Dec 28, '22

One of the joys of cold weather is frozen water and taking photos and creating amazing photo just by getting close to the ice.

Most of the water was frozen with a leaf or two sticking out. Most of the color is from the water and dirt the water was frozen above.

I was mostly fascinated with the reflections of the dripping ice in the water as though something was growing up from the post in the water.

Lightwaves and frozen stems ... made me shiver.

Water and dirt.

 Slight different view of the Topsy Turvy,  a better photo of the base of the columns that support the whatever-it-is.

Teeny-tiny mushrooms along the road in the Bent Creek hiking area ... lotsa mushrooms and i'll post more later.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Also from the Bent Creek hike a couple weeks ago ... it was a huge butterfly and while the blooms it continued to land on looked mostly dead, i suppose they were lively enough to supply the butterfly with the energy it needed.

I continue being fascinated with the night moon.

 August full moon, peeking

Earlier in the summer there was both a full moon and full eclipse

just before the full eclipse

full eclipse

The moon images came out rather well and we were lucky that it was both a relatively clear sky (it clouded over 20 mins later) and in an area where city lights were not effecting the photograph.

Returning Fall 2022

 I have returned to photographing the Topsy Turvy bloom which blooms each year at this time. Looking at the post from last year I con't see that I improved the images very much but did end up with a final that I very much like.

Topsy Turvy

And at the end of last year I bought a Christmas cactus which is called that as it tends to bloom at Christmas time - the colors are wonderful.

Christmas Cactus

And then there is the Gladiola that I found along the road and  just love the pinks and gradations into the soft white

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October moon

 The October full moon occurred on October 1st and looked something like this:

then the following night I was able to see that the moon had a companion that was visible: Mars

It's there, in the upper left and slightly red, which, as many of you know, is why it is often called the Red Planet.

Topsy Turvey

 Such a strange name for a flower and I have been having fun playing with it.

And as I work towards the center of one of the blossoms, it looks like this:

 

Then when look down into it, we see this:

 

And that center bulb looking part is the pistil and the yellow (seeming to float)

 parts are the stamen.

A closer view of the pistil; photographed about 3x actual size

I don't know how much larger it is when seen like this.

Google has recently updated this blog software and while it seems to offer more, all I'm finding is that it is more complex to use. However, I understand it is easier to comment - so it this looks o.k. or not, would you add a comment so I can learn if its true about being easier to comment? Thanks. 

Oxalis, many

As some of my four or five readers know i'm a big fan of the plant Oxalis. There are many, many oxalises, one of the most common being the small, very small, yellow flowers that bloom all over many lawns and are considered a nuisance. And i love 'em! Here are a few photographs from what i've been growing, (four species):

Oxalis Inops, pink bloom

Oxalis Deppei, Ironcross, coral bloom

Oxalis Triangularis, lucky, purple bloom

Oxalis Regnelli, white bloom

and all together now:

Happy oxaling to you.