The Beauty is in the Details

Sometimes the beauty of, or the interesting look at something is up close in the details that would otherwise get lost in a larger view.

Eastern Red Cedar is a fairly common tree locally, usually getting a good start in fence rows and abandoned fields. Many consider it to be a weed to be eradicated, yet they provide rot proof wood for outdoor use along with the fragrant lining of cedar chests or closets. This is a view of some of the seeds just as they begin to mature and turn the darker shade of blue.

This is a wild grass called Wide Leaf Uniola that grows well here. The seed heads are it’s most notable feature, mostly because of the shape of the seed clusters and the droopy look of them. They also move in the least bit of breeze and make me think of schools of little fish for some reason.

I don’t have a name for this little flower yet, don’t recall ever seeing one of these before. This was a single plant I spotted while out for a walk a few days ago, it was really wanting to be photographed so I obliged. Surprisingly, this one didn’t seem to be suffering any from the hot dry weather we had through most of June and the first couple weeks of July.

Finally, a very orange fungus, tentatively identified as a Cinnabar Polypore, all dressed up for autumn in pumpkin camouflage. Pretty tough to miss this one. A few years ago there was a large dead tree at this location, the trunk of which was almost covered with this same fungus. That was quite a sight with hundreds of these popping out all over the tree. All I know for certain is that I won’t be having any of these on the menu at my house!

Thank you for reading, until next time.

Weekend Adventures Part One

I see it has been 5 days since my last post, all I can say is too much needs to be done and it can be tough to keep up.

Black-eyed Susan from Saturday morning. I like the bright petals contrasted with the dark center and the profuse blooming habit in ideal conditions. I chose this cluster growing in the shade, mostly because it was brutally hot in the sun all weekend. Temperature was closing in on 90° by 10:00AM. To me these flowers represent early summer like no other.

I also photographed these flowers with a Canon AE-1 that was marked As-is for $10 at a local thrift shop. It is in excellent condition and came with a partially used roll of film, good battery and seems to be fully functional in spite of being over 30 years old. Looking forward to the results with this one.