Beautiful or interesting

My criteria for a STILL blog subject is that it has to be beautiful or interesting (to me). Sometimes I get lucky, and the subject is both beautiful and interesting. Cottonwood catkins are not beautiful. But they are interesting (to me). Cottonwoods are dioecious, meaning individual trees are either male or female. This is a male catkin. Female catkins become green beaded “capsules” that open in early summer to release white, cottony seeds. Cottonwood trees like water, and here in the North where we have a lot of water, so the trees tend to get quite large–up to 100 feet tall. Matter of fact, on the open prairies of the midwest, the presence of cottonwood trees on the horizon often meant a water source was nearby.

Eastern cottonwood catkins (Populus deltoides)

White in black

White subjects were always tricky on the white STILL background. I tended to avoid them. I eventually developed some techniques that allowed me to capture most of the white subjects I wanted. But this new black background is tailor made for white subjects. My mind races with opportunity: trilliums, peonies, daisies, roses, (any white flowers!), eggs, feathers, shells, bones, mushrooms, even snow and ice! It makes one swoon. But for now, I present a humble circle of white hydrangea florets.

dried white hydrangea florets

P.S. My Merlin App captured 26 birds this morning in the 10 minutes while I was making my morning tea! Do you use Merlin? I adore it.

Before the green curtain descends

Making the most of my dried specimens before summer’s green curtain descends. I adore horsetail. Here is just a few of the reasons why:

Modern horsetails first appeared during the Jurassic period.
The group is now almost extinct, but one genus survives: Equisetum is the only living genus of horsetails.
Horsetails are native on all continents except Australasia and Antarctica.
Horsetail was one of the most important plant groups in the Palaeozoic era.
They are seen in the coal measures of the Carboniferous period, and some were trees reaching up 30 metres.
They are vascular plants that reproduce by spores and not by seeds.
The name horsetail came because the branched species somewhat look like a horse’s tail.

dried horsetail stems (Equisetum)

In praise of shadows

I am still feeling my way into workin on black. Playing. Experimenting. Trying to coax light and shadow to bend to my artistic vision. I am having fun.

Hiding in plain site

Look at all that color! I picked all of these budding stems today on a one-hour walk along Grass Lake with my best friend Kristin. If you weren’t paying attention, you could think it’s still all gray and brown here in Minnesota. But not at all! I love that I can still be astonished walking my same trails every year :-)

collection of early spring buds: cottonwood, dogwood, red maple, pussywillow, unidentified, red elderberry, forsythia, dogwood, cottonwood