Reddish Honeysuckle and more Irises

Visited some friend's garden after dinner the other night and they had a beautiful honeysuckle plant that I took a picture of.

Also have some more pictures of irises.

Black Iris and More

While walking to dinner the other night, I saw these growing by the sidewalk and had to take a picture. I do not see many black irises growing around so it was a real treat to see one up close.

Yellow-Red Iris

This iris has some stunning contrasting colors. So vibrant and alive!

Emerging Grapes, Lettuce, and Cherries

The temperatures are starting to warm up and the we are starting to have full sun so the vegetables and fruit are growing.
Here are some pictures of the concord grapes, lettuce and cherries.

Other Fossils in KYANA case at Louisville Nature Center

Keeping with yesterday's post, I finish with the photos I took at the last KYANA meeting at the Louisville Nature Center (www.kyanageo.org).

These are some other minerals and fossils besides crinoids. The 3 photos show quartz geodes, rugosa solitary coral, and brachiopods.

Louisville Mayor's Hike and Bike on Memorial Day Weekend

I try to make the Mayor's Hike and Bike every year at either Memorial Day or Labor Day. This might be the 4th one of these and it appears to get better every year. They added a staggered start that helped keep riders spaced out better. I did see two children that had fallen over but it did not appear to be too serious.

The first is picture is of Louisville mayor Jerry Abramson telling the crowd that this event maybe the country's largest Memorial Day cycling event. He also said that Bicycling magazine has stated that Louisville is the most improved toward cyclists. I think he also said attendance might approach 5000 though the Courier Journal newspaper on their website is putting attendance at around 4500.

A nice addition was that Subway was furnishing discounts on their meals. If you think healthy fast food eating, Subway is your place. Also the city was giving out maps and T-shirts. A radio station was giving out packets of sunblock which was nice and helpful.

The weather cooperated and it did not rain until around 4 PM when all of the stands had been dismantled.



I am in this crowd of cyclists waiting to get started. I might be in the third mass group out.


Let me just say it was great cycling down 4th Street with the police blocking traffic off. I never thought I would get to do that. The police were excellent with traffic control.

People are cycling toward the finish at the Great Lawn.



These little kids were up on stage playing music for the crowd as riders returned to the Great Lawn. They were quite talented and it took some courage to stand up there, play and sing.

KYANA Fossil Display at Louisville Nature Center

Today's post are pictures of the display case at the Louisville Nature Center that has fossil specimens provided by the KYANA Geological Society (www.kyanageo.org). I think most of the fossils shown in these pictures are crinoids and they were found at Cumberland Lake, Kentucky. Some of the stems look like they could be the size of small trees today. Since the rock is brown I wonder if they are from the Devonian period?

Large Ruffle Like Flower on IUS Campus

There are bushes on the IUS (Indiana University Southeast) that have large white ruffle like flowers. Here are some pictures to show them.

REVISED: After some research, these flowers are peonies (paeonia).

Purplish-White Iris

Lots of variations on the color purple in this flower.

Quartz Brachiopods and a Gastropod

Here are some more pictures of fossils from Mt. Washington, Kentucky. All specimens are under 4 cm in size.

Trilobite Segment and Gastropod from Bardstown Roadcut

The opportunity arose for me to search for fossils last week for about 30 minutes and I found some nice specimens.

The first is a large gastropod (or snail) that is pretty much intact. It has a nice spiral and is 2.5 cm in diameter and about 2 cm high.

The site I visited in Mt. Washington, Kentucky is Ordovician time period known for gastropods, brachiopods, and cephalopods. I was trying to find cephalopods and picked up a rock that looked the shape but was very muddy and caked with limestone debris. After cleaning it later, I was surprised to find the back segment of a trilobite about 1 cm in length and 0.75 cm in width.

More Flower Pictures from the Garden

Red Tear Drop Flower

White Peonies

The peony flower is the state flower of Indiana.

More Flowers from the Garden