Friday Favorites

Here are a few of my favorite plant photos.

Cow Parsnip.  North Cascades.

Ice-encrusted rose bush. My house.

Lily. Mima Mounds Preserve.

Grasses growing at Slate Peak.

Water lily. Cambodia.

"Education is an admirable thing,"

...so wrote Oscar Wilde, "but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught."  (1894)
With as deeply entrenched in studying as i am of late, i sure hope the earlier is fully true, and the latter to a slightly lesser extent (given my current marriage to books).
Pictured here: lichen on a page of reading from summer quarter.

Happy Valentine's Day

These maidenhair ferns, seen alongside Baker Lake this past July, arranged themselves this way.  

Two images today, both from the Pacific Science Center.  We went in part to view the Harry Potter travelling exhibit, and  in part because it is (and always has been) one of my favorite places to visit and learn.
In the image above, note the striking wing colours and its amazing little eye.  You'll also notice that only four of its six legs is visible.  This is true, too, of the other butterfly.  I'm not sure why this is. In the image below, note the pattern in its eye, and the tightly curled up mouth part.

Wishing you a happy, happy holiday season.  And for tomorrow, Happy New Year!
A poinsettia, holding a bubble of water in its cupped bract; Wright Park Conservatory, Tacoma

Frozen Leaves

I'm sure you've seen those leaf skeletons, coated in shimmery metals.  We have several that we hang on our Christmas tree each year.  These oak leaves, frozen versions of the enegry-collecting green leaves of summer hung stiff and unnaturally still on their branches, just like those pretty little metallic leaf skeletons.

Icy Icicle Creek

In Leavenworth this December we took a walk along Icicle Creek and the Wenatchee River.  It was mid-morning, but so dark, the sun obscured by fog and low, thick clouds.  As the sky began to clear we were crossing one of the icy bridges and saw the sight you see here.
It reminds me of an image taken on a much warmer day, a sunny September morning on the Olympic Peninsula.

Well, hello there!

This curious little fellow was found in our yard, and seemed just as curious about its human observers as we were of it.

Summer's End

Early on a bright, clear and truly gorgeous Saturday morning, during Seattle's finest time of year, we headed east into the mountains toward wedding in Eastern Oregon.  As we crested the summit, our car forced us to stop and enjoy the scenery.  Sections of the highway were closed to allow for stabilization of the adjacent slopes, so the tow truck was painfully delayed.  We made it to a shop 30 miles away just before they closed for the weekend and while we waited for our ride back home we explored a bit.  Regrettably we missed the wedding.  The beautiful bright sky made a striking backdrop for these impossibly tall summer's end sunflowers.

I encountered these tiny cup lichen (Cladonia) on a decaying bit of branch nestled in the thick, carpety moss on the forest floor while seeking out a good spot to hang devices to snag martin hair for a population study with which i was helping.