Switching from birds to buds, in honor of April

post #281
       The truth is that I love all those visiting birds in the past 4 posts, but I also love our Aprils in Kentucky. This means that, by today's date, there is a lot to share. I remain very conscious of the excess rains and the driveway run off from last April, however. I feel that makes for all the more reason to celebrate this year's more normal April. If anything, this year we could use a bit more rain!
       In these photos I have concentrated on the redbuds, and then the dogwoods, ending with the beginning in the last few days of those wonderful light greens of budding trees. I was away for a week in the middle of the month, but it stayed cool then, so the main thing I missed were the trout lilies in bloom.  
       First the redbuds, using a tree we transplanted to be right near the front door and the rock steps. I am invariably fascinated by how the red buds grow directly out of the trunk or the branches!

       In the last few days, the petals have fallen and are fading into the steps, while the leaves are just beginning to show.

       Next are some wildflowers from the woods and the waterfalls. I have shown many of these in other years, so these here are just some ones I happened to catch in the right light or at the right time:

toothworts (I believe) in bloom

chickweed

      These bluets reveal how much drier than usual the woods are. These ones grow on a hillside.  Bluets are sometimes called Quaker Ladies!

  

Now the dogwoods - I like it particularly when they seems to "float" through the woods:

     The next three dogwood photos were made along the ridge road on the way to "town".

        The most recent players on this year's April stage are the greening leaves of trees everywhere. The three photos that follow were made two days ago from one location on our driveway.  The show continues for the next week.  I can be amazed yearly how they all know how to work together in a kind of orchestrated harmony. 

      I regret these photos don't do justice to their splendor, but I hope you have some trees near you that you can notice and admire and appreciate -- and personally thank.

SPRING FLOWERS, discoveries, and wonders

post #238
      Yesterday.  April 18, 2015.  Northeastern Kentucky.  A walk in our woods and beyond. A greater variety of wildflowers in one day than I ever remember happening.  Just two friends, Karen and Doug, and me, the cliffs and creeks, and so many surprises. This included the sun, even though, as a photographer, I would have preferred more clouds.  Well, since this blog is partly about photography itself, I'll add further that since we were there from before 2 until 5ish I may not have the best light in these photos, but I did get to experience the beauty of the place just for itself and in that time. What a gift. What an afternoon.
       Now for some visuals!

These hepatica are bloomed out, but the winter liver-shaped leaf is still there to identify the plants.

Everywhere there were the leaves of the trout lilies, but we only saw a few flowers.  We would have missed them all together if Doug had not spotted this one.  I hope I get to return in a few days to see if there is briefly a blanket of them on the forest floor.

nearby Dutchman's britches

     The area near the chimney (see two posts ago) has high cliffs.  Doug was wandering around up nearer the cliffs than the creek, which we were following, and he found a boulder covered with white trillium!  Closer to the creek we had been seeing just a few trillium, so it was like finding hidden away treasures in the attic.  The hepatica in the first photo are actually up on the boulder as well, surrounded by blooming trillium.

     Nearby there are many, many mayapples, not yet with the flower underneath the leaves, but almost ready for that part of their life:

         We figured out many of the flowers, but we weren't sure if this is a lady's slipper or is it some other kind of orchid:

BULLETIN:  My friend Ann S. identified this plant, on Monday, as a SHOWY ORCHIS!

an exhuberance of fiddleheads

    Next week, more flowers, and also some redbud photos!  This year I have managed to get more than one decent shot of a redbud tree!  Here is one photo until then, along the road to town:

 

Route 32, farther along, with redbuds

post #189

      I continue (for this third post) on Route 32, this time with blue skies and the redbuds in early bloom.  I love the redbuds, scrub tree though they may be!  They are nature's rosy, showy harbinger of the coming spring.  While I was trying to make most of the photos along Route 32 before the leaves on the trees came out -- in order to show the lay of the land more effectively -- I was grateful for the excuse to be out and about with the beauty of these trees.
      The first photos on today's post were made in the vicinity of a place where I was able to park my car, which is otherwise known as "my camera bag on wheels."

              TWO PHOTOS TO THE RIGHT:

            TWO TO THE LEFT:

       TWO ACROSS THE ROAD:

        It bears mentioning that this road runs mostly along a ridge. This makes for many good photo opportunities. However it also means that any major road construction impacts the health of the land around it. Runoff and debris can reach streams, just like what happens with coal mining.  There are wooded areas below this road that are known to be pristine and irreplaceable. They aren't so easily seen, but their loss would have a longterm impact on the natural environment that we human beings ignore at our peril.  What is the trade off for making a big road so that tourists can come to provide income to our area and the harming of the richness that the tourists would come to see?  Why does it always feel like we'd rather not worry about what we can't easily see or understand? After all, "we all live downstream" and we need to care for our one life and our one world.

      Anyway, next is another place where I could pull off the main road.  The photo shows a driveway on the left, and election signs:

     
     Route 32:

      
     and looking up the side road (Cold Springs Road):

        Moving farther east (and parking) along Route 32:

        These last two photos are along a straight stretch!  But notice the road sign indicating a curve ahead....  Feels like life.  Smooth going for awhile, then some curves.  Might as well enjoy some beauty along the way, noticing and appreciating what is actually around us instead of rushing through and passing it all by.

Please note:  I am going to be without my laptop for the next 8 days, so my next post will be delayed two days, until Tuesday the 20th.  Wish me luck being separated from my photos....

the current state of the natural art

post #186
      I thought Easter Sunday a good excuse to go into the woods to the creek early this morning to see what's new and what's now.  So here is a sharing of today's signs of early spring after a long winter; there's a lot not showing yet and a heavy cover of dried leaves.

THIS YEAR'S REDBUD, again with their amazing "flowers from the branch" act:

in the yard -- as of today our most advanced lilac bloom

These small dogwood blossoms are in the yard as well, and very new.

Our old faithful apple tree has only a few blossoms this spring!  A long winter....

I apologize for this image not being super sharp but I am sharing it anyway.  I love the progressive unfurling and the single pearl.  I believe these are some solomon's seal -- to be confirmed next week.

This is the SINGLE blooming trillium I saw, and it was near water. 

on a mud bank, just below the trillium

       I have had a recent request for some vertical tree or forest images, so I tried for a few additional ones this morning.  It is early in the season to get any kind of a vibrant look.

       I hope everyone has been having a fine weekend and a beautiful day today!  Our three remaining hens say cluck, cluck to you all, and aren't you glad we chickens lay eggs?  Writing this makes me realize we need to get some new Araucuna hens, the ones who lay blue eggs ready to go for Easter....