Say Cheese!

I happened upon this dragonfly in a local marsh I frequent and it allowed me to slip up rather close and set up my camera without moving. With somewhat harsh light, I began to snap a few shots and the wind was just enough to cause my subject to blurr just a bit from the movement. After a few shots, I noticed that the dragonfly would open and close it's eyes. This was just the coolest thing I had seen in a while so I set about to capture it closing it's eyes. This was harder than I thought as it was a very quick motion. But then as if it knew it was being photographed, it posed for me with what could be called a most inviting pose and grin and then held it's eyes closed long enough for me to snap the last shot before it decided the pay wasn't good enough for all the stress. Ha Ha!

          I believe this to be a male Blue Dasher.   Eyes open.

              Say Cheese, Please!    Isn't that the cutest grin!

           Thank you!     Eyes closed.

"Deep in the sun-searched growths the dragonfly

hangs like a blue thread loosened from the sky."

  Dante Gabriel Rossetti(1828-1882): English Poet, Illustrator, and Painter

Sunset from Mt. LeConte!

At 6600+ feet elevation, Cliff Top is the western point on the summit of Mt. LeConte in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. After eating a delicious meal prepared by the lodge crew, most guests elect to make the short .2 of a mile hike out to Cliff Top to watch the sun set. On this particular day the clouds tried to mask the sun but they could not prevent a beautiful sunset. The sun had it's due inspite of the cloud cover. It is really an awesome experience to set and watch the subtle changes that occur as the sun, clouds and mountains interact and dance their magic for the eyes to behold.

                           These shots were taken within a few minutes of each other looking across
                                the peaks and valleys of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

                                As the day slowy gives way to the coming night, the last rays spread
                                          their beauty across the mountains in one last hoorah!

 
                                        And the bright white light softly filtered by the clouds

changes before our eyes to a warm yellow and gold

                                   before fading into that orange glow marking the end of another
                                                   beautiful day in God's wonderful creation.
                           

Oh, Great Spirit

Whose voice I hear in the winds,

And whose breath gives life to all the world,

hear me, I am small and weak,

I need your strength and wisdom.

Le me walk in beauty and make my eyes ever behold

the red and purple sunset.

Make my  hands respect the things you have

made and my ears sharp to hear your voice.

Make me wise so that I may understand the things

you have taught my people.

Let me learn the lessons you have

hidden in every leaf and rock.

I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother,

but to fight my greatest enemy - myself.

Make me always ready to come to you

with clean hands and straight eyes.

So when life fades, as the fading sunset,

my Spirit may come to you without shame.

Native American Prayer

And Comes The Light!

Morning is a special time. A time when light pushes away darkness and the world comes to life. A time of peace and tranquility for the soul. A time of beauty and inspiration. A cycle that continues its march to the beating drums of time.

And Comes The Light 

Gentle rays of morning sun

Slipping eerily through the trees

Causing darkness to make its run

And hide beneath the leaves

A hint of warmth spreading fair

Touching dew from night before

A wisp of steam upon the air

Giving way to mornings door

Pass on through my gentle light

Light the path for day to come

Chase away thy starry night

With wings upon thy beating drum

©  Randy J. Schultz     August 18, 2011

Green Thumb of Nature!

I know, I know, another bee on a flower picture! Hey, what can I say. I just love the relationship between the insects and the flowers. It is an amazing cycle of dependence, mutual benefits, and life, that I struggle to understand in more detail.



                                     Yellow Cone Flower - Rudbeckia laciniata

These beautiful flowers were adorning the summit of Mt. LeConte 

on a recent hike up to the Mt. LeConte Lodge for an overnight stay. 

Nature has the most awesome green thumb!  



"Tis my faith that every flower

Enjoys the air it breathes!"                                              

William Wordsworth(1770-1850): English Romantic Poet                                                                       

A Priestly Flower?

I got to go back to one of my favorite places this past week and that was LeConte Lodge on top of Mt. LeConte near Gatlinburg, TN. The lodge is at 6593' elevation and is a wilderness lodge and is only accessible by foot. The shortest trail to the lodge is 5 miles and the longest is just over 8 miles. The flowers were in full bloom around the lodge area and I added another beauty to my list of flowers I have never seen(or at least never noticed) before. These were growing right beside the dinning hall along with Bee Balm and Yellow Coneflowers. 

Monkshood  -  Aconitum uncinatum

The flower is shaped similar to a Monks hood.

 It has been used as an external pain reliever but is considered         

poisonous. Indians used this flower as a poison for their arrow tips.

"Nature is the art of God."

     Thomas Browne(1605-1682): English Author in various fields including medicine, religion and science.

A Bloom For A Day!

A beautiful, large flower that is related to Althaea officinalis which is a plant brought from Europe from which marshmallows were originally made. Each bloom may reach 8" across.  

                                Swamp Rose Mallow - Hibiscus moscheutos

Today, marshmallows are made from corn syrup and gelatin.

Each flower of the Mallow bloom for only one day and then they fade away. Most plants have many flowers that open sequentially, giving the apperance of the blooms lasting much longer.

“Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature.”

    Gerard de Nerval(1808-1855): French poet

Beauty With a Purpose! The Passionflower

For those flower loving friends out there, do you ever ask why some flowers are shaped the way they are? Well, I ask that question when I took this first photo of a Passionflower, Passion Vine or Maypops as some call them. Why all the elaborate setup of the pistil and stamens? 

Passiflora incarnata 

It all seems like a lot of overkill! Why not something simple like some of the other flowers? 

 Well I know there is a more technical anwser but the next picture I took a few days later gave me the anwser I was looking for.What we look at as beauty, the flower definitely has a purpose in mind for the elaborate display and setup.

Below a carpenter bee lands and is drawn by the pretty rose color of the corona for a possible treat of nectar and at the same time look at where the back of the bee is in relation to the anther of the stamen. Right in perfect position to transfer and receive the pollen from the accumulation on the bee's back. Is this not the perfect design? The anther is shaped perfectly to be touched by the bee when it lands on the flower seeking the nectar it loves. 

Fruit of the Passionflower or Maypop. I remember as a kid finding these along the field edges and jumping on them to hear the "pop" when the fruit busted.

And thus the web of life continues in one small part of the great creation!



Humankind has not woven the web of life.

We are but one thread within it.

Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.

All things are bound together.

All things connect.

Chief Seattle, 1854

July Beauties!

July and early August can be a really hard time to find much in the way of wild native flora to photograph due to the hot days and low moisture(usually). But if you are vigilant, persistent, and willing to do a little rambling in some unlikely places, there are a few specimens that usually go un-noticed by the everyday passerby. Here are a few friends I found on a couple of outings over the last two weeks. Some of these I have never noticed before myself and have passed by their abodes for many years, but just too busy to stop, get out and "Walk In The Woods" for a bit.  ( I am not a flower expert so if I have mis-identified any of these beauties, please don't hesitate to let me know.)                          

                                Pencil Flower - Styloanthes biflora



                                Naked-Flower Tick Trefoil - Desmodium nudiflorum

                                Seedpod for Trefoil

                                Woodland Sunflower - Helianthus divaricatus

                            

                                Maryland Meadow Beauty - Rhexia mariana

                               

                               Urn-shaped fruit of the Meadow Beauty

                               Spurred Butterfly Pea - Centrosema virginianum   

                               Unidentified bee that lit just as I clicked the shutter!

                                                           

                     
                               Butterfly Pea - Clitoria mariana

                                 Can someone help me with this one? The flower is like a dandelion

                                so I thought maybe False Dandelion but stems and leaves not right.

                                Garden or Fall Phlox - Phlox paniculata

To Cast My Eyes Your Way

How oft have I passed your way

And never a glance gave you

Off to more important things

The things I must daily do

If only I had cast an eye

From down the path I followed

To gaze upon the beauty there

Along meadow, brook and hollow

All shapes, sizes and colors

Yellow, Gold, Red and Blue

Asters, Iris, Lily and Violets

To name but just a few

All made by God and placed for me

To brighten up my day

If only I had took the time

To cast my eyes your way

             Randy J. Schultz   October 1st, 2009

Hope everyone has a wonderful week and may all your paths be gentle, your tread ways be soft and your endeavors fruitful.

Randy

Wild Potato Vine

Also called Man-of-the-Earth, Man Root and Wild Rhubarb, this plant was an important food source for Native Americans. It's root can grow up to 30 pounds and 4 feet in length. It is similar to the sweet potato to which it is related but said to be more bitter in taste.

 

"May the stars carry your sadness away,

May the flowers fill your heart with beauty,

May hope forever wipe away your tears,

And, above all, may silence make you strong."

   Chief Dan George

Destined for Greatness!

A cluster of White Oak acorns hang ready to meet their destiny. A destiny of greatness weather it be in the form of food for squirrel and deer or the making of a new tree or forest.

"The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn."

        Ralph Waldo Emerson(1803-1882): American essayist, lecturer, and poet.

Attention!

The moment I gave my attention to this Black-eyed Susan, a myriad of insects began paying a visit to this particular flower. And the flower suddenly became a world all it's own, with a story that continued to evolve the longer I gazed upon it's beauty. 

After watching the interactions of the insects with the flower for a few minutes the following things came to mind: Beauty, Diversity, Dependence, Co-dependence, In-dependence, Inter-dependence, Tolerance, Competition, Acceptance, Desire, Need, Co-existence, Appreciation, Sharing, Relationships and the list could go on. Further pondering rendered the simple fact that: just because we humans have intelligence, doesn't necessarily mean we are intelligent. Sometimes nature can make us feel so small, so insignificant. We like to think we understand so much, when in fact we understand so little.

"The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself."

       Henry Miller(1891-1980): American novelist and painter

Baskins Falls! A Beary Great Day!

On a recent trip to Great Smoky Mountain National Park, we were going to hike a short 1 1/2 mile trail to Baskins Falls. Little did we know that on the very pleasant drive to get to the trail head we would have one of those chance encounters that really adds that something extra to an already beautiful day.

Just a mile or so before we arrived at the trail head this mama black bear jumped out right in front of our car. Needless to say, I didn't have my camera ready but managed to quickly grab it and point it in the general direction of the bear. I had my focus set on auto and trying to shoot through the windshield of the car made the pics a little blurry but was still very glad to get off this single shot before she crossed the road and went out of sight.

But little did I know that as I sat fussing about only getting one shot instead of paying attention, here came two little cubs scooting across the road in hot pursuit of mama. I flipped the camera on again and pointed it in time to take these two shots(sorry for the blur) through the windshield again.

They wasted no time as they quickly followed mamas trail and out of sight. This was really exciting and they were also headed into the same area that we intended to hike in just a few minutes.  

Well on to the trail head and the hike at hand. We walked the 1 1/2 miles to Baskins Falls and we were torn between excitement from seeing the bear and cubs to a little nervous about being in the same woods as they were, hoping to see them again but at the same time hoping not to see them again in the wrong situation.

Baskins Creek Falls is a beautiful water fall that is very much overlooked in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It is located toward the base of the western slopes of Mt. LeConte originally known as the Bear Skin area. It was once prized among the early settlers for the amount of bear in the area and was a prime hunting spot for black bear. Somewhere along the way the name got changed from Bear Skin Creek to Baskins Creek and Falls.

We saw a family or two on the hike to the falls but we had the entire falls to ourselves when we arrived. The hike was moderate in nature and the trail was very good with only one moderately steep portion that descends down to the creek and falls.

Needless to say, it is still a prime area to see bear also. We didn't see the mama bear and cubs again, which was ok, but we were sure glad to have spent a little quality time in their woods.

"The woods were made for the hunters of dreams,

 The brooks for the fishers of songs,

 To the hunters who hunt for the gunless game

 The streams and the woods belong."

             Sam Walter Foss ( 1858-1911): Librarian and poet

Mushrooms

We had a little rain late last week and on a venture in the park Saturday I happened upon these Shroons in several different parts of the park. I don't know their names but I thought them worthy of a view as they do make up a part of our creation.  Mushroom identification goes to another level and I didn't attempt to name these for fear of falsely identifying them.

This one was growing a couple of feet from a beaver pond and was the only one around.

I spotted this orange beast from my vehicle and was pleased when I approached and snapped this shot of them bursting through the pine straw and litter.They were on a dry mid ridge overlooking a lake.

And this coral looking beauty was also on a dry mid ridge but it was coming from the base of a dead tree stump and well shaded.

It is amazing how fast they can grow and then how fast they are gone. I went back to take their picture again late the next day and they had begun to wither rather quickly.  They didn't look nearly as good as the day before.

"Cherish each day, each moment, for there is no promise of tomorrow, and if tomorrow does shine it's blessings upon you, the things of yesterday may only be a memory."

           Randy J. Schultz