading, or writing a review. Creator of Ripple Effects, bylines in Asian American Press, Vague Visages, Curator Magazine.

28 thoughts on “A Summer Walk”

  1. Those are stunning photos. Just stunning. What a fabulous walk you had. I wish I could help you on the names — that does look like Goldenrod and at the one with the insect heading straight into it might be knapweed or maybe someone in the thistle family. I love that shot of the cedar waxwing (I think) with the berry.Gorgeous all.

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  2. Beautiful photos. I would recommend downloading Seek by iNaturalist to your phone. It’s great at identifying most plants!

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  3. Your first image isn’t what we usually think of as a water lily, but I’m pretty sure it’s Yellow Water-Lily (Nuphar lutea). It’s also a plant that we share. Your yellow daisies seem to be a coneflower species (genus Rudbeckia), and you do have two thistle species. If the first had a huge rosette of really thorny leaves near the ground, it’s non-native, but I think that second one’s a native. The yellow one with the bees feeding on nectar is another one we share: yellow sow thistle.

    The pretty blue one is intriguing. I don’t have a clue what it is, but the buds look exactly like the buds of a flower here that I haven’t been able to identify. If I can use your blue flower to find a family, I might be able to track down the identity of my mystery flower!

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    1. Thanks for such a detailed ID, Linda! You sure know your flora, and I’m surprised we share some of them, considering I’m over 2,000 miles north of you above the 49th. Just to be sure, the blue flower you haven’t been able to ID do you mean the last one of the bee photos, the tiny pale blue flowers? Or do you mean the purplish blue in the middle of the three bees photos?

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        1. Looks like the ones you found is a raceme kind, drooping flowers growing from one stalk. The ones I saw are each flower with its individual stalk, albeit a very delicate one. Look at the buds in the photo and you’ll know what I mean. Just a note too, the vegetations and birds between my province Alberta and Ontario (west and east) are very different. I’m just thinking, since we have similar flowers, maybe there’s less difference between north and south than E. and W. Just saying. 🙂

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        2. That looks like campanula to me. You don’t see it much wild in the UK, it has to be sown. I had it in my garden when I moved in and it is one of the few things still there from the original garden.

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  4. I’ve seen some of your gorgeous flowers, but though I’m pretty good on domestic flowers, I don’t know their names either. What you can try, is using Google image search. Good luck!

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    1. Denise,

      I think the petals are pointing downwards because they’re withering. 🙂 Thanks for your thoughts, yes, another commenter suggested campanula as well for the blue flowers.

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  6. Arti, It was lovely to read your comment on my blog. Yes, it’s been a while since we’ve “seen” each other online. Since COVID reared its invisible head, I’ve retreated to a largely isolated world in the U.S. One succor–nature, which your blog features magnificently. Instead of going to the theater or restaurants or traveling to other states or countries, I’ve been feeding birds, deer, foxes, squirrels, chipmunks, and a fat raccoon in my back yard (which leads to woods abutting a reservoir). The cost exchange was equal until the deer brought their relatives and babies (3 fawn), and starting eating me out of house and home. Ah, well. The drama is non-stop and I love every minute of it. Your blog, Arti, is spectacular. Keep up the good work. I wish I had your eye through a camera. Vic

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    1. Vic,

      Great to have you visit the Pond here and throw in your two pebbles to make some ripples. You’re right, nature has healing power. For the first two months though, the provincial park that I frequent to watch birds and take long walks was closed. For those few weeks, books and films carried me through. What a year we’ve had! So far. More to come I’m afraid. I just take advantage of the summer months to get to the Pond and take as many photos as I can. I was told recently by WordPress to update the theme of my blog as the old one didn’t support new block features. So this new format is the result. Hope I don’t have to do any more updates for a while. Thanks for your kind words. Stay safe, and hope to hear from you again. 🙂

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  7. Glad you got out and about. A lot of the plants you posted look similar to plants here. Our berry plants are most enjoyed by deer here. Hope you are having a nice weekend.

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    1. Ellen,

      I’m sure we have lots of common flora and birds too. I do look forward to that day when we can travel freely. As a matter of fact, I was thinking of visiting Olympic National Park, just a thought earlier in the year. Don’t think I can do that any time soon.

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  8. What a lovely walk! I am slow to the party and it looks like everyone has already helped you identify all the flowers some of which I have growing in my garden 🙂 I too at one point considered majoring in botany but went for the much more useful English lit instead 😉 I am glad you are enjoying your summer!

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    1. Hey, so good to hear from you, Stefanie! Know what? If I’d the chance to start all over again, I’d have majored in English lit, and then to Film Studies. 🙂
      You have a great summer, despite everything!

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  9. Many have commented but I do have a degree in environmental studies and (got an A in botany) without actually being there with you (and seeing leaf shape, size, petal count, etc) I will do my best ID from the photos.
    1. Wild Rose. Rosa
    2. Mexican hat. Ratiba columnaris
    3. Bell flower. Campanula
    4. Goldenrod. Solidago canadensis
    5. Canadian thistle. Cirsium
    6. Salsify or yellow goats beard. Tragopagan fibrous
    7. Common vetch. Vicki’s
    8. 🤔 not sure let me ponder
    9. Common snowberry. Symphoricarpus
    10. Chokecherry. Prunus Virginiana
    11. Serviceberry. Amelanchier

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    1. Btw on my above comment, the Purple Vetch #7. should read Vicia not what autocorrect put.
      Sorry it didn’t Like Latin!

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    2. Heather, you’re wonderful! It’s good to have a botanist right here at the Pond! The Latin word noted. And since you’d majored in environmental studies, you’d be interested to read Jessica J. Lee’s books. Her first one is “Turning: A Year in the Water” which I’d reviewed (click the pic on the side bar), and I’m reading her new book that just came out earlier this month: “Two Trees Make a Forest”. She an environmental historian and a memoirist coming from a unique cultural background. I’ll be posting a review of “Two Trees” soon. Do check it out. Once again, thanks so much for your ripples! 🙂

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      1. My continued pleasure. I love your blog, your beautiful writing and your interests in nature and birding.

        PS I Was watching an interesting series this week from Great Britain called Giri/Haji (Duty/Shame) set both in Tokyo and London, do you know of it? Love to know what you think 🤔 I love the creativity of it with its cinematography, flashbacks, graphic art, family connections, etc.

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