A grapevine tendril made a lovely spiral along Piney Woods Church Road, which I paused to photograph early this afternoon.
Oct 252014
Oct 242014
As autumn proceeds, insect life gets more scarce along Piney Woods Church Road. Lately, I have been craving an encounter with some sort of creature making its rounds along the road. This afternoon, I encountered two: a wasp and a grasshopper (the latter the topic of another post).
I found this bright yellow wasp buzzing along near the ground, moving into and out of the leaf litter. It rested for a moment on a a leaf, but took off quickly when I pointed the camera its way. I waited again for it to make landfall, only for the same thing to happen again. On maybe the fourth try, she perched on a Hoary Mountainmint leaf and stayed put, occupied with grooming her antennae. I took quite a few photographs, most of which ended up a bit blurry. This one did not. According to the BugGuide experts, she is most likely the Ichneumon wasp, Neotheronia septentrionalis.
Oct 232014
A Harvestman (Daddy Longlegs) waits patiently in the autumn sunshine on a Hoary Mountainmint leaf along Piney Woods Church Road.
Oct 222014
On a sunny, blue-sky Wednesday afternoon, I returned to one of my favorite subjects along Piney Woods Church Road — strands of horsehair in a barbed wire fence. Here, they catch the light (and breeze) to become flowing, cosmic forms.
Oct 212014
An oak leaf is illuminated by the morning sun, somewhere along Piney Woods Church Road.
Oct 202014
Until this project, I had never really noticed, much less appreciated, the brilliant red of the sassafras leaves in autumn, accentuated by the way many of the leaves remain green while others abruptly turn.
Oct 192014
I ventured out to Piney Woods Church Road shortly after noon today, and photographed this sweetgum leaf partially illuminated by the sun. In its pale green and dun spaces, I imagine a satellite image of another land, containing verdant forests and stark deserts.
Oct 182014
I have never been particularly fond of Nepalese Brown-Top, a sort of miniature bamboo that is almost as invasive as the real thing. I have walked many a woodland with this grass as the dominant ground cover. The leaves are relatively uninteresting, the flowers minute and pink. But now, in the midst of autumn, a handful of the leaves are turning a brilliant red, while the others persist in green. What an unexpected plant to reveal the beauty of the autumn time!
Oct 172014
The wood oats along Piney Woods Church Road have all turned russet brown now. In the warm, breezy afternoon air, I watched the stalks swing to and fro, seed heads suspended like objects in a mobile or wind chimes.
Oct 162014
I find endless delight and inspiration in the beautiful forms of fallen leaves resting on the gravel bed of Piney Woods Church Road….
