Good Golly, Miss Molly, I’ve Never Seen That Before!

I started out focusing on a patch of lavender-pink Bee Balm (I think that’s what the flowers are), seeking to capture the glow of sunlight through their translucent petals. Then I noticed perfectly camouflaged little insects, their green the color of the leaves, their pink matching the petals, and their graceful black-and-white striped antennae seeming extensions of the flowers’ own reaching stamens.

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This secret world is why I like to leave large swathes of our 40 acres UN-mown.

I caught a focused shot of one, but I didn’t want to lose the whole image of the flower with the insect hidden in its petals, so I enlarged just the insect and super-imposed it over the image of itself on the flower. So you can see both the enlargement and the original image combined into one photoshopped image.

I hope you enjoy your glimpse into this tiny, hidden world as much as I enjoyed discovering and recording it!

It’s a Standoff!

Tiger stares at Zookie. Is he daring her to just try and chase him? Or is he measuring the distance between them, estimating her rate of speed, and calculating how long it will take him to get to a tree? Actually, they get along great, and Zookie only chases Tiger if he runs. And he rarely runs.

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On the Left, Zookie. To the Right, Tiger. Autumn - 2010

Shifty

Yes, this is the same flower as yesterday’s post. As I moved, my eye caught the flash of the sun flare through the frost crystals, so I took another image.

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Just a little shift in camera position caught this sun flare - February 2012

It is also slightly darker, showing the detail a little more clearly in the white frost.

I am always of two minds when I have several photos I like of the same subject; should I show more than one? Or should I choose one and show only the one? What do you think?

Candy Stripes

This afternoon’s flashback was triggered by memories of taking photos of flowers like this morning’s frost-covered blossom nearly one year ago. This is a clearer view of the details, unobscured by the sugary-looking frost crystals of this morning’s shot.

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Sweet Little Candy Striped Flowers - March 19, 2011

Are these flowers blooming earlier this year? Or did I simply not see them last year under the 16 inches of snow we had the first week of February?!

Candied?

This tiny flower appeared to have been coated in sugar crystals.

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Sweet Little Crystallized Flower - February 6, 2012

I loved the colorful spots of sunlight refracted through the ice crystals!

I also remembered why I usually go out before I am showered and dressed for work… I went back in the house with wet, muddy elbows and knees, having only just remembered not to flop down flat on my belly to get the best angle.

Alert!

I love the light in early morning on a sunny day, especially filtered by a canopy of leaves and intercepted and reflected by my horses!

What is approaching up the driveway? If you keep half an eye on your horses, there’s not much you will miss.

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Something moving this way comes - 2010

Horses keep an eye on everything that moves – in this case, Mike, Zookie, and Buttercup running.

Sounds of Summer

Afternoon flashback: I was thinking how the sounds of summer are different than the sounds of winter. The symphony starts with spring peepers, early in the year, then builds through the months, finally reaching a crescendo near summer’s end, when the cicadas add their insistent hum to the sounds around.

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The Shell Out of Which a Cicada Hatched - Summer 2011

Growing up in New York State, I don’t recall ever hearing (or at least noticing) cicadas. I was in Japan when I first noticed the  蝉（せみ）- cicada. Since that is where I first became aware of that hum of late summer, I always think of them first by their Japanese name. It is pronounced “semi,” the e is a short e, the i is pronounced as in Latin, with a long e sound. The call of the cicada seems to herald the onset of Autumn.