Ghostly pale beeches,
Leaves like skeletal remains
Scritching in spring's gusts
On this special day, Earth day, it's important to consider ALL our living creatures, even those we cannot see. I'm talking about tardigrades, which are amazing microscopic creatures living in our soils, resilient enough to be able to survive radiation. They're micro-animals also known as water bears, though bears they are not. They're chubby little critters with telescoping legs that look as if they might have inspired sci-fi and fantasy monsters.
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Popular Science Science Photo Library/Getty Images |
This 0.02 inch creature (about the size of the period at the end of this sentence) lives in mosses, lichens, as well as soil and leaf litter as a nutrient recycler. They can suspend their metabolism, so are not affected by extremes. I've never seen one, but there can be "as many as 300,000 per square metre" in soil, or "over 2 million per square metre" on mossy substrates! Wikipedia
We have to stop destroying them willy-nilly with our thoughtless land use upheaval practices - their capabilities to handle extremes may help us save our planet one day. They are already helping us learn how to counter the effects of radiation treatments. Though they are practically indestructible, they have one weakness - hot water, which can kill them.
On this Earth Day, resolve to give nature and all living things more than a passing thought on a regular basis.
The solution to yesterday's puzzle pic: droplets of squeezed lime juice that have my kitchen light reflected in them. I have to say, they looked like beautiful pearls on the indents in my glass juicer, so I thought I had to capture them. It's no wonder it takes me so long to prepare meals!
What a major contrast in 3 days!
From this gorgeously vibrant and colorful scene on April 9
to this monochromatic prettiness on April 12I loved these lines from Nnedi Okorafor's "Death of the Author" a book of metafiction that was very intriguing, despite sci-fi not being my thing:
"Author, art and audience all adore one another. They create a tissue, a web, a network. No death is required for this form of life.
Creation flows both ways."
For gosh sakes! On April 10 we developed an icy crust on some parts of our cove before the sun spread some warmth. While it made for some beautiful, patterns, it wasn't appropriate for this time of year, in my opinion!
Woohoo, my first flower bud for 2025 ... a tiny bluet. At first I thought it might be an ice crystal
I had to do a double take when I saw the URL on this sign - my brain interpreted it as boobstransit! What a funny thing the brain is ...
This dry leaf coil happens to be 'upstaged' by the perfectly manufactured one in the background.
We found this firefly whilst having our first campfire in early April. This unique 'lightning bug' does not have the ability to light up! It's known as the winter firefly and is active during the day.
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Photo: D Schultz |
(Hat tip to Aldous Huxley for the title)
Brave little hatchlings,
Insects-to-be in new worlds
Treacherous, unknown.
An eerie light settled in after a recent snowfall - there's a yellow-sepia tinge to everything that is quite compelling to indulge in.
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Amidst it all is this beautiful snow covered tree stump mimicking a snowflake or star.
Look at how similar these crack patterns in the ice are to tree shadows
Snow curlicues - how elegant!
I don't know whether to call this a window decoration or web décor, quite frankly. It's the remains of prey in a spiderweb that I can see through my window.
Just as I was gloating over a return to a varied color palette, I was greeted again by this vision. It was expected, so not too shocking, but dang, I want to see more green settle in.
We've had a crowd of wood ducks (or is it a lumberyard, Dale suggests) and ring-neck ducks enjoying the seclusion and habitat our cove and breakwater offers.
This is so picturesque!
The close up pic from yesterday is a beautiful fringed rosette lichen (Physcia stellaris) - magnificent! The intricate beauty and varied surface is stunning.
I love the look of these dimples (or blotches) in the changing ice - it's the imperfections that make it interesting.
What a difference a day makes!
This unusual native plant, the cutleaf grapefern (Sceptridium obliquum form, I believe) is sometimes referred to as an fern ally, not a true fern though it is fern-like. It's related to the more widespread rattlesnake fern, and grows underground for 8 years, establishing a network with mycorrhizal fungi in the soil before producing a frond above ground, one each year.
It is extremely beneficial to plants like this that we not destroy soil structure by digging and turning. Having an underground developmental time of 8 years before coming to the surface puts these organisms at risk of being destroyed when we disturb soils. I have had 2 occur in my yard since living here! So pleasing! Look at the beautiful glossy leaves.
Like orchids, their growing conditions are highly dependent on specific mycorrhizal networks, and are well nigh impossible to propagate artificially - leave them where they are and enjoy them.
After my recent reveling in the snow melt, spring gave in to winter's pressure and presented us with this dramatic monochromatic lake scene (complete with a cruising loon).
Thankfully, we were expecting this event, so it seemed more acceptable - a last hurrah, possibly? This is how it looked most of the day.
It was about 4 inches, but it fell on clear ground and liquid water, so it shouldn't hang around too long.