A few close-ups for Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge. Not a lot of color, but spring is on the way!
CMMC March Close-up: Branches in Early Spring
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Tag Archives: Spring
CMMC April Letter: “E” at the Beginning or Ending of a Word
Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge is to share photographs illustrating words beginning or ending with the letter ‘e’. I considered words that begin and end with “e” – envelope and epistle made my short list – but opted to use photos I’ve taken in the last week.
The tricycle in the first picture is hanging upside down next to a four bicycles which are also dangling from the ceiling. Another fun find at a friend’s farm!
This gate made me chuckle since there is no fence on either side. I wonder if it is newly installed since I don’t remember it on earlier visits to Reiman Gardens. Perhaps something magically wonderful happens for those who walk through it.
The goslings have hatched! I first saw the nest in early April so it was fun to see the parental geese and their young.
Once on the pond, the little ones practiced how to dive under the water. Notice the splash one made in the final photo.
CMMC: April Close-Up or Macro
As I looked at photos I took at Reiman Gardens last Saturday (April 3, 2021), I found three of the same tree that I think work for the April’s Close-Up or Macro Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge.
The shapes and patterns of both the flower buds and the unopened leaves are interesting.
But it was probably the color of the leaves that first caught my eye.
Because I knew I’d never remember it is a Wayfaring Tree Viburnum, I snapped a picture of the identification tag!
FOTD: Ornamental Flowering Pear Trees
I don’t know about you, but for me these days of COVID-19 pandemic seem to run one into another. Just the other day I said something about going to a niece’s High School graduation. My best beloved asked, “Where?” He was genuinely disappointed when I said we would go virtually like we go nearly everywhere else.
Stepping outside the house helps keep – or restore – some sanity. Even on overcast, gray days the natural world is keeping its beautiful annual transformation.
THREE CONSECUTIVE SATURDAYS
One set of Ornamental Flowering Pear Trees.
The trees are pretty when driving or walking by.
But I think the individual blossoms are prettier!
Even after the petals fall off, the remaining sepals, pistils and stamens have a beauty of their own. Notice the silhouettes against the sky.
Hoping you are able to step outside and see something beautiful today.
Posted, in part, in response to Cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge.
FOTD: Flowering Crabapple
Though delinquent in posting anything to my blog, I have taken some photos in the last three weeks! These are of the same flowering crab apple tree on three consecutive Saturday mornings. Spring is fading into summer.
Posted, in part, in response to Cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge.
Spring Leaves
The wind is blowing.
Again.
Or, maybe, still.
I thought about taking pictures of new leaves today.
But the tree branches won’t stay still.
So these pictures from Saturday’s stroll will have to suffice.
Posted in response to Cee’s FOTD challenge.
And because flowers and leaves always bring a smile to my face.
Photo Challenge – Hope
“Oh, they’re back,” I thought as one Canada goose stood at attention and honked at me to stay away. Another was floating in the run-off pound. A third was sitting on the nest. Canada Geese don’t seem to ever fully leave this area; my thought had to do with the nest.
It’s a sign of hope. The pond used to be an excellent place for a goose to raise a family. Four or five years ago there would be six or more goslings there. Occasionally the parental units would stop traffic to march the young ones across the street to the larger neighborhood pond.
But then a medical building went up just south of it. And now new condos are being built to the west. I saw the geese and their nest a year ago. But never did see any goslings. Hope springs eternal.
The nest was my first thought for the Tuesday Photo Challenge of HOPE. So I grabbed the camera when my best beloved and I headed out for a walk yesterday. One Canada goose was on the nest; a pair of mallard ducks was nearby.
The walk itself – with proper physical distancing from whoever else might be out – provides a bit of hope in this era of COVID-19 pandemic. Getting out of the house to enjoy sunshine and blue sky is as much for our mental health as it is for physical well-being.
An annual sign of hope are swelling leaf buds. I marvel at the variety. Here are a few pictures from our corner of the world on the last day of March.
Late Spring Leaves
No lightening, no thunder, no dark clouds this morning. So I went for a walk down the neighborhood bike trail, pausing to take pictures of late spring leaves. I’m always a bit surprised by the colors and continue to be amazed at how new leaves unfold.
Silver Maple. Photo: TLClark. Woodland Reserve, Ankeny, Iowa. 5/30/19.
Swamp While Oak. Photo: TLClark. Woodland Reserve, Ankeny, Iowa. 5/30/19.
Photo: TLClark. Woodland Reserve, Ankeny, Iowa. 5/30/19.
Quaking Aspen. Photo: TLClark. Woodland Reserve, Ankeny, Iowa. 5/30/19.
Spring Leaves
A few more leaf pictures from Thursday’s morning walk.
Photo: TLClark, 5/2/19.
So little!
So colorful!
Photo: TLClark, 5/2/19.
Such strange flowers / seeds hanging below the leaves.
Photo: TLClark, 5/2/19.
Such shapes!
Such texture!
Photo: TLClark, 5/2/19.
Leaves and sky and water.
Leaves over Woodland Reserve Pond, Ankeny, Iowa. Photo: TLClark, 5/2/19.
A Photo a Week Challenge: Three of a Kind
Have you looked, really looked, at leaves on trees in the springtime?
As in walk over to a tree and examine the little bits of green growing on the branches?
New leaves are AMAZING!
Tiny New Leaves. Photo: TLClark, 5/2/19.
Tiny and perfectly shaped.
Reaching for sunlight.
Connected to branch to trunk to earth.
New Leaves Reaching Upward. Photo: TLClark, 5/2/19.
Growing from branches old and new.
Unfurling as they expand.
Ready to dance in a breeze.
*******
Thank-you, Nancy Merrill, for this week’s photo challenge:
… take three photos of the same subject, but from different angles or distances or whatever. This will give you the chance to look at your subject in a lot of different ways. This is the only rule, so have fun.
The pictures are from yesterday’s morning walk (to see post click here). There are more leaf pictures to come!
Another LQQK 