This is my first post of June and was just a couple of days before D-Day's 79th anniversary. Our Saturday was poised to help a friend move his airplane back home, but the weather crumped that idea. Kimberly had a great idea of going to Seven Falls. Neither of us had been there and we thought the crowds would be smaller with inclimate weather.
It was so nice to have shade (clouds) and luckily K was smart enough to bring an umbrella. We didn't use it for the waterfall but we had moments of rain.
We did a pretty good job of taking our time and actually looking at things. For example, the bark on some pine trees is amazing. The colors and the texture were something I'm not sure I've noticed before. And the nearby sign said it's actually fire retardant. On the other side of the tree was some good old lichen.
Moss is amazing to me. The left is tortula ruralis or syntrichia ruralis. The detail is incredible. Some more lichen on the right. I think both were digging the rain. I'm so impressed by moss, I made a post, Secret World of Moss, to capture some of the best shots. But you can also just search posts with moss.
Had to get a low-level shot of the falls because those pics are usually cool. This little clover on the right was cool. Just doing its best to grow out of a rock. Plants are something else. They just keep going - with or without people's attention. One step of a hiking boot could erase the time it took this plant to grow. Or it will die with the seasons. Either way, another one - probably inches or feet away - will be doing the same thing. I was wearing a plant that day in my cotton shirt. God's gifts are literally perfect.
Some alien pods handing from a pine tree which are where the pupae of blue fungus beetle or blue pleasing fungus beetle hang out. They're pretty gnarly and more so if the pupae is present. As you might imagine, these blue creatures were on the same trees not very far away. Cypherotylus californicus of the erotylidae family, eat the cork fungus on trees and their blue goes gray when they age. Other than the blue, they're not very dynamic. They are of the same order as ladybugs as you might guess by their shape, but different families. Funny enough, there were a couple ladybugs just next door (tree).
Us in front of the falls. This is the Eagle's Nest which you can see on the map below. We also took the stairs in the background and walked the Midnight Falls trail. Since we took the stairs and the trail we lazied out and took the elevator to the nest. The steps kind of detract from the falls, but it's still a great view. K's hair smells good, too.
The obligatory map - which now that I post this, I realize we didn't go to Inspiration Point. And my attempt on a gif taking you from 'lowly' moss to the majestic sky.
The post is titled "Seven Falls Magenta" because a couple days before Seven Falls we visited the Cottonwood Center for the Arts to see the art they accepted for June's show. There was no theme - your pieces just had to use Viva Magenta. It was Pantone's 2023 color of the year. They accepted Buttons and Viva Shade. K was nice enough to go with me. Thank you K for another great weekend.
- mm -
No comments:
Post a Comment