• insects,  quotes

    Discovered the fly

    July 11, 2021

    “The Utah deserts and plateaus and canyons are not a country of big returns, but a country of spiritual healing, incomparable for contemplation, meditation, solitude, quiet, awe, peace of mind and body. We were born of wilderness, and we respond to it more than we sometimes realize. We depend upon it increasingly for relief from the termite life we have created. Factories, power plants, resorts, we can make anywhere. Wilderness, once we have given it up, is beyond our reconstruction.”

    Wallace Stegner

    I believe Stegner’s quote is valid for any place. Wilderness is always close by even in our cities but becoming smaller all the time. And we mistakenly call the elimination of these places development. Sigh!

    I noticed some Campanula rapunculoides, also known by the common name of creeping bellflower, in a greenbelt and canal area on a walk along Shields Avenue. I felt a closer look was necessary. After a few photos I spotted these mushrooms. Since I was already on my knees I decided they also needed to have their photo taken. I took three photos of the mushrooms and later discovered the fly is only in one image. Guess the fly wanted their photo taken also. 😁

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  • bees,  flowers,  insects,  Mary Oliver,  Plants,  poems,  prayer

    My Way of Praying

    August 11, 2020
    The pink rose displayings beauty and accepting a very tiny visitor

    How I go to the woods

    Ordinarily, I go to the woods alone, with not a single
    friend, for they are all smilers and talkers and therefore
    unsuitable.

    I don’t really want to be witnessed talking to the catbirds
    or hugging the old black oak tree. I have my way of
    praying, as you no doubt have yours.

    Besides, when I am alone I can become invisible. I can sit
    on the top of a dune as motionless as an uprise of weeds,
    until the foxes run by unconcerned. I can hear the almost
    unhearable sound of the roses singing.

    If you have ever gone to the woods with me, I must love
    you very much.” 

    Mary Oliver
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  • bees,  flowers,  Fujifilm X-T3,  Fujifilm XF16-80mm f4.0,  insects,  Plants,  quotes

    The Beauty of Silence

    July 24, 2020
    A bee enjoying the nectar from a cosmos at the CSU Trial Gardens

    “When you have a moment, just listen to the beauty of silence. It has so much to say.”

    Armin Ganguly

    I found this article from the Sierra Club interesting. Some of you may have already read it or at least seen the headlines about it. The Sierra Club is apologizeing for some of the early directions the organization took and the views of some of their founders. I found it very revealing and helping me see my role of my privileged life.

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  • bees,  flowers,  fog,  Fujifilm X-T3,  insects,  landscape,  natural areas,  Plants,  trees

    Good morning

    July 16, 2020
    Fog in Rolland Moore Park
    Snow-on-the-mountain
    Backlit sunflowers at Reservoir Ridge Natural Area
    Bees busy pollinating at Reservoir Ridge

    I chased some early morning fog then headed out to one of the natural areas to write and get in a morning walk. It’s about a 5 mile drive to Reservoir Ridge and then found the sun shining brightly there and eerily quiet. I watched the sun burn off the fog along the foothills to the south, nature at work. Everything was wet from the humidity and dew; the split rail fence, the grass, and a spiderweb. The sun and wind will quickly dry things out. Thus begins a morning in the meadow. Makes me smile somewhere inside of me as I experience it.

    The birds now begin to sing as if they were waiting for me. They dart so quickly in the aire and must in order to catch all the quick and nimble flying insects. I watch as the wind slowly moves the fog to my east in a southerly direction. While small clouds along the foothills are moved south by the same wind. I watch a blue-jay perched on the fence hop to the ground in hot pursuit of some insect. He misses on the first couple tries then finds success. Such a beautiful bird dressed in blue, a work of art.

    Now a bit of information about common chicory from Wikipedia. I see these all over the place and finally looked them up. The bees love them. The plant was adopted as a coffee substitute by Confederate soldiers during the American Civil War, and become common in the United States. It was also used in the United Kingdom during the Second World War, where Camp Coffee, a coffee and chicory essence, has been on sale since 1885.

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  • insects,  quotes

    Walking With My Camera 

    July 17, 2016
    Dragonfly
    Dragonfly
    Black and White Fly
    Black and White Fly

    Took my camera for a walk yesterday. All images taken with the Fujifilm 35mm f2.0 lens and handheld. Both images are 100%, or greater, crops.

    “Every human being needs a contemplative practice, perhaps gazing at nature in wonder, with a camera or paint brush, taking time.”

    Thomas Moore
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  • insects,  Plants

    Wooly Bear Caterpillar

    October 12, 2014
    Wooly Bear Catipillar
    Wooly Bear Caterpillar

    I always look where I’m stepping this time of the years as I see these beautiful caterpillars all over the trails at the Environmental Learning Center. My walk last week included a few photos of these caterpillars, a gopher snake, a couple of white tail deer and some large insect carrying a green worm that was bigger that it was. What a struggle it was having but such determination. If we spend the time we can learn so much from nature.

    After my walk I decided to find out more about these Wooly Bears. So, what’s a Wooly Bear Caterpillar? Well, it’s also called an Isabella Tiger Moth and can be found in many cold regions, including the Arctic. The banded Woolly Bear larva emerges from the egg in the fall and overwinters in its caterpillar form, when it literally freezes solid. It survives being frozen by producing a cryoprotectant in its tissues. (Sounds painful) In the spring it thaws out and emerges to pupate. Once it emerges from its pupa as a moth it has only days to find a mate. In most temperate climates, caterpillars become moths within months of hatching, but in the Arctic the summer period for vegetative growth – and hence feeding – is so short that the Woolly Bear must feed for several summers, freezing again each winter before finally pupating. Some are known to live through as many as 14 winters.

    There’s an annual Woolly Bear Festival held every Fall in downtown Vermilion, Ohio, on Lake Erie. The one-day, family event, which began in 1973, features a woolly bear costume contest in which children, even pets, are dressed up as various renditions of the woolly bear caterpillar. The festival is held every year around October 1 on a Sunday on which the Cleveland Browns have an away game. It is touted as the largest one-day festival in Ohio. Could be a good photo opportunity.

    photocrati gallery
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