Thursday, June 14, 2018

I looked up and saw a single star / Spring rain seen and heard from my porch / Virginia rail



































































































When I looked up from my laptop and turned toward my window this morning, I saw the image of a star.  It was the sepal of the second bud of the season on my Streptocarpus.  Although I tried to photograph it, I found that my camera struggled to focus on it.  I fiddled around with the settings menu but didn't get anywhere with that.   I love a challenge and so I kept trying, without great technical success but with images that satisfy my sense of beauty and wonder and awe.

I love rain, especially in late spring.  Can you hear the Virginia Rail?






2 comments:

Sabine said...

In what is possibly one of my most favourite books ever (Birds and People by Mark Cocker, see here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1074162/birds-and-people/ and here: http://www.markcocker.com/), this is what I read about the Rail family of birds:

"A more elusive part of the pleasure of rails is the contrast between the vibrancy of the living birds and the forbidding, punitive character of their chosen habitat. For many observers the finding of a fellow vertebrate in surroundings that are inaccessible, and even inhuman, lends to the encounter a powerful sense of discovery. It is as if life itself, manifest in these subtle and sensitive creatures, has revealed some of its inner mysteries. Seeing them can feel like a quest fulfilled."

am said...

Thank you for this comment, Sabine! Our public library has a copy of that book. It's on my to-read list. I appreciate your book recommendations.

I've been fortunate to have seen Virginia rail chicks, too, here at Scudder Pond. They are completely black. This video gives an idea of what they look like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TftU0k4UtK8