Big Wet Sunday, special edition

post #31
       I have been wanting to share the photo my friend George Ella Lyon took earlier this month for her newsletter.  It features her favorite poetry book from childhood (in Harlan, Kentucky.)  I love how she reveals her emotions with this image, like she does again and again with her words.  (The title is hers as well.)

Pansies and Poems, by George Ella Lyon

     It's always wonderful to be home all of an April to watch the beauty of an Appalachian spring.  This year's has been wet and cool enough for the flowers to last longer than sometimes.   Redbuds, dogwoods, and the light greens, pale yellows and reds of new leaves on other trees have also been stretched.  The severe tornadoes haven't passed here as yet; some may show up this week.  Again today we just have heavy rains from passing thunderstorms.

              So, first a reprise and a follow-up, as promised --  this photo, I believe, is an emerging Erect Trillium, which I photographed in central Kentucky (see blog #29).  Then during my outing with the art students a week later, I saw this same species just past its prime.  The shape of the leaves doesn't look exactly alike -- is that just due to variation in the eastern part of the state?

   

pink lady's slipper

       Last week, during that same outing, I broke the rule about "avoid the washed-out look and do not shoot nature midday."   We were just lucky to be there -- and without rain -- so I gave it a try.  What I ended up with, almost by accident, were shadows from within an emerging lady's slipper (an orchid). Not your usual view!   Luckily four days later I was able to return to that very same spot, by myself this time, where I tried to replicate the angle of the earlier photo.  

   I am sharing this photo as is, even though the color isn't quite right.  I am sure I just got too excited about being back and seeing the change in four days.  I then simply forgot to pay enough attention to my camera!  However, I did better with the other photos I took in that orchid patch.

another hooded "about to bloom"

the original plant, this time from the side

     I realize, dear viewers, that I'm subjecting you to many more photos than I usually do.  Think of it as a kind of spring celebration!  Here are six final images I am unwilling to hold over until next weekend:

flora and flooding in Laurel Gorge

  

Solomon's Seal (a lily) with hanging buds -- see three of these plants in this photo

two nearby Jack in the Pulpit, at Laurel Gorge  

 

It was thanks to these students that I was at Laurel Gorge!  They took some fine photos themselves.

delicious lettuce my husband is growing at home

a goldfinch -- now "golder" and wetter -- in the maple

 Note:  Sometimes clicking on a photo within the blog can make it larger -- but other times that doesn't happen.  Have not yet figured out how to set it up so that any of the photos can be enlarged.  Thanks so much for visiting today's post!