each day the chorus
thins; cicadas in the trees;
the end of summer
____________
the changing maple
leaves cathedral the song; a
lone cicada calls
Month: September 2014
On a Misty Night – Pagoda Circle in Late Summer – Forest Park, St. Louis
Egrets, I’ve had a few – Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary – Clark Bridge, Alton – Lomography
Sioux Power Plant, West Alton at Night – Three takes from the Great River Road
The Floating Bonsai – A Little Magic for the Front Porch – das Haus
If you come to my house, das Haus as I am wont to call it, you will find a fair number of organic pieces brought inside to add their beauty to the great indoors. Various other constructed pieces, either gifts of art from friends or motifs on decorative pieces bought at the thrift stores or art fairs or from artist friends, add to the aesthetic. This latest “installation” was put together after failing to revive a little bonsai tree which was left untended by a housemate. I carefully cleaned off the dirt from the root ball and was lucky in getting a pretty perfectly balanced vertical alignment when I suspended the tree using some thin fishing line. The daylight shots are pretty cool, though I need to increase the depth of field to get more of the tree in focus. The night shots, though, lit from below with an iPhone and with the backdrop of Christmas lights in bokeh, appear to me to be quite magical. I cannot wait till the snows come and I can take a daylight shot with nearly a pure white background.
Pas de Deux – Leaves in Spider Webs
On the Prairie at Dusk, with the Rising Moon – August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area
The Glory of Grasses – The Wonderment of Weeds – August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area
Last night, restless and a little melancholy, I drove westward in search of the outdoors–the sky, the sun setting and hopefully something interesting to shoot in the foreground. My meandering led me to the August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area, where I had been once to fish but never just to hike around. My walk led me through an area which was very like a prairie, full of some of my favorite plants: Black-eyed Susans, Queen Anne’s lace, goldenrod, and thistles, among other sundry grasses and flowers. The most interesting thing I saw was a bee on a thistle which had obviously died and was fixed to the flower. It was only after I processed the pictures that saw that it is sitting on something bright yellow, which almost certainly is a Ridge-faced flower spider, which I had to look up to identify. That must have been quite a final battle for both. I am very tempted to go back for the thistle and see if it is still there to get some better shots. In the meantime, enjoy these.
Three Fountains – World’s Fair Pavilion at Night – Forest Park, St. Louis
dim early nights, the – Autumn haiku
dim early nights, the
lights more glimmering; i feel,
i feel their coming
The Dassler Effect 