One two three...onward

Monday Monday. Who loves Mondays? Tuesdays, Wednesdays...oh bother...I started this on Monday and it fell into Tuesday...and I landed on Wednesday...

Rain. Sunshine, repeat. That is what April showers are all about.

Moss continues to be the big attraction out in the forest. Phoebe loves macro photography and she loves mosses. Why not?

She sees mosses as delicate little flowers that no one appreciates.

She really enjoys seeing the small world through the camera lens.

But I think she should be more aware of her surroundings, don't you?

While I was out on Sunday morning, I found a dandelion! Actually I found two of them just starting in the pasture. They were pretty small.

Since I had my macro lens on, I thought I'd even get closer. I don't mind laying down in the dirt and grass. This is one of the reasons I wear coveralls.

Closer....
I chose black and white to accent the curly parts of the flower that carry pollen. There are cool names for these but I would never remember them.

Even...

closer!

I felt like this was pretty interesting. Most folks don't give a dandelion a second thought. Photographers love dandelions though. They go through so many changes quickly and there is an easy access to them as they are found everywhere.

My yard pony loves the dandelion flowers. If I stake him out where the dandy's grow, he carefully walks around and eats all the blossoms first.

Apparently, he thinks they are delicacies.

I ordered my cot for the living room. It arrives on Friday. I decided to get a new blanket and dress up that part of the living room with new curtains. Me oh my! I got a matching blanket and curtains! How special am I? 

The cot is easy to fold up and move. I did want one for watching the stars from the porch, so it will have more than one purpose. It may even become a 'guest' cot at some point.

Here is a shot of the curtains along with the blanket draped over the old Captain's Chair I need to find a place for...

Bear approved of it. The window behind the chair will have matching curtains also. It will be my 'open' concept sleeping area and I suppose could double as a 'seating' area [since I always have so many people visiting!].

and then Tuesday went right by and suddenly I woke up Wednesday....

Yesterday, was farrier day with Danny. This shot is from 9 years ago when Danny started working on our animals under the close eye of his dad, Dan. Danny has become an incredible farrier and blacksmith. He carries his portable blacksmith shop in a specialized trailer he had built. 

I don't have any photos of him from yesterday. I was busy chatting and holding the mules.

Before supper, I took a few minutes to trot out to the woods to see if I could find any Virginia Spring Beauties.

They are just barely popping in my woods. 

I even found a Mayflower! It isn't very tall yet, I stuck a Lego Gator and his toy bunny along side. The Mayflower was about 2 inches tall.

So I am closing this out and heading into Wednesday.

tiny tiny Tiny

We had a hard frost Sunday morning. I thought I'd take a walk to the creek and around the pastures to see if I could find anything 'frosty' and cool. 

I pulled out my 30mm macro lens. The one that you have to get down and dirty with. Well, not really down and dirty ~ but only if you want to...and I often can be found nearly laying in the dirt or on the forest floor bugs be damned. 

First let me say that we have an incredible forest around us. There is so much to see that it is overwhelming. I have to go to the ridge to get a landscape shot. The woods becomes a place of little things to notice and see. The tiny flowers, the moss, the lichen, the fungi, and the insects. I seem to notice and enjoy finding the little things sometimes more than the Big Picture.

Here is a dandelion from the yard on Saturday. Those little curls just beg to be photographed. The flower on its own isn't impressive, but what is inside it...is.

[Shot with the microscopic feature on my TG6 Olympus pocket camera.]

I have no idea what kind of insect this is, but it has pollen on it from the dandelion so I imagine it uses it as food? Shot with the 30mm lens. The frustration of this lens is my inability to 'get' all of the insect in focus.

So I went searching for frosty things and bugs. The sky was unremarkable other than the sun just coming up. I spotted a doe who whistled at me and ran off. But I was more interested in the tiny things I could find.

I was pretty excited over the dandelions. When I showed these to Rich his reaction was rather ambivalent. 

The ice crystals were pretty damned awesome.

I decided to head on down into the woods and see what I could find along the creek. Was it warmer near the creek? Or was it colder? 

My shadow in the frosted pasture.

It took me a while to get to the creek. I kept stopping to peer at tiny flowers coming up and looking at the violets that were still closed against the cold. Berry briars had frost on some leaves as did the multi floral rose bushes. 

The sun was peeking into the creek and a tiny bit of steam was rising from the water. By mid summer this creek will be obscured with Jewel Weed and other plants. The view in early spring is always amazing.

I went in search of moss. Who would have guessed?

This type of moss had leaves like cups that caught the moisture in the air. I thought this was ingenious. No wonder moss could live through droughts. This moss was just above the creek on a rock.

And this moss was on another piece of wood. I noted that it was 'flowering'. Well they really don't flower but do release spores. The blue is the creek just below the moss covered log. I have NO idea what type of moss it is. 

Imagine my delight to find some more moss that looked like the little spore things had exploded!

I think the proper name for this may be Sporophyte but do not hold me to it.

Here it is cropped in tighter....

I also found many ferns beginning to unfurl. The maidenhair fern is one of my favorites but I found about four different kinds.

I do like tiny things. That world is so fascinating.

Looking forward to today's weather as we are supposed to warm up to nearly 70!