Category: Plants

Black and White and Minimalist

This week, PR is our host for Leanne’s Monochrome Madness, and has chosen Minimalism. Look at PR’s post on the subject to see some fine examples. I didn’t find this too easy. But I had a go.

Fog can be our friend here …

… as can dusk …

… and a flying machine to keep the lampost company. Otherwise it’s all about the natural world.

Here are a few plants that might work.

I found some peacock feathers …

… a bird or two …

… cherry blossom …

…and a solitary tree at Brimham Rocks, spotted last week.

I’ve a feeling these are only a little bit minimalist. Why don’t you have a go, and do much better? Link your post to PR and to Leanne’s post, at the links above and we’ll all come and have a look.

Astonishment and Awe

Instructions for living a life:

Pay attention

Be astonished

Tell about it

Mary Oliver

For this week’s Lens Artist Challenge, Beth asks us to show shots of what has astonished us, and takes her inspiration from this short poem by Mary Oliver.

For some reason, my mind was drawn back to Lockdown. For us, Daily Exercise was one of the pleasures of that peculiar time. Country dwellers, we could range freely over our home patch without meeting a soul. And here, it happened to be a wonderful spring, where plants, birds and all life could flourish in balmy temperatures and just the right amount of rain.

Walking by myself down deserted paths – M was exploring on his bike – I discovered Wonder and Astonishment anew. Day by day, I could watch leaves unfurl from tightly-bound buds; flowers appear; lambs totter their first hesitant steps.

I had the leisure to enjoy the intricately-designed feathers of a common-or-garden mallard, or the complexity of dandelion petals.

Best of all, creatures we rarely saw close up crossed my path. Who expects to stumble by a toad on a riverside stroll? Or, best of all, come across shy curlews nesting within a foot of a normally well-used road across the moors.

Skies, undefaced by plane trails seemed more multi-faceted and interesting. And back home, day after day, hour after hour, from dawn until darkness, this thrush gave an apparently unending performance with almost no breaks.

Such a time of loneliness, grief and isolation for many remains in my memory a period of joy in the rediscovery of the astonishment offered by the countryside just outside our front door.

Leaves and Petals?

It’s November, so leaves and petals in the UK have largely done a bunk. Still, maybe I can find a little spring and summer time cheer in the archives, and fulfill my obligations to Monochrome Madness‘ host this week, Dawn; as well as to Becky’s NovemberShadows.

The header photograph includes both: tulip leaves shafting upwards, and topped by the simple clean lines of the tulip flower.

For the rest, it’s a miscellany that took my fancy. But all are either in shadow, or casting a shadow. So first … leaves…

… and flowers…

And finally, a doughty dandelion, flourishing on a brick wall in the gardens of Beningbrough Hall, near York. How it nourished all those leaves and petals is quite beyond me.

Last on the Card: First Crocuses of Spring

Spotted in the graveyard of the village parish church . At last! The poor crocuses have been firmly shut and shivering against the cold, but on the last day of February, they dared to be a little bolder.

And I can’t resist showing you the shot just before that one. We were busy making Seville Orange Gin last week. Steep the peel and sugar in gin now, and it’ll be ready in time for Christmas, or preferably the one after that. Even better the one afer that …

For Brian’s Last on the Card.

(Nearly) Silent Sunday

Look what I spotted while strolling through the village yesterday. And us int’ Frozzen North an’ all.

Silent Sunday.

PS. I’m aware that on mobile phones (certainly Android ones anyway) the featured photo never displays to readers. Is there a way of fixing this? Either as a poster, who would prefer their photo to be visible, or as a reader of the posts of others? I’ve tried to research this, with no success.

Rushing Round Two Nature Reserves

Our local Nature Reserves tend to be chilly in December. Especially when, as today, the wind is making its presence felt. Best to rush round the bulrushes and hurry home for a mug of hot chocolate. Sunny days, though, are available, for a gentler amble. My header photo is from Nosterfield on a sunny day. A wintry trip to Staveley was distinctly nippy,

For Debbie’s One Word Sunday: Rush

Springtime is i-cumen in

I went down to fetch the paper yesterday morning, and what should I see but … snowdrops, as shown in the featured photo.

Spring, and after that sumer is i-cumen in, as we’ve known since the 13th century at least. Our choir loves to sing about this – and no, the video below is not our band of singers.

And if snowdrops are here, can daffodils be far behind?

Going to Seed

In this week’s Nature Photo Challenge, Denzil has asked us to focus on seedheads. You won’t get any more ripened seeds in one place than in a field of cereal crops awaiting harvest. Here’s a local example in my header photo.

And here are some close-ups of barley and wheat.

And here’s a gallery of their wild cousins – grasses. Not one of which I can more accurately identify. Any offers?

Then there’s cow parsley -or a close relation. It can be yielding its seed, perhaps in the midst of a field of crops round about now, or picturesquely hosting a spider’s web in misty November.

At this time of year too there’s rosebay willow herb: it seems to develop seed pods earlier every year. Here are some at a local reservoir, Grimwith.

And finally and almost inevitably, teasel.