Day 118: Confluence

 Backyard Nature, Natural History, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Apr 282014
 

I set out down Piney Woods Church late this afternoon with lifted spirits, following an encouraging note from a friend, reminding me that all the changes I saw yesterday will soon be undone by nature, in the form of rain, wind, and new growth.  Meanwhile, I discovered all sorts of possibilities for photographs today.  The image I selected is a close-up of the point where the leaf of a vine connected to the main stem.  It marks a confluence, where all of the veins in the leaf come together.  Also at the join, two long trendrils emerge from the plant, helping it to climb over any obstacles and cling to anything in its path.  Most likely, the plant is one of two possible species (both invasive) in the genus Discorea:  either the air-potato (Discorea bulbifera) from Africa, or the Chinese yam (Discorea oppositifolia) from Asia.  The two are difficult to distinguish (my bets are on the Chinese yam), but both plants are considered highly invasive.

One thing I have noticed from all my explorations of roadside plants is that most of them are non-native, and they harken from a variety of homelands.  Many are from Europe, but others are from parts of Asia or even Africa.  I am coming to realize that a rural Georgia back road can be a much more cosmopolitan place than I had previously imagined.

Confluence

Day 117: Fallen Petal

 Backyard Nature, Native Plants, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Apr 272014
 

My afternoon walk down Piney Woods Church Road was an experience in letting go.  The road has been regraded — it is wider than ever before, and all the potholes and ruts are, for now, absent.  Along the roadside, it seemed as if everyone with a mower was out in force this weekend.  What was yesterday morning a sea of self-heal weeds along the road was, today, just a band of short grass with a couple of self-heal remaining that somehow escaped the blade.  The air was close and the sky gray, but not a gray that betokened the arrival of dramatic weather yet (on Tuesday, though, quite possibly).  I was in the grips of a head cold, my first illness since ten days in a hospital with pneumonia last September.  And there was practically nothing to photograph.

I settled, at last, for this image, conveying well the transience of all things.  A fallen petal of flowering dogwood rests on a Chinese wisteria leaf.  The dogwood and wisteria are both past blooming now.

Fallen Petal

Two Woodpeckers

 Backyard Nature, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Apr 262014
 

Using the digital zoom on my Sony Cyber-shot camera (a sort of devil’s bargain, enabling me to get much closer to distant objects than otherwise, at the cost of dramatic decrease in image quality), I was able to snap a couple quick photographs of a red-headed woodpecker perched high in the branches of an ancient, half-dead pecan tree.  Only later, reviewing my photos from the day, did I see the second bird, glancing up at the first one.

Two Woodpeckers

Day 116: Moment in the Sunlight

 Backyard Nature, Golden Hour, Native Plants, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place  2 Responses »
Apr 262014
 

Without intention to do so, I found myself yet again this morning photographing the play of morning sunlight and green leaves.  There is so much possibility here, in the ways the early morning and late-day sun illuminate, for a brief moment, a particular leaf or plant.  The light calls to me — there is so much to wonder at that I had never noticed before.  In this particular moment captured in this image, a misshapen hickory (mockernut?) leaf catches the sunlight and becomes a form of beauty and delight.

Moment

Indian Strawberry

 Backyard Nature, Natural History, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Apr 252014
 

Once I identified this roadside plant as Indian strawberry (Duchesnea indica), I naturally assumed it to be a native one, somehow associated with American Indians.  Instead, this creeping plant with three serrated leaflets and prominent, five-petaled yellow flowers has become naturalized from India.  As the National Audubon Society’s Guide to Eastern Wildflowers notes, the plant is decidedly “strawberry-like”.  Its fruit’s taste is, to quote Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians, “dry and not pleasing.”  Indian strawberry is common to waste places and lawns throughout the eastern half of the United States.

Indian Strawberry

Day 115: Carolina Wren

 Backyard Nature, Natural History, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place  2 Responses »
Apr 252014
 

Patience rewarded me at last.  After hearing a bird making the same insistent brief call from the foliage, I spent several minutes trying to locate the source.  At last, I found a small, rather elusive brown bird, skipping from spot to spot among the branches of vines and trees.  I was able to snap a couple of quick photographs before the bird disappeared from sight.  My wife informed me that it was almost certainly a wren, and my Birds of Georgia field guide photograph of a Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) is nearly an exact match.  The Carolina Wren is a cavity-nesting bird that resides year-round in Georgia.

Carolina Wren

Day 114: The Edge of Morning

 Native Plants, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Apr 242014
 

Early this morning I set out down Piney Woods Church Road.  Again and again, I was drawn to the play of shadow and light among the leaves of roadside shrubs and trees.  In this image, the saw-toothed edge of a hickory leaf (mockernut, I think) stands out sharply against the surrounding darkness, like the first burst of sunrise a couple of hours before.

The Edge of Morning

 

Day 113: Illuminated

 Backyard Nature, Golden Hour, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Apr 232014
 

The wisteria blooms are all spent now, save for a few shriveled flower petals that haven’t yet fallen onto the roadway.  Yet, for all its aggressiveness, Chinese wisteria also offers moments of dazzling beauty.  Even after the flowers are gone, the leaves still captivate me, illuminated by late afternoon light.  They glow like the finest stained glass, turning a rural lane into a chapel for contemplating the cosmos.

Illuminated

Day 112: Moments of Grace

 Golden Hour, Native Plants, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Apr 222014
 

I set out down Piney Woods Church Road this morning still carrying the heavy burden of the recent news of a much-loved local store’s plans to close in May.  Although clouds and storms are expected this afternoon, the morning sky was mostly clear and the sun angling its light through the trees.  Again I was drawn to explore the possibilities of the morning light, this time bathing tulip poplar leaves.  I think it would be fitting to refer to these moments of wonder that I find with my camera lens as moments of grace.  I am gratefull that a digital camera enables me to share these moments with others.

Moments of Grace

 

 Older Entries  Newer Entries