after the rain

a couple days of rain, and immediately my eyes start keying in on different things. a little wet saturation tranfsorms the intentionally dull into temporary scene stealers.

lichen covered pine branches

white on white

this owl feather was a perfect specimen. the problem is that i photograph against a white background. so today i had to find a dark background. i tried a piece of driftwood, an oak leaf, the grass of my front lawn, and, finally, a rough textured stone. it was worth the search. look at those downy fibers. look at those dark, vibrant bars of color.

beach rock and found feather

on impermanence

one of my neighbors plants sunflowers every year in that little patch of soil, about one meter wide, that sits between the sidewalk and the street. the sunflowers grow from seed to almost 3 meters tall in one season. they make me smile. and they make me laugh. their spectacular height is so incongruous with the tiny patch of soil they occupy. for most of august they stand erect and proud in all their golden radiant glory. then, one day, they start to yield. to the wind. to gravity. to the elements. and it is on this day that i find them the most beautiful.

sunflower

spent

the beginning of the end of summer.

bee balm (monarda)

late summer dreams

i am not yet ready for the saturated primary colors of autumn. but the dreamsicle-like orange of this just-starting-to-turn sumac is….well, dreamy. and yummy. and now excuse me, while i head up tp my local grocery store to see if they still make dreamsicles.

early autumn sumac