Welcome to Breakfast in America
My photo journal is an eclectic mix of things; there’s no guiding theme or topic. It is whatever happens to catch my attention, what I’ve been thinking, doing, and whatever my current obsessions are. At the moment, they are clearing some of the backlog on my ‘honey-do’ list, backpacking and hammock camping.
Posts
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Last of the sun
Last of the sun — The last of the sun was catching the trees behind the house. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Four deer
Four deer. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. They were about 100 yards away and very interested in what we were doing, which just happened to be, watching them.
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Another Hat
Another Hat — I bought myself something with a large brim that was also lightweight and airy for the summer. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Cleome houtteana — Spider Plant
Cleome houtteana. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Last year, less than half a dozen of these plants appeared in the front yard flower bed. Ginger collected the seeds and sowed them. This year we have been rewarded by this spectacular display.
Cleome houtteana. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Journals and Ink
Journals and Ink — Four journals, four pens, one pencil, and three bottles of ink. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. I felt the need to take a picture, and this is what I came up with.
Journals. Top to bottom. Backpacking journal, pocket notebook, my personal daily journal, and my work journal.
Inks. The Iroshizuku Ina-ho is a wonderful burnt green and is no longer available, which is very sad. Diomine Oxblood is one of my all-time favorites, and the Waterman Inspired Blue Ink is a new ink (for me), which I am only now experimenting with.
Pens. Pilot mechanical pencil, Pilot Metropolitans (three of those — I have more…), and a Sailor Compass 1911.
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Mammatus clouds over Springfield
Mammatus clouds over Springfield — Springfield, Missouri. May 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. We’ve had some weird weather lately. I heard about a house being hit by three tornadoes in the past month (around 30 miles from us). This week, we were on the edge of a storm that, according to the radar, was dumping twenty-five inches of rain per hour.
There’s been so much thunder and lightning it’s become passe!
Read about Mammatus clouds on Wikipedia.
Mammatus clouds over Springfield — Springfield, Missouri. May 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. 
Mammatus clouds over Springfield — Springfield, Missouri. May 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
It’s that trail cairn again
It’s that trail cairn again … The obligatory Pole Hollow Cairn selfie. Hercules Glades Wilderness, April 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. By one-thirty I had camp squared away, and I started an uneventful hike back to the trailhead. Uneventful apart from the fact that unknown to me, a tree removed my hunter orange beanie, so I had to backtrack a quarter mile to find it. More miles (or half-miles if you prefer) under my belt. I decided not to stop for lunch, and just after four I was at the Pole Hollow cairn, and by four-forty I was back at the car.
Trip complete:
16:38 at the car/Trailhead.
6.84 mi. +634 -230 2.5mph 2.2 mph.
Trip Total. 13.21 +832
It’s that trail cairn again … with the real me — I actually remembered to take my sunnies off, so I took this picture to show I had them on except for the picture. Hercules Glades Wilderness, April 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Jus’ Chilling
Jus’ Chilling. Hercules Glades Wilderness, April 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. The six-mile hike back to the trailhead should only take three to four hours (depending on if I stop for lunch), so I can sit back, take it easy, and enjoy the forest for a while.
Gratuitous hammock selfie. I have to make the folks back home think they are missing something. Hercules Glades Wilderness, April 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Late Breakfast — Biscuits and Gravy, and a cup of Rosie Lee
Breakfast — Biscuits and Gravy, and a cuppa Rosie. Hercules Glades Wilderness, April 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Day Two
While I might have said I was saving weight on this trip, I omitted to mention that I carried in a real book to read (though I saved the weight of the Kindle in the process). The relevance of which was that I stayed up far too late reading, and then had trouble getting off to sleep. It had been a clear cool night — 41°F, and I woke up at nine-thirty!
For the uninitiated, Rosie Lee is Cockney rhyming slang for tea. My father was a Cockney (born in London within the sound of Bow Bells), so my childhood vocabulary was extended by all manner of cockney slang terms.
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The pollen was prodigious
The pollen was prodigious. Hercules Glades Wilderness, April 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. As the green-yellow dusting of pollen on my feet attests, the pollen was indeed prodigious. No wonder I was coughing and sneezing.
