Red Spider Lilies, Yellow Butterflies & Red-Shouldered Hawk All Herald Autumn In South Carolina

Red Spider Lilies and Yellow Butterflies are common in the
Carolinas during the beginning of the autumn months following
the fall equinox.

As the month of September comes to an end here in upstate South Carolina, autumn begins to make its presence known. Although most of the trees have yet to change into their glorious red, yellow, and orange fall colors, some leaves have already begun to fall. Yet there are already other signs that signal that the autumn season has finally officially arrived.

This afternoon while I was cutting my lawn -- for what will thankfully be one of the last times for this year -- I had to leave one little patch of my yard uncut to preserve the newly sprouted Red Spider Lilies (Lycoris radiata) that sprout up every late September and early October here.

The red spider lily -- named so because of its beautiful bright red color and umbels that look like spider legs -- are also referred to along the eastern coastal areas of the United States as Hurricane lilies because they often bloom after first fall hurricanes.

Outside of the American Southland, the red spider lily is often commonly called the Schoolhouse Lily because it blooms when school has started. Other names for this fall flower include: Red Magic Lily, Corpse Flower, Resurrection Lily, and the Equinox Flower.

Like the dreaded Kudzu vine, the Red Spider Lily is not native to the South, but rather comes from eastern Asia; possibly Japan or China. In Japan the red spider lily is called the "Flower of Death"; its bright red color said to guide souls into the afterlife. The Japanese common name for this flower is higanbana (which literally means "flower of higan" -- a Buddhist holiday around the autumn equinox). In Chinese culture, the red spider lily is an auspicious symbol that represents beauty.

Today, the red spider lily can be found growing in the early fall throughout the Southern United States from the Carolina and Florida to eastern Texas and Oklahoma.

Believe it or not, this seasonal flower also has a connection to the South's Confederate historical heritage.

Its believed that the red spider lily was introduced to America by Captain William Willis Roberts (1822-1875), a Southern-born botanist from New Bern, North Carolina and friend of explorer Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S Navy. Roberts -- then a First Lieutenant in the U.S Navy -- first introduced the plant to America sometime around 1854; bringing three bulbs home from Japan and gifting them to his young sister-in-law, Lavinia Ellis Cole Roberts (1833-1923), for her extensive New Bern garden.

Captain William W. Roberts served in the United States Navy from 1839-1860 when he resigned following the secession of North Carolina at the start of the War Between the States (1861-1865) and took a commission in the Confederate States Navy (CSN) serving as a Lieutenant on three ships -- CSS Charleston, CSS Albemarle, and the CSS Torpedo on the James River near the end of the war.

Today his grave, located in his native New Bern, North Carolina, has red spider lilies that grow every autumn around his grave marker, a beautiful tribute to the man who introduced this plant to America.

The grave of C.S. Captain William W. Roberts (1822-1875) at
Cedar Grove Cemetery, New Bern, North Carolina.
Red spider lillies grow at his grave every fall.
Photo courtesy of Find-A-Grave.com.

Like the Kudzu vine, the Red Spider Lily is Just about every yard in my small Southern town has at least one patch of wild Red Spider Lilies that pop up out of the blue this time of year. Sadly they don't last more than a couple weeks, or so. That's what makes this surprise flower so interesting and precious to see every year here in Dixie.

The following are the photos I took of the small patch of Red Spider Lilies under the tree in my front yard:

Y'all might have noticed the small, yellow-green butterfly in the last two photos above -- the last one capturing the little beauty in flight.

This beautiful yellow butterfly is the Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae) common to most of this part of the eastern United States and America from Argentina to southern Ontario, Canada, especially in late summer and early fall.

In addition to capturing this lovely lady in flight (you can tell by the markings on the wings she's a female) I was about to get a great close-up of her on one of the lilies. 

As I finished giving my front lawn its first official sheering of the autumn season, in addition to the cries of my feral cats for their food, I also heard another cry coming from the trees across the road in my neighbor's back yard. I retrieved my camera and located the source of the crying -- a female Red-Shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus)perched high on a branch.

An extremely vocal bird, this apex predatory bird is well known in the Eastern United States and Appalachia all year around. 

I managed to capture a few great (mostly clear) shots of this lovely beauty as well.

Please let me know what y'all thought of this post below, and as always have a wonderful Dixie Day, and y'all come back now, you hear!

Night Sky Photography -- 09-29-2023 -- The Full Super Harvest Moon & The Outer Planets

Good morning fellow Stargazers!

Early this morning I was awake to capture some great shots of four of the largest outer planets in our Solar System in the night sky dome with the final Supermoon of 2023.

The first Full Moon after the fall equinox is most famously called the Harvest Moon in North America. Because its also the last of four Supermoons of the year, its also the Full Super Harvest Moon. The last Supermoon is roughly around 224,658 miles (or 361,552 km) from Earth and appears about 5% bigger and about 13% brighter than the average full moon.

The Harvest Moon of 2023 sits between the planets Uranus and Jupiter to the east, and Neptune and Saturn to the west. Jupiter and Saturn are easy to spot in the clear skies, but Uranus and Neptune -- which are close to Jupiter and Luna respectively -- I highlighted when I labeled my photos.

I hope y'all enjoyed my final night sky and planetary photos of the month of September and the first ones of the fall season here in North America respectively. Looking forward to next month and my favorite holiday of the year.

Inspirational Quotes -- Jim Henson (1936 - 1990)

 

"Life's like a movie, write your own ending. Keep believing, keep pretending."
~Jim Henson (1936 - 1990)

Born on this day, Thursday, September 24th, 1936 in Greenville, Mississippi, USA.

Old Skool Cafeteria Pizza Recipe

 

If there is anything I remember best about my formative years in grade school through high school from most of the 1980s and early-to-mid 90s were the outstanding cafeteria lunches that were served.

While not all of them were necessarily my favorites -- frozen chicken patties were a big nope for this guy -- others were certainly memorable and which I looked forward to whenever they appeared on the weekly menu schedule. Spaghetti and meat sauce for one, with servings of various vegetables, fruit cups, chocolate milk, and some form of baked rolls.

Perhaps the most nostalgic school lunch for many kids that grew up in the same time-frame was that weird, thin rectangular cafeteria pizza that was often best lovingly (and mockingly) described as "cheese on cardboard" by some. Sometimes it was topped with hamburger, or sausage, or pepperoni, and other times just plain cheese; but it was pizza none-the-less.

These days school cafeteria lunches are a bit bland, with larger (allegedly) healthier options; with the old cafeteria pizza having been removed altogether.

Pizza days at lunch time were among some of my favorites, to name a few others. So much so that I had to seek out the recipe for this Old Skool Cafeteria Pizza and wanted to share it in case there are others who wanted to take a stab at recreating a piece of tasty -- if not necessarily healthy -- piece of nostalgia.

If y'all love and miss the old school rectangle pizza, then here’s the recipe.

List of Ingredients

 

The Crust: 

2 2/3 flour
3/4 cup powdered milk
2 T sugar
1 packet of quick rise yeast
1 tsp salt
1 2/3 cup warm water
2 T vegetable oil

The Toppings:
1/2 pound ground chuck (or pepperoni as another option)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 8oz block mozzarella cheese -- grated yourself (To be authentic school pizza, you will have to use imitation mozzarella shreds.)

Sauce:

6oz can tomato paste
1 cup water
1/3 olive oil
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tbsp dried oregano
1/2 tbsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried rosemary crushed

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425F degrees.
Spray a 10X15" baking sheet with cooking spray and lay Parchment paper down to allow it to stick.
Pour flour, powdered milk, sugar, yeast, & salt into a large bowl and mix with a whisk.
Add oil to hot water and pour into your mixture.
Stir with a wooden spoon until batter forms.
Spread dough into pan using fingertips until it’s even.
Bake just the crust for 8-10 minutes then remove from oven and set aside.
Brown meats in vegetable oil in frying pan until meat is cooked and then set aside and drain. (If y'all opted for Pepperoni Pizza then disregard.)
Spread pizza sauce all over crust.
Sprinkle meats & cheese.
Bake at 425F for 8-10 minutes until cheese melts and begins to brown.
Remove from oven -- let stand 5 minutes
Cut in rectangular slices and serve.

This blog post is dedicated in fond memory to all the lunch room and school cafeteria workers in my Grade School, Junior High (Middle School), and High School years (1982 to 1995) -- as well as all those in the profession today -- in appreciation for their largely thankless work. 

Night Sky Photography -- 09-09-2023 -- Jupiter & Uranus With Orion & Taurus Star Clusters

Salutations fellow stargazers!

Now that September is here, with the fall equinox only a few weeks away, the winter constellations are rising very early in the morning -- or really late at night depending on your perspective.

This time I was up very early, but the night time skies overhead here in my part of South Carolina were mostly clear, though storms were expected before sunrise.

Nevertheless, I was able to capture three really good photographs of two of the most well known of the constellations: Orion The Hunter and Taurus The Bull with the planets Jupiter and Uranus close by.

The first two photos are the wide shots showing the major stars of these constellations with bright Jupiter just above them. Uranus is too far away in these shots to see, so I labeled the distant outer planet's location with a star in its position between Jupiter and the Pleiades Star Cluster.

My third, and final photo, is the close-up Jupiter and Uranus (still just barely visible) with the Pleiades and the Hyades Star Cluster located in the Constellation Taurus The Bull.

At its present distance Uranus, the seventh planet in our Solar System, is approximately 1.78 billion miles (or 2.864 billion kilometers -- or 159.25 light-minutes) from our Earth. Jupiter is much closer at 401.33 million miles (or 645.87 million kilometers -- or 35.56 light-minutes) from us here on Earth.

Oh My God, Jim....Its Full Of Stars!

A little crossover for all my fellow classic sci-fi geeks.
Here on the recreated bridge of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) are two familiar faces.
On the left, sitting in the navigator's seat is Gary Lockwood -- Gary Mitchell in the Star Trek: The Original Series
episode Where No Man Has Gone Before (Season 1, Episode 3) and Frank Poole in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).
On the right, sitting in the helmsman's seat is Keir Dullea -- Dave Bowman who played in both 2001 and its
1984 sequel, 2010: The Year We Make Contact.
Photo courtesy of Destination Star Trek and Fandomcons.com -- via Reddit.

Happy Star Trek Day, Y'all!