Earth Day 2018

I love you Earth

Earth is beautiful,

You is beautiful,

I is beautiful,

Sky is beautiful,

Land is beautiful,

Ocean is beautiful,

Plant is beautiful,

Animal is beautiful,

Insect is beautiful,

Bird is beautiful.

The world rejoices

~C. Hever

Tiny flowers

This afternoon, I discovered these tiny flowers blooming in my yard. For reference, the tiny flowers are surrounded by pine straw so you can get a sense of their diminutive size. A nice surprise on this lovely afternoon.

Also observed a migrating Monarch butterfly, the first of the season, flying diligently north.

Silver dollar plant

Does anyone remember as a child being fascinated by silver dollar plants or money plants? Those silver dollar size papery flat pods on long stems? I was. My grandmother grew them and would cut the silvery discs from her flower garden and hand them out to the grandchildren. A warm memory. Years later, remembering those plants, I decided to grow my own. Here's a photo of the beautiful flower of the silver dollar plant and just to the right of the flower the beginning growth of the silver dollar seed pod. When I visit the plant in my garden, I always think of my grandmother.

Apple blossoms

Apple blossoms blooming in my yard. Also saw my first dragonfly of the season yesterday and, this morning, a butterfly and a Carolina Anole puffing out his cherry-red dewlap in mating behavior.

Earth Day 2017

I love you Earth

Earth is beautiful,

You is beautiful,

I is beautiful,

Sky is beautiful,

Land is beautiful,

Ocean is beautiful,

Plant is beautiful,

Animal is beautiful,

Insect is beautiful,

Bird is beautiful.

The world rejoices

Early spring delights

A quiet and peaceful walk around the trails of the North Carolina Botanical Garden revealed some early blooms and foragers.

The pretty goblet-like cups of Carolina Silverbells.

A bumble bee seeking nectar from the Silverbells.

A delicate and nearly ephemeral early Iris.

A trillium in lovely ruby and green variegated colors.

And an amusing surprise awaited along one of the trails.

A whimsical woodland creature, out and about, enjoying nature as much as me.

2016 A Photographic log, Part II

Frittalaria, North Carolina Botanical Garden, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Wild Maine blueberries, Acadia National Park, Maine

Rain forest, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee

White-marked tussock moth caterpillar (Orgyia leucosstigma)
Holly Springs, North Carolina

Shasta daisy, Holly Springs, North Carolina

Trillium grandiflorum, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina

Mark Island lighthouse, Winter Harbor, Maine

Fall migrating Monarch butterfly, Holly Springs, NC

Mountain stream, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee

Prickly pear cactus bloom, Holly Springs, North Carolina

Shelf fungus on a log, Acadia National Park, Maine

Yellow-bellied slider, American Tobacco Trail, Durham, North Carolina

Tiny cabin, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee

Black rat snake, American Tobacco Trail, Durham, North Carolina

A tree root hugging an oval rock, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee