This week’s photo challenge calls for rich, saturated images. This is a Baby Darling Daylily. The pale blue background makes the colors in the flower–the deep plum petals, spring green stalks and buds, and gold-tipped anthers–appear even more vivid and intense.
Most days, as I walk to the metro and then to my office, or repeat the process in reverse, I don’t think to look upward. The route holds very few surprises any more and I am often lost in thought, mentally cataloging what needs to be done at work, or what can be turned into dinner when I get home. But when I travel, or even when I walk somewhere new in my own neighborhood, I look up more. Delightful discoveries can be found above.
This is one of them–a ceiling in Canterbury Cathedral in England. The lines and patterns here are a sight to behold; the thought and effort that must have gone into creating this visual feast is mind boggling. Photo is in soft focus.
How to picture the inside of something? I first thought of showing the inside of a flower, but I just did that. Various family members offered to open their mouths so I could take a nice photo of their uvulas, but I felt I could surely find something slightly more appealing…. A fruit? A vegetable? I found a tomato outside that had fallen to the ground, with a beautiful hole bored right into the top. If I squinted at just the right angle, I could see all the way inside the tomato. Unfortunately, my camera was not able to replicate the same feat (did I mention I wish I had a macro lens?). So I turned to the time-honored tradition of rummaging through the refrigerator. And there, in all its glory, was half of a red bell pepper. I took it outside (ignoring the raised eyebrows of family members who were convinced I had finally gone off the deep end), balanced it on my lap, and took a photo of its insides.
This photo, taken furtively with my phone, is not a great one. But it is the embodiment of “carefree”: Schnauzer 1 and Schnauzer 2, sleeping on their backs with legs in the air, dreaming of balls to catch and toys to chew, of doorbells to bark at and houses to defend, of future meals and loved ones coming home at the end of the day, and–best of all–dreaming of many a memorable squirrel chase through all the flower beds in the yard.
This week’s theme is “fresh”– perfect for the dog days of summer we are experiencing here on the East Coast of the United States, a time of year when even the dogs don’t want to be outside.
When I think of “fresh,” I tend to think of water in some form or another: morning dew, mountain-fed streams, that spot in an ocean or lake that signals greater depth — a crisp cucumber, chilled watermelon, iced tea, and sorbet.
But to see the pure joy of freshness in motion, nothing quite beats the spray of water from a fountain. The droplets are momentarily suspended in the sun, sparkling with bits of color and beating a staccato on the surface of the water before gravity exerts its final pull.
This photo captures not so much a golden hour, as a golden moment. Winter in San Diego: the sun has just set but its light still lingers, casting a golden glow along the horizon, silhouetting the few hardy surfers remaining in the water, and reflecting off the wet sand. This is twilight. Four minutes later, it is gone.
This week’s theme is “Curves.” Though I fight against it, I like straight lines, squares, rectangles, and symmetry in the house and garden–all part of an orderly organizational structure. But linear tidiness often translates into aloofness and unapproachability. Curves are looser, less formal, and more inviting. The key is finding the right balance.
This photo of our wrought-iron fence–which shows curvy, almost mesmerizing circles contained within a rectangular panel–shows that sometimes it is possible to have both allure and order at the same time.
This week’s theme is “Fleeting.” This photo was taken on a windy day in the garden. The Hidcote lavender danced to and fro, evading capture; the moment was fleeting, the result ephemeral.
Another photo challenge, and amazingly, I had another photo that might work for this week’s theme: Pattern. This is a close-up of the spiny bark of the Madagascar Palm (pachypodium lamerei), taken at the US Botanic Garden last month. It is not really a palm; it’s in the succulent/cactus family. When you look at the tree from afar, its spines are neatly splayed across the trunk in diagonal rows, forming a diamond-like pattern. But this pattern is best observed from afar–if the 2.5-inch spines don’t already say “keep away,” the fact that all parts of the tree are also poisonous (if ingested) reinforces the message.
WordPress, which is the platform that hosts this blog, offers a Weekly Photo Challenge through the Daily Post. Most weeks I don’t have anything quite compatible to offer, but this week the challenge was “From Above.” And coincidentally, I had recently taken a photo from above, of one my Alliums (Purple Sensation) that was just beginning to open. So here is a bird’s-eye view.
Perennial Pastimes 