Purple
Over Purple Clover
Even the very simple and common can be a work of beauty. While walking through the woods in NW Missouri I came upon this solitary stalk of purple clover blooming. It was early spring and about the only thing blooming in the woods.
Purple Clover is also commonly called Red Clover. According to North Carolina State Extension…
The common name for Trifolium pratense, Red Clover, can be confusing as the flowers are more a pink to pink/purplish, not a true red. It is grown as a forage crop for pasturage and hay for livestock. It is a nitrogen-fixing plant and is often grown as a cover crop to improve soil fertility. Its native habitat includes fields, pastures, meadows, waste areas, and along roadsides. It can be found in grassy locations that are not regularly mowed.
It can be easily distinguished from other varieties of clover by the large pink flower heads as well as the chevrons that appear on the leaflets.
Its flowers have a honey-like fragrance. The foliage can produce a pleasant clover-like scent. The flowering heads and foliage are both edible, both raw or cooked. Its young leaves should be harvested before the plant flowers. They can be used in salads or soups or cooked similar to spinach. The flowering heads as well as the seed pods can be dried and used as a flour substitute. The young flower are also eaten raw in salads.
It has also been widely used for athlete’s foot, constipation, ulcers, corms, and menopause. Red clover contains isoflavones. The edible flowers taste sweet or like hay but they are not easily digestible. Do not eat the flowers if pregnant or nursing.
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Be Anxious for Nothing
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” – – Philippians 4:6-6
This is a photo I took of one of the grands. She had such a carefree attitude I thought it would make a good image for this scripture.
You can view a larger, full-screen version of this image by clicking on the photo.
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me ([email protected]) for digital purchase and licensing options.
Another Day at Work
I found these purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) blooming in the meadow of an area park last summer. The bees were busy; hard at work…doing what bees do.
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All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me for digital purchase and licensing options.
A Little Light Reflection
The waves were calm but the sky seemed to portray a warning. This red sky appeared, in the pre-sunrise morning, over Lake Michigan; behind the Kewaunee, Wisconsin lighthouse and pier.
Scenes like this often reminded me of the old adage, “Red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky at morning, sailors warning.”
This thinking was cited by Jesus in Matthew 16:2-3, “…When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening…” Shakespeare wrote something similar in, Venus and Adonis. “Like a red morn that ever yet betokened, Wreck to the seaman, tempest to the field, Sorrow to the shepherds, woe unto the birds, Gusts and foul flaws to herdmen and to herds.”
According the Library of Congress website, there is some validity to this saying (within limits). They write…
When we see a red sky at night, this means that the setting sun is sending its light through a high concentration of dust particles. This usually indicates high pressure and stable air coming in from the west. Basically good weather will follow.
A red sunrise can mean that a high pressure system (good weather) has already passed, thus indicating that a storm system (low pressure) may be moving to the east. A morning sky that is a deep, fiery red can indicate that there is high water content in the atmosphere. So, rain could be on its way.
You can view a larger, more detailed version of this image by clicking on the photo.
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me for digital purchase and licensing options.
Orchids Up Close
The intricate pattern of color and unique shape makes the Orchid a delight to behold and study.
This is a cluster of blooms I found when photographing butterflies in the Butterfly Palace in Branson, MO. They had several orchids growing in the tropical environment created for the butterflies.
To view a larger version – best for studying the details – click on the photo.
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me for digital purchase and licensing options.
Pansies in Purple and Blue
The deep purple color of these pansies, highlighted by the luminescent blue, create a very royal floral feel.
If you have a good eye, you’ll notice the tiny bug on the left, top edge of the top pansy bloom. It’s small enough, I didn’t notice it when I snapped this image.
I found these, and many other beautiful flowers, blooming in small flower beds along the paved trail that runs between Memorial Drive (Highway 42) and the Lake Michigan shore in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. Hats off to the volunteer gardeners who beautify their city.
You can view a larger, more detailed view of this image by clicking on the photo.
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me for digital purchase and licensing options.
Avid Gardener
I found this monarch butterfly carefully tending the coneflowers in a Missouri flowerbed.
I seem to be seeing more monarchs this year. I recently learned the monarch is also called by a variety of other names – milkweed, common tiger, wanderer, and black veined brown.
You can get a better, larger view of this one by clicking on the photo.
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me for digital purchase and licensing options.
Exceeding All Expectations
The Algoma, Wisconsin lighthouse and piers stand guard over the harbor as they await the sunrise over a calm Lake Michigan morning. Algoma is located on the western shore of Lake Michigan.
As with other the images I captured and have posted from this particular morning, I’m impressed with the colors and textures in the sky and how they’re reflected in the water.
Though it doesn’t look like it here, this is a huge image. It’s large size comes from the fact that I joined (or “stitched”) three separate shots into one image in order to capture as much of the scene as I could. When snapping the shutter, I’m careful to overlap the edges of the shots so the software can find similar pixels and match them to each other.
Unfortunately, this panoramic format doesn’t show well here because of the limited space allotted for images. However, as I usually do, I urge you to view its full-screen version by clicking on the photo. Hopefully you have a large monitor – the bigger the better.
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me for digital purchase and licensing options.
Charmed
Every year I find wild geraniums blooming in the woodlands near our home in northeast Wisconsin. I think this is delightful wildflower which, I guess, explains the numerous images I have featuring them.
I titled this one, “Charmed,” because the stem with those hairy buds reminded me of a lady with a charm bracelet dangling from her wrist.
You can view a larger, more detailed, version of this image by clicking on the photo. When you do, a full-screen image will open in another browser tab.
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me for digital purchase and licensing options.
Voluptuous Iris
Look at this gorgeous, spring bloom! This exotic beauty is a bearded iris.
While driving along Miller street in Kewaunee, Wisconsin I noticed an area with several blooming flowers. There were several of these iris’ in the area but most were just beginning to open. This early bloomer was begging to be photographed.
You can view a larger, more detailed version of this photo by clicking on it.
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me for digital purchase and licensing options.