~~~Bank Holiday Conundrum~~~

Gentle Reader ~~~ what do you think this is?  Please post your best guesses in the comments box, below.  I'm looking forward to reading them!

There are no prizes, although I am considering a give away in the near future, so keep a look out for that ~~~

If you are on Facebook, I'd love it if you would give the page a "like" over there. The more the merrier ~~~ click here ~~~ for more regular posts ~~~

I will not reply to the individual guesses, but will announce the closest, and declare what it is, in a week or so.  Shall we have a giggle now ~~~

COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED AND THE SOLUTION CAN BE FOUND HERE  ~~~ Were you close?


Sincerely yours
Deborah

The Wonder of Texture in The Garden

Gentle Reader ~~~ today I'm going to share some pictures that show the diversity of textures in the garden.  Some of them are quite mind opening, and I must warn you that, although there are no images of spiders, there is a very unusual web, so if you are squeamish about such things, well, you have been warned! {it is odd, I do not like spiders at all when they accost me in the house, but in the garden I'm reasonably okay with them ~~~ up to a point!} It is the last image, although other webs do appear earlier, and is just two images below the poppy, so you can stop as you approach the end if you need to ~~~

When I lived in Iceland, in those heady, distant days of 35mm 'real' film {which I miss greatly but find is now impossible to get developed without a great fuss and bother} I took an amazing number of photographs {I guess that was when my camera first became a natural extension of my right arm} which you can see a small handful here on Flickr.  That was when I first became aware of the infinite complexities of texture in nature.  In Iceland, it was mostly the rocks and water in many shapes and forms that captured my attention, but now, in the garden, it is the textures of leaves, stems, barks, and so much more that inspires me.  Texture is everywhere, it just took me a while to realise this.

When I moved into the digital age, two things happened.  First, the sheer size of the SD card capability, how many images this tiny miracle of science could hold, just blew me away {and I continue to be blown away as the capacities just get bigger and bigger}. No longer did I have to carry four or five spare rolls of film.  No longer did I have to worry was I loading a previously exposed roll of film by accident. No longer did I have to fret that I was on a photo shoot and I didn't have film in the camera {I think we have all been there and done that, sometimes the embarrassment and horror is worse than others though, such as the time I climbed a glacier ~ very red faced two hours later when I came to change the film that wasn't in the camera}; and second, the cost.  No longer costing around £10 per film to process and print, but I can peruse my many shots in the computer dark room, eliminating the blurred, out of focus, bad compositions, and any other disappointments, without having to pay to process unwanted frames, printing out only the ones I want to. Brilliant.

So, the more photographs I took, the more I saw, and slowly I suppose I found macro photography, which I now love and is my most favourite form.  I am a great admirer of the work of Georgia O'Keeffe and find her work influences me to look at things from a different angle too, so I spend a lot of time pushing my lens into the thick of things, finding that which can remain unhidden unless you go around with a magnifying glass! Not such a bad idea, actually ~~~

Across the seasons, the textures change, as flowers become seeds, as water freezes, as sun flickers and shadows are formed ~~~ nothing stays the same, and that is why my camera is always ready to capture these changes as often as I can ~~~

Here are just a few images to show the diversity of texture in the garden ~~~ {due to bad weather, and wanting to share as many different textures as possible, some of these are previously published by me} ~~~

Fine ridges and details on the flowers and leaves of a Morning Glory

Silvery, shiny, slippery frost encasing the decaying leaves of Autumn frozen for the Winter 

Fuzzy snow falls, dusting everything with white magical gowns

Feathery Fronds of Ferns Fibonacci and Fractal

A sea of frothy flowers of the Alchemilla mollis 

Fuzzily hairy leaves of the Mullein 

Incredibly fine and wispy hairy interiors of the Foxglove 

Ridges and prickly hairs of a courgette with a perfectly veined flower

Perfectly formed spider web covered in dew

Dew so big that the camera focuses on that, the web remains unseen, crystals magically hang in the air

Textures and colours of the bark of an apple tree

A very hairy and colourful poppy bud

A particular favourite poppy breaking bud is full of many textures

Crystals of dew form on the Alchemilla mollis

Crystal jewels glisten across the garden

Dew snared on grass seeds

A magical and mysterious picture

The same seed head, snared in a web, but taken a day earlier before the rain

A ripe, rosy red, shiny and glossy rose hip

Poppy seed heads ~ now they are plentiful and make great stamps too!

Frost~kissed tips of the Alchemilla mollis in Winter

Frost even enhances the lid of a compost bin!

Multi textured centre of a pollen covered poppy

Snared by a web, a single bloom from a Verbena Bonariensis, with a tiny dew drop

When I found this spider web, it pretty much blew me away. It is like a cellophane, or glassine sheet, wrapped around a spent buddleia spike, and it is pretty much completely waterproof and stretched taught, especially underneath. It is full of spiderlings, and probably the most spectacular texture I've seen in a long time.  Just think that Mamma spider spun a protective waterproof tent for her babies.

A spectacular spider's nest looks like a glassine case of protection

Mamma spider was nervously dancing about, behind a leaf, while I took it. Shudders ~~~

I could have shared a hundred pictures and more, but then, I fear, I would have lost you in the metaphorical mire!  I think you get the idea, though, that we are surrounded by all this wonderful texture, some of it so small we might easily miss it, such as the fine hairs on a stem, or the tiny grains of pollen on an anther.

Until next time ~~~

Sincerely yours,
Deborah

In Raiment Bright She Comes Again ~~~

Gentle Reader ~~~ do you feel it? Do you see it? Autumn is slowly seeping into the world once more.  For the last four years, she seems to be sweeping in, wearing her golden cloak with highlights of orange, red, and rust, earlier and earlier. For weeks now, I have sensed her magical presence.  Having been deprived {thankfully} of the searing heat of Summer, I welcome her with open arms {although some small vestige of Summer would have been both useful and welcomed}

Across the Shire, farmers are bringing in the crops; ancient farmsteads stand with full fields of baled hay awaiting Winter storage ~~~

Across the Fields to Farmsteads and Baled Hay

The sun is noticeably lower in the sky, and although Autumn is not officially meant to arrive for a few more weeks, we are now eight weeks past the Summer Solstice and the changes are felt. The nights are drawing in and the days are shorter, the evenings longer. Curtains are drawn across the west facing window of my cottage earlier than a few short weeks ago, closing out the darkening skies and sealing in the cosiness.  More books are being read and already I feel the need to eat more hearty soups and stews than the lighter salads of Summer. The clouds that scatter and scud occasionally give glorious sunsets at which I marvel in their diversity ~~~

how quickly they shift and change in colour ~~~

Red Sky At Night ~~~ Shepherd's Delight

and in a moment, the blaze is quenched as the sun sinks into the wide Atlantic deep.

The bounty of the garden and the hedgerows is shifting up a gear ~~~

Ruby Red Apples Ripen in the Warm Sunshine of Late Summer Days

and we are all out foraging and feeding from the bounty we are given ~~~

My Fierce Competition!

Soon there will be blackberries, for the brambles are sprawling and bursting forth ~ the flowers nearly spent and green berries waiting to turn to those juicy, deep purple berries of deliciousness ~~~

Tight buds taken a few weeks ago

How delicate the petals and the colours.

Each sprig of blooms promises of many berries to come.

I'm ready for my close up now.

Gorgeous colours!

The "Arty" Shot!

A lone berry ripens, but soon many more will follow.

Earlier, I forgot to share the Angel's Fishing Rod Dierama pulcherrimum
photographs, so here is one now ~~~ gently bobbing in the breeze and all dripping with early morning dew ~~~

One of my favourite flowers in the garden are the Japanese Wind Anemones. This is the time of year they begin to fill the borders where the Summer flowers are faded past their best and the ruby red hips of roses have not yet reached their glory ~~~ Here are some of the early flowers {this year I have observed that there are, sadly, not as many blooms as normal, but the plants are nearly six feet in height. They have never been so tall, so I wonder what is going on?} ~~~

The Whirling Dervish

So, Dear Friends, I sign off this lovely, gently sunny Sunday morning, for there are things to be done today that I must not put off ~~~ and it is such a lovely day it will be hard to put my mind to tasks at hand ~~~ oh! fiddle~dee~dee! ~~~ the weather is too fine to spend indoors, so the garden wins today ~~~

Until next time ~~~
Sincerely yours
Deborah