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+--- Thread: Tuesday, May 23, 2023 (/showthread.php?tid=605)
Tuesday, May 23, 2023 - Don - 05-23-2023
Good morning all. Rainy here this morning which fits my mood. DW and I have both been struck down with illness... I had a miserable night as I am sure she did as well. Doubt I will be going out and about today.
Lorell, yes, it is a beautiful country, especially once you get out of the city. The city was interesting but we wanted to see the country. Having our own car made it nice. I'll post more photos as time goes on but it might be slow. Food was good but expensive. No, really EXPENSIVE. The places we stayed had free breakfast but most evening meals were well over $100. Again, I'll describe more later. I am working on my travel blog with day by day activities and photos as well.
Another plant photo - I'll get into the birds, waterfalls, scenic landscapes, etc later. And speaking of birds, I think we ended up with 25 or so new birds!
The plane rides weren't too bad - we were able to nap a bit on the flight from JFK to KEF which was about 6 hours long.
RE: Tuesday, May 23, 2023 - Luv2shoot - 05-23-2023
Don, O dear. Sorry to hear about you both being sick. I bet you need a lot of rest to recover from your adventure. As they say, "you ain't as young as...." , oh, you know the rest.
Finding 25 new birds had to be exciting for you. WOW! I know how much you like birding. I am looking forward to seeing those. And this photo you posted this morning is very interesting, fuzzy leaves! I have never seen anything like that before. Mother nature as a purpose in her design for everything, I wonder what the fuzzy elements do for the plant, maybe warm the leaves from frigid temps or collect moisture in arid regions, who knows?
Wait, I know a botanist who will know. Where's Peter?
Calling Peter.
So, here is something totally unrelated.
This is the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse.
The Fort Gratiot Light, the first lighthouse in the state of Michigan (well, I did not know that!), was constructed north of Fort Gratiot in 1829 by Lucius Lyon, who later became one of Michigan's first U.S. Senators. It is the OLDEST surviving lighthouse in Michigan standing guard over one of the busiest waterways in the world.
Have a good day.
LORELL
PS. I could not decide if the lighthouse should be perfectly vertical or the horizon be perfectly horizontal. Since the lighthouse is the dominating figure, I chose the lighthouse.
RE: Tuesday, May 23, 2023 - Dave - 05-23-2023
Don, I'm sorry you and DW have taken ill; maybe the result of hours in the enclosed airplane cabin. Wishing you both a speedy recovery.
Lovely photo: beautiful green and those perfectly sharp white wisps. I remember a shot I took years ago of an entirely different species that had about the same shade of green and similar white wisps.
Lorell - very cool! All the things you excel at are obvious in this one too.
BTW, it's pretty easy in Photoshop to first level the horizon and then skew the image to make the lighthouse more vertical, and I imagine that's possible in whatever image processing you prefer, but be aware that the walking figure appears the be tilted to the left.
I've been able to resume my usual early morning 1.6 mile walks. Here's a photo that I hope proves that even a weed can be photogenic...
RE: Tuesday, May 23, 2023 - Luv2shoot - 05-23-2023
Dave, Yes, the dandelion did a great job of posing for the image. I like the tiny bud peeking from underneath. The colors and composition are really nice.
I am glad that you are feeling better after your fall. I remember hearing about some "older friend" who stepped off of a curb and broke her ankle. I could never imagine how that could happen until now. I keep stumbling as I come up from the basement. I am just not picking my legs up high enough the clear the stair. Good thing I have a handrail on the one side. And to think I would carry layers of wedding cakes up and down those stairs not holding on to anything but the cake, and sometimes they were HUGE. Life certainly has gotten a lot more challenging.
RE: Tuesday, May 23, 2023 - Man From Ironbark - 05-23-2023
Not sure it is a dandelion. Looks more like one of the Common sow thistle/wild lettuce types. Dandelions don't have leaves on the flower stalks. Good shot of it though.
As for my botanical skills they are rather more limited to native Australian species and some of the introduced weeds.
However, you can always read about it yourself.
https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1046/j.1469-8137.2003.00768.x
https://www.otago.ac.nz/botany/otago625973.pdf
I like the comopsitional effect of the pathway to the lighthouse.
RE: Tuesday, May 23, 2023 - Luv2shoot - 05-24-2023
Peter, the second link was easy to read and understand.
It even supported my theory somewhat. Thanks for doing the leg work and sharing. I was amazed that some plants produce enough hair on the underside of their leaves to actually be used for clothing.