Friday Flowers

       My Friday flower search is becoming more difficult each week now with the numbers rapidly shrinking. Soon it will be down to the all winter flowers that seem to carry on anytime they can get their heads above the snow. I did find 19 species in bloom Friday compared to just over 30 by the end of last week.

        This is a tiny plant with a flower smaller than this photo, unless you are looking on a phone screen. It is called Henbit, Lamier amplexicaule in French or Lamium amplexicaule in Latin. According to notes on the internet (http://www.eattheweeds.com/henbit-top-of-the-pecking-order/) people can eat it but not sheep, horses, or cattle.

Sunset

        The colours of November are mostly in the sky. Here is another example. This was the sunset yesterday.

Winds of November

        The wind storm that came through last night gave us more firewood. There is a small dead elm down over the trail near our east Willow Pond, two Ash-leaf Maples down on the west side of the property and probably at least 30 or 40 smaller limbs down here and there around the property. It is always interesting to walk the trails after a wind storm.

        It is more and more difficult for me to find things of interest to photograph as we get into November. I do like colour and many of the colours are fading. This morning it was shape that caught my attention and, after I took the photo, I noticed that there were interesting colours in the background too.  I have centred out one pod on an Evening Primrose plant to put the photo emphasis on. I enhanced the single pod a bit by blurring the background with both the camera and then Photoshop. Just for the record, if anyone is interested, I also made the pod pop a bit more by using about 10% shading with the complementary colour in the background. I enjoy the art of photo enhancement  by using different setting on the camera and then adding a bit more to the effect with Photoshop.

Down Memory Lane

        I was looking at some old photos today. This is my oldest daughter back in October of 1975.

        The good news is that she has her daughter out in the fields and woods these days as much as we had her out way back then. It makes great memories for all of us.

        Today, November 17, 2013, there is at least one Spring Peeper calling from down in the ravine while the Canadian Geese fly and call on their way south way overhead. The grey of November is broken up by the browns and bronzes of the many goldenrod and aster fall stems and leaves.

Dandelions

        I have been looking closer at Dandelions for the last few years. On Friday I took a closeup photo of a Red-seeded Dandelion and today I took a photo of a Common Dandelion. Here is a composite of the two photos:

        The Red-seeded Dandelion flower is on the left and the Common Dandelion is on the right. There appears to be a remarkable difference in the sizes of the stigmas. I am not sure if this is always the case or just what I happened to photograph in these instances. More study and observation will be necessary.

        Meanwhile, for more information on the Dandelion, have a look at this website:

http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/indexmag.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artjun10/bj-dandelion.html