Saturday, March 5, 2011

Looking Down


I'm going to bombard you with nature photos again this morning, and I really did struggle thinking up a post title.  Most of the photographs were taken at ground level, except the one above.  I was gobsmacked this morning to see this leaf and how it had been eaten - the pattern the caterpillar {??} made is so cool, I wanted to share it with everyone.  Is it any wonder those people who are good with design always tell us they get their inspiration from nature.  What a perfect little wavy pattern!!

Another leaf, another design inspiration.  I can see my friend Isabell's mind ticking over full of ideas for transforming this into something of a textile nature.  She is always one to offer her thoughts and inspiration.  I have sent her a number of strange photos during our friendship, and her ideas never cease to excite me.  Many of our eucalypts are suffering from these bumpy imperfections of late, and I hope some readers might find this interesting.


I seem to have been looking down at the ground lately, looking further into the weird and wonderful world of survival.  These strange little puff ball things have been appearing a lot lately because of the rain we've been having this summer.  I didn't realize they opened up, and formed a little flower on maturity.  They are only a dull colour, but the shapes in here are exciting.





 This seems to be a more mature specimen, a perfect little brown flower!!








Last week I was trying to use my new camera in the Macro mode, mainly taking shots of seed heads.  On closer inspection I noticed this little creature feeding on some of the seeds.  I suppose this is some type of miniature field snail.  It is not much longer than my thumb nail. 










After discovering the little guy in the above photograph, I found lots more of his mates, well, the little vacated shells that once housed his mates.  Here is a shot showing the one from above, and a vacated dwelling............












I hope my quite colourless nature shots are of interest to some.  I have severely trimmed and cut back the size of my photographs, as it was taking me forever to upload the original files, just ridiculous.  Hopefully, if you click onto the images you will be able to see enough detail to share my enthusiasm for all things great and small.


Thank you again for the encouraging comments from my last post.  I am still stitching away on my blue hardanger and will post a progress shot next week.  I had the pleasure of judging at one of our local shows yesterday.  My job {?} was to judge the sewing, needlework, knitting/crochet.  I had a great day, with so much patchwork to enjoy. 







8 comments:

DIAN said...

Linda, as usual your pics are fascinating. I love the wavy leaf and the little snail. They look almost like the ones you find among the rocks at the beach.
The little flower is most interesting.

By the way I always reduce my pics before loading them on my blog otherwise I would spend all day waiting for them to load.

Karyn said...

I am intrigued by your puff ball that opens up into an amazing flower. How clever is nature?

I know it is not quite the same but your snail shells remind me of a joke my kids used to like about slugs being snails that had been mugged. Was funny when they were younger!LOL!

Anonymous said...

Great photos. Perhaps I need some tips LOL. I love seeing these pics as much as your handwork.

Jensters said...

I always love looking at your photos Linda...i have a great free program which resizer your photos and when u uploaded them its so much faster....will email you the link x

Robin Mac said...

What a fascinating fungus that is, even if is only soft browns. Great photos all round. Cheers

Iceni UK said...

Linda, your photo's are lovely. I especially like the brown flower as it reminds me of sepia coloured photo's of years ago.
My mind did jump into action as to how I would embroider the flower and leaf. :)

I enjoy your blog because it stimulates the mind and invites further conversation on the topics you write about.
Hugs

Radka said...

Very good shots, Linda:)Inspirations for stitching, possibly?
I am glad you enjoyed your judging day, I can imagine it was very interesting:))

Linda said...

Thanks so much everyone for taking such a keen interest in my nature shots. I so enjoy seeing what excitement can be found in the most unexpected places.