Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Finding the small in the big

As the days grow shorter, the color slowly drains away from all things living. I find I am now surrounded by muted tones, the truly earthen hues, so it seems only right that color terms like ash, ochre, umber and sienna come easily to my mind. BUT, I have photos from just one month ago showing some little bits of color that remained in a landscape that was slowly becoming blunt and dry. I will share some of those over the next few posts.

I am always delighted to find color at this time of year, and "find" is the key word here. It is there, I just have to have my eyes open to see it. For example, what color could I possibly hope to see here, in this virtual sea of green?


I was looking for something specific. I had seen it the day before, but didn't have my camera with me at the time. When I came back with my camera, I had to hunt a little to find it again. Here, I will give you an idea of where we are looking.


See anything yet? Me neither. Let's get in a little closer... I think I see a peep of something in there, but what is it?


We're a lot closer now, and the color is obvious. Do you know what it is?


The answer will be revealed tomorrow!

7 comments:

Kelly said...

...looks like a cluster of teeny, tiny crocuses that have not yet opened!

Jim McCormac said...

Nice - and those large fuzzy bumblebees pollinate these. They enter the baglike flower, disappearing completely within, which is quite a sight. They emerge completely dusted with pollen, and off they go to cross pollinate the next b*t*l* g*n*i*n, g*n*i*n* a*d*e*s*i

Jim

Heather said...

Kelly - That's a good guess. Speaking of crocuses, I saw some blooming in a yard near where we work a few weeks ago when the temperatures took a dip-and-rebound pattern!

Jim - Ha, thanks for not ruining the surprise, but of course your are correct. I remember when you posted about the fringed variety a while back - I'd really like to see that species sometime, too! I was wondering if you could do me a favor? I have photos of some seed heads over on my photography blog, and I'm not able to identify which flower one of the seed heads belongs to... would you mind popping over and taking a look and making a suggestion (there's a link to the photo blog under my profile blurb at the top of this blog). Thanks!

Meg said...

What?! What's Jim talking about??? Is it some kind of terrestrial orchid?
What an eye you had to catch it in all that muddy green! Awesome. I'm now dying to know what it is...

And happy anniversary, Heather! What a great post that was with beautiful pictures of the Gorge and a great description of what blogging can be.

Heather said...

Meg - Mwa-ha-ha! Gotchya! You'll just have to get yourself back here pronto, b/c the post with the answer is up as I type this! I like your guess. And thanks for the anniversary wishes!

RuthieJ said...

Pretty color! I would have missed it.....

Heather said...

Ruthie - I really think it must have whispered to me or something to get my attention!