Polar Opposites

Well, not quite polar, but close enough. A better contrast is polar to equatorial. Here are a few shots from around Seward, Alaska, which is an interesting place where the land and the sea meet. In late summer, it's still passable, climate wise, and there are still colors to be found. And where color is lacking, the contrast is striking.

--Steve

Backyard Photography

The thing about living in the 954 is that when you're home, something is always blooming. Here are some samples from the back yard.

--Steve

Volunteer Blooms

A sampling of flowers from the Volunteer Park Orchid Garden in Seattle, Washington. And yes, it is maintained by volunteers, and wow, the shapes and colors are amazing.

--Steve

Horsetail

Horsetail Falls, one of the many, easily accessible waterfalls along the Columbia Gorge in northern Oregon.

Steller, not Stellar

Steller's Jays on the slopes of Mount Rainier National Park.

Near Narada Falls, where the snow cover was still very deep in places and icy conditions made it hard to venture very far down the trails.

With forage being limited so far, they were looking hard for food.

Spring Snow

Just after a morning snow shower coated all of the evergreen trees on the lower slopes of one of the mountains in the Tatoosh Range (Auto correct keeps trying to change that to 'tattoos'). This is the view south from Paradise, Washington, at about 6,000 feet elevation on Mount Rainier, in Mount Rainier National Park.

Water Lily, Davie, Florida.

NPM Virtual Poetry Festival at The Other Pages

Coming in April, our annual poetry series with articles by Bob Blair, Kashiana Singh, (Nelson) Howard Miller, and Steve Spanoudis.

https://www.facebook.com/theotherpages

https://theotherpages.tumblr.com/

https://theotherpages.org/

To take a peek at last year's series:

https://theotherpages.tumblr.com/archive/2020/4

Fiery Skipper Caught by Praying Mantis

Wellington, Florida. The skipper was having a perfectly happy day, until it became someone else's lunch. --Steve

Water Lilies II

Fruit and Spice Park, Redlands, Homestead, Florida

Water Lilies I

Fruit and Spice Park, Redlands, Homestead, Florida

Flying Cows and Fritillaries

My friend John Preston informs me that Flying Cow road in Wellington, Florida gets its name from COW - Charles Oliver Wellington, for whom the community is named, and his love of airplanes - hence Flying Cow. The Wellington Environmental Reserve, dedicated to Marjory Stoneman Douglas, is located there, and covers about 365 acres of marshland wildflower scrub, walking trails, and bridal paths for horseback riding. It is home to many things, including birds and butterflies, attracted by the habitat and the food and host plant sources it provides.Here is a sampling of one of the butterfly types - the Gulf Fritillary, and local wildflower, from August, 2020. --Steve

Golden Silk Orb Weavers

Photos from Hugh Taylor Birch State Park, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

The spiders in these photos are females, with leg-spans ranging from four to five inches. In the first two images the spider is wither mating, or in the process of eating her mate. Note that the males are much smaller.

FYI, when my children were younger, and we used to go camping frequently, we called these “dinner plate spiders.” Their webs, by the way, can be 10-15 feet (e-5m) across, and their silk is incredibly strong. According to Wikipedia, its tensile strength is eight times stronger than steel.

Spiders make a significant appearance in Wanderers, Book III of The Republic of Dreams ( https://amazon.com/author/spanoudis/ )

–Steve

Florida Dusky Skimmer on Purple Buddleia

Scarlet Skimmer dragonfly

Dose of Nature

The colors are all there, if you look for them. Open your eyes. Be still for  moment. Look around you.  --Steve

Shapes and colors of life - South Florida - Steve