Weekly update: similar but different (part 1)

 [I'm breaking the Weekly Update into two parts.]

It was warm when the week began and I pushed to get the vegetable garden planted.  I bought tomato, herb, and squash and cuke seedlings but planted seeds for beans and sugar snap peas.  Midweek we had a little rain (hardly enough) and a real cold snap -- we had to turn the furnace on!  

The poppies are popping one by one -- the flowers don't last very long.

The peonies have lots of buds but no blossoms yet.

Farther afield:

On Saturday afternoon we revisited Pine Dunes forest preserve. Wildflowers were blooming profusely.  

Ohio spiderwort, water lilies, false Solomon's seal aka false spikenard.

Cow parsnip, broadleaf arrowhead aka duck potato aka Indian potato, tall thimbleweed

Wild white indigo, longbract wild indigo, golden Alexander

Blue flag iris, oxeye daisy

There was not a cloud in the sky.  

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Sunday afternoon we went even further west to Volo Bog .  We'd been there long ago for a guided hike in January. High time to see it when it's thawed out!  

There is a nice interpretive center that explains what bogs are, how they differ from other watery ground (fens, marshes, swamps), and why they are fragile and important.

Tufted loosestrife, Canadian anemone, water arum.

A pair of swans on a very weedy inlet.  (The water levels are very, very low.) 

And I heard, but didn't see, sandhill cranes bugling.

P.S.  The interpretive center has a research library.  Lots of books and media (VHS!).   And....a card catalog!

Thanks for reading!  Quilting updates will be in the next post.