Image #301 – Summer Hummer

Summer is in full swing and the hummingbirds are frequent guests here on Fawn Hill. ❦

July 26, 2015 0

Image #300 – In Its Prime

Everything has a prime…that time in the life cycle when all things “click.” For humans the “prime” is elusive. Counter-intuitively, it seems there can be multiple “primes” when a life cycle spans more than six decades. But for the mushroom on my hillside in North Carolina time is short and I believe I captured a Prime moment.

I snapped this picture yesterday. The ‘shroom almost yelled out to me. It was poised, center-stage, in a brilliantly lit patch of decay. By the time I fetched my camera the key-light had moved on but the mushroom was still an incredibly powerful presence. Strong and vibrant, reaching for the sky. It is, I think, some form of Amanita. When I returned today it seemed shriveled. It had flattened out and something had nibbled on it. My forest friends eat hearty in the summer, with all manner of mushrooms available along with berries and new buds. Most mornings I awake to find deer munching on the apples from my trees. I don’t mind. There are plenty of apples and the only inconvenience is that the deer take all the low-hanging fruit so I must work harder to get the fruit that is left. Working harder makes me realize I have passed my prime…at least my 6th decade prime…or so I think today.

I have been here for a week and have an almost visceral feeling of decompression. This small patch of land on Fawn Hill is a haven, a place to relax and enjoy just the being of life…however long that may be. ❧

July 10, 2015 0

Image #299 – Our Next Move

A Dragonfly ponders its next move, perched on a tree branch. The complexity of this creature is overwhelming to me: four separate wings that are so sheer you can see through them and a “head” that is mostly eyes and those eyes, so I am told, do not see the world as we do. Consider this paragraph from New Scientist:

We humans have what’s known as tri-chromatic vision, which means we see colours as a combination of red, blue and green. This is thanks to three different types of light-sensitive proteins in our eyes, called opsins. We are not alone: di-, tri- and tetra-chromatic vision is de rigueur in the animal world, from mammals to birds and insects.

Enter the dragonfly. A study of 12 dragonfly species has found that each one has no fewer than 11, and some a whopping 30, different visual opsins.

The dragonfly’s world is a multi-color, psychedelic landscape that is, of course, perfectly normal to the dragonfly. How dull our world would be to this marvelous being. ❦

July 8, 2015 0

Images #298-298 – An Orchid?

Can you believe this provocative and somewhat off-putting image is an orchid? To me it looks like an escapee from a set of Aliens but is actually a Coryanthes orchid. It is otherwise known as a Bucket Orchid and the second view may explain why.

Unlike a Venus Flytrap which lures insects to their deaths (thus feeding the plant) the Coryanthes uses insects to pollinate. There are many kinds of Coryanthes orchids and my friend Bob, who has raised this orchid, has this one labeled Coryanthes macrantha. Macrantha means “large flower” and that is certainly apt for this orchid which looks, to me, like a hanging slab of meat.

Is that part of the allure, the pretense of being a slab of meat? I guess we’d need to ask the Stink Bugs and other flying insects that hovered around it. They, alas, are not talking. ❧

June 26, 2015 2

Image #296 – Sunsets that Stop You in Your Tracks

No Photoshop or even a little saturation. A Florida sunset…the kind that stops you in your tracks and makes you remember to Be Here Now. ❧

June 21, 2015 2

Image #295 – Coy cow

It has been almost four months since I first posted a picture of the nearby family of cows. The calves have grown and this young one is looking very coy these days. ❧

June 5, 2015 1

Tango’s Quest to be A Brand Ambassador?

Many of you know that I am a brand ambassador for Mary’s Medicinals. This photo of Tango makes me think he should be Chobani’s brand ambassador. ❧

June 2, 2015 0

Sunset Flight

At this time of year the sunsets become long and beautiful. Often the birds will seem to spring from the earth in celebration, dancing together on the ethers, soaring high into the fading light. How I envy them. ❧

May 31, 2015 1

Image #287 – Summer?

It has been a crazy time for weather. Friends in the Northeast continue to be hammered by snow and ice. In Australia they had not just one but TWO(!) major hurricanes (or cyclones) hitting the country at the same time. One, Cyclone Marcia, was a Category 5!

Here in Central Florida we had freezing temperatures for one night but today, just two days later, it was in the low 80s and this picture, snapped at Myakka Park this afternoon, looks very much like summer time.

Ah, weather! ❧