Macrolily

My supermacro lens gets to the heart of this daylily.

Daylilies

The daylilies are at their blooming peak right now. These have just survived another summer afternoon thunderstorm.

Macro Shell

Here's a shell I found in Beaver Creek as I was sitting on a log pondering life, the universe, and everything. Any excuse for a macro shot.

Honeysuckle

Walking the track at Lakeshore Park is a double-edged sword this time of year. There's a thin yellow-green layer of pollen covering everything, but the honeysuckle smells so sweet.

Ghostly Bloom

This is from my March archive. The daffodils are just about done for the spring down here. I tried a shot in monochrome, and like it better than I thought I would. It looks ghostly.

Glorious

These were the strangest looking wildflowers I'd seen yet. Until I started practicing my macro shots, I'd never thought of wildflowers as "hairy." But here they are in all their hairy glory.

High Five

I'm continuing my macro work in the great outdoors. I'd tell you what kind of flower this is, but I've already forgot. I think I'm getting the hang of noticing the different effects of light and shadow on everything. But now I find I'm looking for it everywhere all the time. Which can be a problem when I'm driving.

Pink Riot

There are white dogwoods and there are pink dogwoods. White ones occur naturally in the wild, and are also cultivated. I've heard that pink ones are also natural, although the natural pink is very pale and not Violently Pink like these cultivated blossoms.

Fiddlehead

A quick one today, as I have to work extra this evening (again). This fiddlehead fern is starting to unfurl. I think this macro has better focus than my previous attempt on Tuesday.

Easy Rider

The yellow trillium are just starting to bloom in the woodlands of East Tennessee. I saw quite a few on the wildflower walk at Ijams Nature Center, but this one had a special passenger on board.
Yes, I know spiders are not insects, but honestly I don't plan on taking enough photos to warrant an arachnid label.

Name That Flower

OK, CDPBers, you were so helpful with my last mystery flower that I turn to you again in my time of puzzlement. Apparently, I spend a lot of time in puzzlement.

This is the newest mystery flower that I saw at Ijams Nature Center. And once again, I am clueless as to what kind of flower I have photographed. Sure is pretty. Any ideas?

Blue Flowers

Spring flowers are popping out of the ground at Ijams Nature Center. Anyone have any idea what these are? I just liked the blue color, and the way the light was shining on them.

Monthly Theme: Yellow! And It's Also My Birthday!

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

OK, this one is harder than I expected. I've already shown you a pinwheely forsythia blossom, as yellow as the day is long. And come on, the Sunsphere is an obvious golden gimme - plus, it's my magnificent obsession, you've seen it here before ad nauseum. So what's a Knoxville Girl to do?

Seemed like a good time for a public service announcement for a wonderful local group that helps people improve their lives.

The Friends of Literacy is a private non-profit organization that serves Knox County and helps adults get the basic education and life skill training they need to improve their lives.

Did you know... that in Knox County (population a bit over 380,000) there are over 46,000 adults without a high school education... and over 10,000 can't read beyond a sixth grade level? The volunteers at Friends of Literacy help them with their reading and math skills so they can pass their high school equivalency test. Friends of Literacy also help ESL (English as Second Language) folks improve their English reading and speaking skills.

I've just gone through the 10 hour volunteer training classes and am eagerly looking forward to being placed as a math tutor or a language tutor. I think this is going to be a great experience. We all received that yellow star in the photo.

Also, today is my birthday, and coincidentally this photoblog's birthday too. My blog is one year old today! I am... erm .... quite a bit older than my blog.

So thanks to everyone who's visited and shared comments. I've learned so much about photography, and many other things too, from you all. It's been a pleasure to meet you, if only in the comments box. I hope my work and personal schedules will cut me some slack so I can visit all your wonderful blogs again. Now I'm on to the challenge of Year Two!

Getting Busy

This is kind of a Where's Waldo puzzle for biologists. So many bluets, so little time!

Pinwheel

The forsythia bushes are in bloom along the river at Sequoyah Park. I used my supermacro lens to capture one of the cheerful blooms.

Frosty Sunrise

And now for a little twist on yesterday's macro: I can see the sun rise through the prism of frost on the window of my truck.
More skies at Sky Watch. Go. It's worth the trip.

Crystal Clear

OK, I'm back to the macro work again: here's something from last week's cold spell - frost crystals on the window of my truck made a good subject. Oh how I sacrifice my creature comforts for CDP.
I'm sure there's a science lesson in there somewhere. I'm seeing the abundance of grace in science.

Unravelled

More macro practice - the unravelling of an old steel cable has a certain graceful aspect.

Shelf Fungus

Not moss or lichens, alas. But I found a nice bunch of shelf fungi that gave me an opportunity to practice my macro shots. And what a cheerfully colored fungus among us.

Forest On the Trees

With some major inspiration from lichen and moss lovers Benjamin at Victoria Daily Photo and USElaine at Willits Daily Photo, I went looking for the forest on the trees at Ijams Nature Center. My macro doesn't compare to some of their wonderful photos, but still. I wanted to convey the feeling of a forest-within-a-forest. These little fronds were actually swaying in the winter breeze.