Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Another Day Out With The Camera

After getting the battery issue with the car straightened out, I wanted to get back to where I was with the camera the other day… because the picture I REALLY went out to get I didn’t have the chance to get it, because I was riding shotgun in the tow truck!
So these are the result of my day out.
A weed.
cr-weed

I see this every where here. This is the bloom. In the fall they dry out and are a stalk with a prickly top in a very dark brown. I don’t know what they are called. Anyone with a name?

(edit: I have the name. Teasel. Another quilter, Pippa (she blogs here and here) sent me the name and what it was used for before machinery came along. In the old days the dry prickly head was used to nap wool. But it also used as an herb in Chinese medicine and more recently against Lyme Disease.)


























While taking the portrait of the weed I found these shinny little bugs
cr-shinny-beetles


I also don’t know what kind of beetle this is. This is the coloring of the bugs, not enhanced in post processing… so I don’t think they are June bugs or Japanese Beetles… they are a beetle of some sort and a quick search on the internet did not reveal the kind.
(on edit, I did an Internet search for iridescent beetle and discovered that they are commonly called Dogbane Beetle)






















On the way back to the spot where the car died, I took a detour ….  and found this:
cr-mansion


An abandoned Mansion. I don’t know any of the history of the building… but it is clear that the vegetation is taking over!


































Just past where I broke down was a small pond. It was posted to keep out, so I was unable to get closer. But it was a very serene and peaceful place.
cr-pond

And the picture I started out to capture was an expanse of wild Cosmos:
cr-cosmos-1      cr-cosmos-2
The 2 distance shots really don’t show what I saw, but part of that is because of the location… on a highway and not a safe place to mess around with a camera…. for “the picture”.  But the portrait of  a blossom or two is just right!
cr-cosmos
~ More later ~

2 comments:

  1. That looks like a Japanese beetle, the ones that eat leaves bare and just leave the veins. I have a few of them this year but had lots that last 3 years.

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  2. The wildflower is a teasel...the dried heads were used in the weaving industry to raise the knap on woollen fabric.

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