Fashion and nature: beaded and fringed dress, spiraling around the body. 
It was actually this morning, when attempting to photograph frost crystals, that I started to think about nature and fashion. I will post one of this morning’s photos later, I hope, after my battery has recharged (and my camera’s battery, lol) and I have examined the photos.
Still, turn this upside down and I can imagine a flapper’s dress, can’t you?
Today is bright and sunny, triggering today’s afternoon flashback. It is quite a cheerful looking day. But step outside and your mood may change; it is brisk, to put a nice spin on it. Cold, frigid compared to recent days in the 60s.
Does this summer sight help you smell and hear echoes of summer? 2011
Looking out the window, feeling the heat through the windows, called to mind this summer afternoon in Harlan, Iowa, 2011. Warm in the sun, slightly less warm in the shade. Humming insects, gentle lapping of waves, soft susurating breeze…
This is another flashback to warmer, sunnier days. Last spring I set out to photograph the wild plum blossoms – and revel in their heady scent.
Happily for me, it is more interested in nectar than in my blood - Spring 2011
As I moved around to find blossoms highlighted by sunlight, I was not the only one interested in the sunny, sweet smelling blooms. In fact, there were numerous visitors of many sizes and shapes, but the most astounding to me was this odd creature. I realize it sort of resembles a bumblebee, but I do not think it is a bee at all. What it most looks like to me is those cartoon mosquitoes with pointy proboscii (is that a plural for proboscis?). Only this one is dressed for cold weather, rather like an Eskimo, and his/her face is all whiskery like a Schnauzer. Of course, now I have exited the realms of science and, rather, entered cartoon-landia, but none-the-less, I wanted to share this marvelous little creature. 🙂 And I loved the light sparkling off the fur on his back!
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.
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!
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.
On the Left, Zookie. To the Right, Tiger. Autumn - 2010
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.
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?
This tiny flower appeared to have been coated in sugar crystals.
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.
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.
Something moving this way comes - 2010
Horses keep an eye on everything that moves – in this case, Mike, Zookie, and Buttercup running.
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.
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.
Ahh, the wonderful feeling when the sun is golden and all the world is gilded by the sun’s kisses!
Golden Sunlight Kisses the World
The sunshine softens hardy leaves, highlights fantastical shapes, and even transforms those sharp thorns into beautiful sculptures.
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