Summer Snowflakes - Portraits of Queen Anne's Lace

Portraits of a Summer Snowflake.
I absolutely adore wildflowers, and one of my favorites is the Queen Anne's Lace. I love how delicate and fragile it is, and how it's interesting angles and directions make it appear so differently upon a closer look--one way, like a snowflake, another way, like a fairy's umbrella, some lie flat and face the sun, some are loaded with insects, how interesting they look before they actually bloom, and even how they look when viewed from underneath, with extraordinary things most people might miss, like dots, spikes, and line patterns!

Two Beavers in the Golden Hour

Cascades

Cool & refreshing cascades.

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Ospreys

Every once in a while I'll spot ospreys.  Here are two, at two different locations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Belted Kingfishers

I spent some time lakeside this April morning, noticing that except for the dozens of cormorants and the single bald eagle in the trees before me, all the birds around me were in pairs.  I followed these two Belted Kingfishers as they fished, perched, and danced and chattered with each other.  Typically I'll see one, so it was a fortunate treat for me to see the pair in action.

The Sun Breaks Through a Heavy Fog in a Marshy Field

But first....   I stopped to snap this scene of Swartswood's Northshore House

 before I continued on to the marsh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daybreak at Plymouth Lake

April 12, 2014