FOTD, October 3, Portulaca

Portulaca grandiflora, are more commonly known to those of us who can’t pronounce scientific names as Moss Roses. They are marvelous small succulent plants with flowers of many colors within the same grouping.

But this mixture of beauty reminds me of the beauty people can be if they try. We live together in clusters called cities, we all look different, we wear different colors, are different heights, and we have different ways to share our beauty of life.

Maybe you are a rich red beauty looking like a miniature rose…

Or maybe you are the soft gentle soul of light yellow rose…

Which is vastly different than the bright yellow which reflects the brightness of the sunshine.

Or maybe you are the neutral power of strength for all colors having no color at all.

My favorite of these lovely flowers is the mauvy pinkish-red which to me shares the kindness that we should all share with all people regardless of the brightness of the colors we wear.

As flowers gracefully move into the fall season, let us not forget the beauty that they have shared with us all summer. This is how they shared their love and kindness with us. We should take a cue from them and always remember to be kind to others in our “cluster of flowers”, especially to those who may need a little extra kindness.

Always Be Kind!

FOTD, September 26, Azalea

While I was in Georgia, I took pictures of flowers still blooming in my brother’s year. He has a type of Azalea that blooms twice a year. So I was able to get pictures of the fall blooms.

They were so lovely but I also took pictures of other things blooming in his yard, mostly tiny blooms but in my book a flower is a flower is a flower. 😊

And of course, Roses are always beautiful to see.

Remember flowers bloom to share their beauty and kindness with us, so we should share our beauty and kindness with others. That was everybody gets to smile.

Always Be Kind!!

CFFC, Autumn Colors

We are still in the last throws of summer so we are not seeing much color change yet. But I love the colors of Fall, so I am sharing some colors from last year. My neighborhood has a lot of yellow.

But the reds, ah, they are my favorite. They usually start first and we are just beginning to see a tiny bit of change. Here is a beauty from last year.

Each season has its life purpose and its remarkable beauty. They remind us of our own seasons of life and how we should embrace each season with its unique beauty, sharing that beauty with others…and to always be kind.

FOTD, More Fun with Macros

Cee’s fun Flower of the Day challenge has really made me conscious of the fun you can have with macro photography. I am not an expert photographer, but I do enjoy playing with my camera.

As things begin to change for the season, you get some odd color changes and amazing details that only macro and close photography will show you.

This flower, normally a rich red, is fading for fall showing beautiful yellows and orange centers.

These cluster flowers I have shared before but you don’t really see the details except up close. look at the black center of each flower. This entire cluster is less than 1″ long.

I love the concept of flowers within flowers. The sunflower seeds are maturing and you can see the tiny yellow flower of each seed.

Here you see early sunflower seeds when the inner flowers are just being formed. They are primed with pollen for the bees to do their part.

Blue mouse ears, yellow eyes with pupil dots, a yellow smiling mouth, and two front legs.

Yes, my imagination gets out there sometimes with flower shapes, but this small weed flower of only two petals looks like a tiny big-eared mouse.

I end with two small cluster flowers that show some delicate beauty still to be had in the garden. There are so many different aspects of beauty in a garden…or even the side of the road in some cases. They are each a gift from God that He shares with us showing beauty and love. It is our response to slow down enough to appreciate each delicate one.

And as you slow down to enjoy, remember to share kindness as well. That has a beauty that is stronger and more lasting than any flower.

Nature Photo Challenger #28

Denzil Nature challenges us to share photos of wild animals. Being in the suburbs of a landlocked state in the middle of our country does not offer a vast variety but we do have some interesting personalities of those animals we do have.

For whatever reason, we seem to have a lot of rabbits around our church and we are not in the country – not that far from downtown, but this baby was precious.

I am sure he thought if he was very still I would not see him, but I did, all five inches of him.

The squirrels here, and probably everywhere, are very creative in getting to the bird feeder but this one was hanging by his toes, literally.

Since I am originally from south Georgia, we don’t see groundhogs there but here in Iowa, they are everywhere.

My house is just on the outside of a small national park so we see deer here in the city limits like you would see the neighbor’s dog. Here we have mom and babies.

I understand this last photo is not an animal but he is wild. I had to take his picture because he was so sassy. Sea birds are a common thing here because of the Mississippi River. They follow the tug boats that come here from the gulf.

Strutting around like he owns the place.

I remind you as always the value of kindness, even with wildlife. All of God’s creation should be dealt with kindly.

FOTD – September 12, Big

Cee’s Flower of the Day always has something new and colorful…I tend to be a broken record. But I dearly love sunflowers. This particular flower came up on its own. Last year when I cleaned out all of my spent sunflowers, I stacked them hear at the edge of the sidewalk so that I could take all of them with one haul to the trash. And all it takes is one little seed to create this 11′ beauty.

She has multiple limbs with multiple flowers growing on them. I counted 38 blooms ready to shout their beauty to the world. The leaves are huge checking in nearly 13″ across.

And her flowers shine brightly against today’s bright blue sky.

I have noticed that the varieties that have giant blooms usually only produce 1 bloom but then the varieties that have smaller blooms have many blooms. George, the sunflower at church (Yes, I name him because he got so many compliments), had 55 blooms. He was trying to make up for the seeds that the squirrels ate at planting.

I did not plant any of the sunflowers that came up in my yard. It was a very busy spring for me. But the birds made sure I was taken care of because the Goldfinches love these flowers.

As summer leaves us by turning into fall, we remember the beauty we have seen this past year with anticipation of next year. But each season carries a beauty of its own and we should remember to carry kindness into each season. Some need kindness more in the cooler seasons so try to always share your kindness wherever you go.

Kindness leaves others encouraged.

Let you Kindness fall in all the little spaces in between.

Fun with Macros

With photography, I am a poor amateur at best but I probably have more fun with it than some. This afternoon I saw how my only giant sunflower this year has drooped nearly in half from the weight of this huge bloom. So I was able to get up close and personal and see its tiny details.

The bloom is almost in the shape of a heart or maybe it’s just my odd way of looking at things. And it looks to have a flower inside the flower.

Nature is a complex entity and you will miss the beauty and “aww” moments if you don’t pay attention. This post is to kind of highlight some of the intricate details we miss if we don’t look hard enough. That is what I love about macros, they force you to see the tiny details.

For instance, we see the giant bloom of a sunflower but macro photography shows you that each seed that is forming in the huge bloom (this one is almost 11 inches across) also has a flower.

Since I was playing with my sunflower, I decided to macro photograph the tiny blooms in my yard that are still growing.

Except for this little beauty, all of these flowers are less than an inch in size. These spikes are about 1/2″ wide and about 3″ long. I also have this flower in pink. And sorry, I don’t remember what its name is. I tell myself I am going to remember the names of the flowers I plant…and then don’t.

These tiny beauties are Calibrachoa. I had several colors of these but these are the only two still blooming. All of them have bright yellow centers.

I think this flower is in the Coreopsis family but not sure. I love its dual color.

I don’t remember this flower’s name either but the cluster is less than an inch in size. That makes the individual flowers super tiny.

These are an old favorite as well, Dianthus. They come back each year so that is a bonus.

These are the only fall flowers I planted this year. Just been too busy. These are fall mums but are tiny for mums as they are just getting started.

I can’t close out the macros without showing my variegated Spider plant’s first baby. Too cute. This plant was a gift from a sweet lady at church.

I hope this post brought a smile to your face like flowers usually do. Smiles are a great way to show kindness, so smile often and be kind.

FOTD, September 7, Flowers Gone By

As fall seems to be finally coming in, we say goodbye to the abundance of color. Well, that is not true as fall colors are stupendous, but the many colors of flowers are fast approaching their winter nap.

As I was watching TV the other day, I saw this strange white thing floating in my slowly dying sunflowers so I went to investigate. What I found was an industrious spider had created a web from the evergreens to the drying sunflower blooms and the exploding dandelions of fall had met their match with the spider’s web.

When I looked at it again this morning, I saw that the spider was still growing its web and even more seedlings had been trapped. But it was an interesting and beautiful thing to see. All season have their beauty, you just have to change your perspective.

I saw some seedlings stick on a dying bloom and thought they were beautiful in their own way and thus was inspired to write a silly poem for them.

Dandelion

My arms reach out guiding me as I go

Sent up into the air where we don’t know

What is this destination of a life we show

When the wind just blows us to and froe

Next spring we awake from cold-hard ground

Coming up anew to our new home found

We show off our flower, it’s bright and round

And while it is beautiful, it makes not a sound

I close with a reminder to always be kind even when someone is not being kind to you. Your kindness will plant a seed that hopefully will grow into kindness as well.

All photographs are my own. Please do not use them in any form without written permission. Anita/Anitashope.com

FOTD, August 11, Garden Circle

At the beginning of this summer, my church tried to plant a sunflower circle but the elements and the pests(rabbits and squirrels) were in disagreement with that happening. We were hopeful for one plant trying to make it but an early storm broke him off at the base. So I bought marigolds, daisies, and other plants to at least fill in some of the outer ring of the circle with hopes for next year. Thanks to Cee’s fun challenge, we are able to share these beauties.

We did have two sunflowers make it to ‘maturity’, but the drought stunted their growth to about five feet in height but at least they are blooming. YAY!!

They are such an interesting color, kind of burnt orangey red. The rest of the flowers in the circle are low and trying to survive from the crazy crabgrass invasion. This fall we will do a better job of laying grass and weed stopping cloth and a new layer of mulch. Enjoy some of the rest of our flowers in our circle of hope as they show their beauty to all who walk by.

A six-petaled yellow daisy. I so love the daisies and mum type flowers because they have many tiny flowers as the center.

I also love the many variations of marigolds. We put the bright yellow ones around this circle to help with insect control and to bring in brightness like the sun.

And last but by no means least, the orange and pink lantana, always a favorite. I think they are supposed to be yellow and pink but they have a definite orange hue to that yellow.

It is still just August, so plenty of time to share your flowers. Share them often to help all of us smile. A smile is the least expensive way to share kindness and joy, so smile often and always be kind.

Nature Photo Challenge #23

Denzil Nature posted a challenge about the important side of nature concerning the things we call pests – Flies. If you have not seen his site, do check it out for some amazing photos. For my addition to this post, I am including flies and other things that buzz in my yard – some louder than others.

I do have in my yard a similar fly, possibly a bottle fly, that I was surprised that they hovered around my flowers…instead of something less pleasant.

But I also have other things that fly, maybe hoping to catch a less cautious bottle fly.

Then there are many swirling bees enjoying the nectar of my sunflowers. proof that bees don’t care if the petals are bright yellow, light yellow or no petals at all.

But my favorite flyer is not an insect, although he is not much bigger than some insects. And I don’t really have the equipment to capture him properly in photos, but still, he is a favorite – the hummingbird.

All of nature is important and has a purpose in being, so enjoy it often. And as always I remind you of another beauty in nature – kindness. For if all of us can show kindness to all of nature, kindness will continue to grow.