The pace of change is quickening. Colors are intensifying … autumn has taken hold. ☙
Image #123 – A bit of autumn
Image #122 – Wooly caterpillar in autumn sun
Sorry, I can’t recall the name of this fellow. I do recall he bites and it can be painful. We, my friend Boni and I, found him on a leaf in the pen where Buddy lives. He was remarkably fast and I was lucky to get a half-way decent shot of him. ☙
Image #120 – Little Helmets being born …
Yesterday’s post, Little Helmets, showed the mature mushroom. Here you can see them being born, the “petals” unfolding in the afternoon sun. ☙
Image #119 – Little Helmets
Another aptly named mushroom. These are Little Helmets. Dozens of them poked their heads through the moss on Sunday, September 29th. By yesterday, October 2nd, there was nary a trace of them. But they are sweet. I was able to get several good shots and will post one or two more. To give you an idea of how little the Little Helmets are, here is a second image showing my setup of the shot. The Little Helmets are the white spots in front of the camera, about 2-3 cm in height. ☙
Image #118 – Seasonal Bounty
Mushrooms are making a comeback after a 3-4 week hiatus. New blooms are popping up everywhere. This aptly named Jack O’Lantern mushroom is quite spectacular and very seasonal. ☙
Image #113 – Live Butterfly on Thistle
Yesterday’s blog, “Dead Butterfly,” may have been a bit dreary for some. Tonight I give you a very live butterfly, enjoying the bounty of summer.☙
Image #112 – Dead Butterfly
Some time ago I posted a blog called “Dead Hummingbirds.” Over time it has been among the biggest draws to my blog. I can’t imagine who is Googling for “Dead Hummingbirds” but stats don’t lie…right?
Today I present a dead butterfly, most likely a swallowtail variety. Friends and frequent readers will know that I worked in hospice for six years and I can already hear a few of them — “Leave it to Alice to find a dead butterfly.” Maybe it is a cosmic, spiritual link that leads me to these things. I mean, how many people have found a dead hummingbird on their front yard? Dead butterflies are easier to find. I have numerous pictures of various wing parts, shattered on some roadway or forest floor. This particular butterfly was on a dirt road, somewhere near Franklin. I was sitting, almost laying on the road trying to get a shot of the “Broken Hearted Tree“. As I went to get up there was the remains of this butterfly. Such a small bit of a beautiful thing. How could I not take a moment to acknowledge and photograph it?
“All things must pass,” sang the great George Harrison. It is an important thing to remember.☙
Image #111 – Violet-branched coral mushroom
The blades of grass and mossy ground cover give you a sense of scale for this beautiful mushroom. It has been a wonderful season for mushrooms. New ones continue to emerge even as the days grow shorter and the nights cooler. What other treasures does North Carolina hold as the seasons change? ☙
Image #110 – Grass on the Mind …again
About a year ago I posted a blog entitled “Grass on the Mind“. I revisited it today and a portion of it really jumped out at me.
My passion these days is photography and I LOVE photographing grass. There are thousands of varieties of grass in the world and a lot of them live here in Florida. At this time of the year many are “going to seed” — a phrase we have come to regard as pejorative. But if you get close enough to these grasses you’ll see a world of color and wonder. They may be “going to seed” but they do it in style. Just look at the colors and textures of these two samples.
There are many beautiful grasses here in North Carolina, of course. I have only just begun to photograph the N.C. variety. You’ll see their pictures in future blogs. Life has been very full in recent months what with moving to N.C. and working on this old place. It seems there has been little time for photography but once again I have been blessed. Nature has presented a bounty of mushrooms to photograph this year — right in my own backyard — and I have posted many of those pictures. But the grasses are calling me — their rich colors and awesome translucence wave at me in the deepening autumn sunlight. ☙
Alice's WanderLand 