Sunday, April 3, 2011

Tiny spring wonders in Adams and Scioto Counties...

Friday I headed to Shawnee State Forest rooted in the beautiful Appalachian foothills of southeast Ohio for a tiny vacation! I spent the day wondering and walking the Shawnee trails before hooking up up with a group of Flower Hunters and nature bloggers on Saturday at Adams Lake State Park. I learned so much..and saw so many tiny and beautiful spring wildflowers...and met so many wonderful people. I loved being part of the spring wildflower foray. I'm back at home, and since it's 62 and sunny right now, I'm going to skip out to Fort Ancient to see if I can find any of the tiny and beautiful wildflowers I learned about yesterday. Here's just a taste of what I saw...there will be more to come this week.

...a beautiful White Trout Lily, one of the largest flowers we saw, drips with pollen.

Up close, the colors glow...

When you lay on the ground and study the delicate petals, you feel the quiet softness of beauty. The mind slows down, time slows down...it's very soothing. I wonder if there is a restorative practice documented as flower gazing. If there isn't, there should be! :-)

Erythronium albidum
Since Matty is learning Latin, I'm trying to take a stab at it too. Hopefully I can slowly add the scientific names to my vocabulary.

...nothing says spring like the P word!

14 comments:

Bob Bushell said...

A beautiful flower and photographer.

Jain said...

Stupendously stunning images!

Lois Evensen said...

Oh, my, those are so gorgeous. Just wonderful.

FAB said...

It's a different world that close to the ground Kelly. I'm waiting for Erythroniun 'Pagoda' to open its spring lantern any day now.

Montanagirl said...

It's so beautiful and delicate. Great camera work, Kelly!

Carol Mattingly said...

Gorgeous. Just gorgeous. Love the close up. Wow is that flower sporting a ton of pollen! Carol

Janice K said...

Wow! All the extra color in that tiny little flower that most of us have never seen before. Your pictures always show us so much more that we normally see. I guess that is why I enjoy your blog so much! Thanks!

Roy said...

Superb macros Kelly.

Kathy McDonald said...

Beautiful pictures and paintings too. Looking forward to seeing more, makes me want to go back and look at everything all over again..with a hand lens. Thanks Kelly.

Roy said...

Excellent macro work, Kelly! As for y=the P word... aaaaaachooooo!!

Kjell T. Evensen said...

Just beautiful. Close ups open up to a new dimension.

Marie said...

Mmmm, trout lilies. When I lived in Ann Arbor we had them growing, wild I suppose, under a burning bush in the back yard. I've only seen them in bloom once since then, along a trail in May at a nature center near Pontiac. Thanks for the treat!

Tammie Lee said...

pollen on the petals, so lovely
intimate captures...

Laure Ferlita said...

The joy in your words from a day well spent comes through loud and clear! Love the images and the visual image of you "skipping over" to your favorite hunting grounds.