plants

FOTD: Heuchera

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I planted this huechera (or hukera) plant last year, my first year with a garden here at the Moorings. I like the color of the leaves on this perennial. Heucheras come in many colors. The flowers are very tiny (called coral bells), and I have found it easier to concentrate on the leaves. I took this after watering one day in June.

Zooming out a little to see the whole plant

Cee’s FOTD 7/12/21

CFFC: The Ground We Travel

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Cee’s Fun Photo Challenge this week is: Ground: sand, dirt, paths, walks, trails, roads, etc.

Bridges, paths & walkways, desert and mountain terrains, and national parks – these are some of the places to find interesting “ground.” Sometimes there is an added bonus: a lizard, a flower, or a butterfly, or something ugly, like trash. This challenge is a way to showcase the photos I don’t usually publish in other posts!

Chicago Botanic Gardens: bridges, paths, and walkways

Cuba Marsh Wildlife Preserve (Illinois): walkways and grassland

The Middle East (Egypt and Israel): Desert landscapes, markets and farms

Mountain and Southwest (USA) terrain: ground above & below the tree line and rocks at Rocky Mountain National Park; trails and paths at Bryce Canyon National Park

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Travel in Green

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HeyJude at Travel Words has a Life in Colour Photo Challenge 2021, and the theme for March is green. Here’s my gallery of green:

  • Lincoln, Nebraska
  • Mural in Denver, Colorado
  • Baker, California
  • California
  • bottle tree forest, California
  • Cactus in broken down truck
  • old van
  • Cadillac Ranch, Amarillo, Texas
  • Celery soda – yummy??
  • Totem pole park, Oklahoma
  • Old car at Best Western hotel in Missouri
  • Uranus, Missouri
  • Vacuum cleaner museum, Missouri
  • Besaw Island, Egypt
  • Bananas on Besaw Island, Egypt
  • Painted door, Egypt
  • Chicago Botanic Garden
  • Chicago Botanic Garden
  • Cabourg, France
  • Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
  • Rare find at beginning of pandemic
  • Bog – can you spot the green frog?
  • Volo Bog, Illinois
  • Watermelon carving contest turtle
  • Katydid
  • Monet, water lilies series, Chicago Art Institute
  • Still life – glass pottery from Israel
  • Swans in pond (altered photo)
  • Paris, France
  • desert agave
  • Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico
  • Mural in Cuba, Missouri
  • Field of wildflowers, Mont St-Michel, France
  • American Cemetery, Omaha Beach, Normandy, France
  • Stained glass, Vienna, Austria
  • Buried hydrant
  • Orchids at Chicago Botanic Gardens
  • Camouflage: Frog on lilypad, Chicago Botanic Gardens

CFFC: Homophones & Homographs

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English is such a crazy language! I’m glad I don’t have to learn it as a foreigner! We have many words with more than one pronunciation (homographs), and many words that sound alike but are spelled differently (homophones). Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week plays on the theme of red: a pair of homophones RED – READ; a pair of homographs READ (present tense) and READ (past tense); and another homophone pairing: READ and REED. So here are my REDS, READS and REEDS.

RED: (adjective) a bright primary color

Partial view of a park from a large sculpture with a red hole in the middle
An inviting little table at an Airbnb apartment near Paris
Our neighbor showed off his new toy: a snazzy, shiny, red sporty car!
An intelligent take off of MAGA (and red like MAGA hats!). I saw this sticker sign in Chicago.

READ: (verb) past tense of read: I read an entire book yesterday. But I have not read any of the books in the two photos below, which are written in other languages.

I wonder who has read these sacred Islamic books?
I wonder how many ancient Egyptians read The Book of the Dead in hieroglyphics?

READ: (verb) present tense. I like to read every day.

What book do I read in this photo? I don’t remember!
Sometimes I read magazines.
No one can read this book (except the pages I’m sitting on!) – it is a stone monument to the Russian author Pushkin, in St. Petersburg.

REED: (noun) any of several species of large aquatic grasses, such as those pictured below.

CFFC: Nature’s Patterns

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Patterns are everywhere in nature. Indeed, humans have imitated nature in creating patterns. Patterns in Nature is the wonderful topic for Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week.

Flowers make many patterns.

I love photographing mushrooms, which appear in many shapes and sizes.

  • These resemble flowers.
  • Golf ball shaped!
  • Cluster

Tree branches, leaves and trunks make their own complex patterns.

It is always worthwhile to stop and admire small leaves and plants – often they surprise you!

Some animals have patterns on their skin, tail, or feathers.

Layers painted rock formations over millions of years. In Arizona, there are many examples of this, at the Grand Canyon, the Painted Desert and in Oak Creek Canyon in Sedona.