Day 104: Rain Falling on Sweetgum

 Backyard Nature, Geometry and Nature, Native Plants, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place  2 Responses »
Apr 142014
 

Not long after I set out for Piney Woods Church Road, the rains began.  I was ill-equipped for a deluge, having left my camera bag at home (trusting too much in Doppler radar maps which showed precipitation still an hour away).  I quickly focused my attention on certain shots — mostly particular wildflowers I noticed in bloom.  Fortunately, the rainfall remained fairly gentle, though it didn’t prevent me from getting fairly soaked.  Toward the end of my walk, my camera still functioning and my body rather drenched, I eased up a bit and began letting images find me.  This is one of the products of that last part of my walk.  Droplets cover a new sweetgum leaf that hangs like a curtain in front of the road I have just walked.

Rain on Sweetgum

Welcoming the Morning Light

 Backyard Nature, Native Plants, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Apr 132014
 

On an early morning saunter down Piney Woods Church Road (rather unusual for me; I tend to frequent the sunset hours far more often), I paused to photograph the newly-opened leaves of a common persimmon (Diospyros virginiana).  I am discovering that if a plant is classified as common, it is often overlooked and under-appreciated.

Persimmon

Day 103: Closing for the Day

 Backyard Nature, Native Plants, Natural History, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Apr 132014
 

I arrived early to Piney Woods Church Road, perhaps an hour after sunrise, before delivering a presentation on the Piney Woods Church Road Project to a Sunday interfaith group at Serenbe community here in Chattahoochee Hills.  Along the verge near the intersection with Hutcheson Ferry Road, I glimpsed an unfamiliar pale-yellow wildflower with four petals.  The petals were somewhat folded up; I assumed at the time that they were just opening.  In fact, after an hour of scouring the field guides and internet, the flower turned out to be a cutleaf evening primrose (Oenothera laciniata), an early-blooming member of its genus that is common to waste places throughout the eastern United States.  As the name suggests, its flower close during the day, opening fully only in the dark of night.  Had I arrived at the roadside later in the day, I would have likely overlooked the closed flower altogether.  Although some might consider it merely a weed, for me it was a gift of those early morning hours.

Evening Primrose

Day 102: I’m Lichen It Here

 Backyard Nature, Natural History, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Apr 122014
 

Since I began this project over 100 days ago, I have photographed one subject far more than any other:  a black metal mailbox with one side covered with lichens, located about halfway down Piney Woods Church Road.  I am quite fond of lichens, and have even gone on several field excursions with a renowned lichenologist, Sean Q. Beeching.  I have seen many lichens covering tree branches, growing on rock, and even living deep within some rocks.  But I have never seen lichens covering a metal object before.  It was enough of an oddity that it captured my attention early on in the year.  Knowing it would make a worthy image, I would often stop to photograph it just in case none of my other images for the day worked out.  Each time I would take maybe three or four photographs of the same mailbox, from different camera positions and orientations.  Yet I always found something else to celebrate that day, and the lichens were always left behind.  Today, it seems fitting to pause and appreciate them.  I admire their tenacity for managing to get a toehold on this mailbox, and enduring in all sorts of weather.  And I thank the mailbox owner for letting them be, rather than scraping them off and painting over the metal, or replacing the mailbox with a shiny new one.  These lichens greet me everyday as I pass them, and I am grateful for their presence on my journey.

I'm Lichen It Here

Two Animals Beginning with S

 Backyard Nature, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Apr 112014
 

I was scratching my head trying to figure out what to title this pair of images from today’s saunter down Piney Woods Church Road.  Then I realized that both of these are animals whose names betin with the letter s.  Not terribly creative, but sufficient for late in the day on a Friday.

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From the Morning

 Backyard Nature, Golden Hour, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Apr 102014
 

I had a marvelous time exploring Piney Woods Church Road this morning.  Strange to say, I walked the its length hundreds of times with our dogs before I began this project, and I was bored with it and really wanted to be anyplace but there.  Yet since beginning this project 100 days ago, every day I have found joy and delight exploring this 4/10-mile gravel road.  Today I left my wristwatch at home, and spent an hour and a half exploring the early morning light.  Here are a few more photographs from my day’s adventures.

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Day 100: Mirrors of the Morning

 Backyard Nature, Golden Hour, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Apr 102014
 

I lie prone on the damp ground, gazing through a camera lens at drops of dew clinging to blades of grass in the sunlight.  The ground sparkles with minute mirrors, inviting me to pause and reflect.  It is Day 100, and I am part-way along Piney Woods Church Road, on my journey home.

Mirrors of the Morning

Day 99: The Bend

 Golden Hour, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Apr 092014
 

At last, a photograph of Piney Woods Church Road, at about the half-way point.  Bathed in golden late-day light, the path appears enchanting.  And so it is, and has been, these past three months.  I approach a bend in my own journey; tomorrow is the 100th day of the Piney Woods Church Road Project.

The Bend

 

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