Life in our back yard, plus something unrelated

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And now for something completely different:

Exactly like the Woody Allen joke:  the food is lousy, and such small portions.  

By any other name

I know, I know, it's hedge bindweed and it's an unwelcome invader.  It's almost impossible to get rid of when it gets its roots in, and it chokes out desirable greenery.  But I say it's Morning Glory, and I say it's pretty.

Cervenka Farm, New Jersey

 

Fatal accident

Yesterday morning, at about 11:15 I began driving to Tabby's Place.  Four miles later, I saw a line of cars and their red tail lights on the part of Route 309 that connects to I-78.  Fortunately, the long line hadn't reached the Cedar Crest exit, and neither had I.  

Shortly before, a 20-year-old guy on a motorcycle had been boxed in the middle lane behind a semi slowly climbing a hill.  The motorcyclist tried zipping into the fast lane to get around it, but clipped the semi and rebounded into an Escalade that was already there.  All this at high speed.  

One news report said the accident had been reported at about 9:45, and a different source said the young man was pronounced dead at the scene at 11:15.  

When I took the Cedar Crest exit, I stopped in the parking lot of a medical building and checked local news sources plus a map/traffic app.  After collecting those facts, I understood that the road would be closed for some time (in the end, it was two hours), and turned around and went back home.  

Kind of stands out, doesn't it?

If we are to believe Google Lens, this is a solitary Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus), "a large conifer native to eastern North America."

Also seen in the park:  Swamp Rose Mallow, White Vervain, Prunella vulgaris (aka Common Self-Heal), and a lot of purple loosestrife.  They're the reason for the wiggles in the path on the lower right below.

Thoughts While Scrolling

Barclays US?  Or Barclay Sus?  

What do you think?  Is it AI or not?  Looks like he has a normal amount of fingers, but rescuing children in uniform and the "Dodgers quarterback" description make me wonder...

Straight and tall

Well, straight anyway.  Conocybe Apala (Milky Cone Cap), taken tonight in our back yard.