Sand shadows

Moon phase: Waxing gibbous
Weather: hot, humid, thunderstorming

Yesterday the Post had an interesting and sad article on a Wiccan army sergeant who was killed in Afghanistan last year, who ought to have had a memorial in his local veterans cemetery in Nevada, except that the US Department of Veterans Affairs refuses to recognize the Wiccan symbol, the pentagram. They gave his wife the option of having a blank memorial with just his name, but she decided to forgo a memorial there altogether. The VA recognizes 38 religious symbols — including one for atheists, an atomic symbol with an A in the center — but efforts to secure recognition of the pentagram in recent years have failed.

This is, of course, completely unfair and unconstitutional. I don't even see why the VA needs to recognize symbols anyway — shouldn't the veterans themselves have the right to decide what they want on their graves, without any of this bureaucratic nonsense? But I also think it's interesting to note that though Sikhs have an accepted symbol in the VA, there are (according to a quick Google search) only about 500,000 Sikhs in the US and more than 700,000 Neo-pagans (note that most Neo-pagans are Wiccans, and even among those that aren't, most use the pentagram as their primary religious symbol). That's not to say that there are necessarily more Neo-pagans in the military than there are Sikhs, especially since many Neo-pagans are pacifists, but it just goes to show that it has nothing to do with Wicca being a fringe religion or anything like that; it's all about prejudice. There's still a perception in our country that Wicca is equivalent with Satanism, and probably the VA just doesn't want to have graves with the pentagram on them.

Dune fence again

Moon phase: First quarter
Weather: Hot
Phenology: Wineberries!

Another photo from Assateague.

Today I had the day off, and I spent an hour picking wineberries (Rubus phoenicolasius) which are the most delicious raspberry species. Technically, picking them where I did is illegal, but it really shouldn't be because it's an invasive species that the park is actually trying to get rid of, so they can't complain. Of course, I recall that last year there was a case in Montgomery County where people were picking mugwort in parks and the park officials were trying to stop them — and then bringing in goats to get rid of the mugwort. So parks are not always very logical in their rule-making. Anyway, I brought home about a quart and ate a whole lot off the bush as well. They're really best eaten right away; they're even a little warm from the sun.

Dune fence

Moon phase: Waxing crescent
Weather: Hot

The first in a series of pictures from my trip to the Maryland side of Assateague Island in April.

Sweet cicely

Moon phase: Waxing crescent
Weather: Hot, rainy, flooding

This is sweet cicely (Osmorhiza claytonii), a very pretty, delicate plant with delicious, licorice-tasting seeds.

Virginia bluebells

Moon phase: Waxing crescent
Weather: Endless thunderstorms
Phenology: Purslane has sprung up overnight

Virginia bluebell (Mertensia virginica) is another plant discovered in Rock Creek Park this spring. I don't recall ever seeing it before, but I recognized it from various wildflower books. The day I took this photo there was so much the entire woods looked blue.

Celandine poppy

Moon phase: New moon
Weather: Warm, rainy
Phenology: Hydrangea are blooming

These are celandine poppies (Stylophorum diphyllum) I discovered in Rock Creek Park. I'd never seen them before, but then, I've been in Wisconsin the previous four springs, so that's not surprising. I'm so happy to be back in DC; one of the things I missed most is just experiencing the seasons here. Now that I've been back here for a year, I've seen all the seasons I'd missed, and it's a wonderful mixture of nostalgia and new discoveries. Wow, that sounded really schmaltzy, didn't it? I just love this place so much.

Trout lily

Moon phase: Full
Weather: Cool
Phenology: Clover is blooming

This a yellow trout lily (Erythronium americanum) in Rock Creek Park.

Bloodroot

Moon phase: Waxing gibbous
Weather: Rainy

One of my favorite plants is bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), though I can never seem to catch it to take a picture when it's flowering. Bloodroot is native to eastern North America, but it's rare and it's listed as endangered in some places. There are a few in select places in Rock Creek Park, which is where I found this one. Native Americans in this area used its reddish/orangish juice to make body paint.

Jack-in-the-pulpit

Moon phase: Waxing gibbous
Weather: Hot
Phenology: Bee balm is blooming

Jack-in-the-pulpit is, hands down, the weirdest-looking flower ever. It's also nicely toxic, although if you dry or bake the roots they become edible. Here's a piece of a poem that mentions jack-in-the-pulpit:

Jack in the pulpit
Preaches to-day,
Under the green trees
Just over the way.
Squirrel and song-sparrow,
High on their perch,
Hear the sweet lily-bells
Ringing to church.
Come, hear what his reverence
Rises to say,
In his low painted pulpit
This calm Sabbath-day.
Fair is the canopy
Over him seen,
Penciled by Nature’s hand,
Black, brown, and green.
Green is his surplice,
Green are his bands;
In his queer little pulpit
The little priest stands.