you guessed it

More leaves.  I can't help it, they just look so appealing, and since I know they won't be around for very long I feel compelled to take photos of them while I still can.

scenes of fall

One of the columns on the Lawn against the brilliance of sugar maple leaves.

Sunset through the columns.

Experimenting with my portrait lens.

more leaves

And of course, I had to take some with me to add some color to my note-taking.

rules of engagement

My friend is engaged, and this weekend I'll hopefully be taking engagement photos of her and her fiance--it'll be a good chance to test out my new portrait lens!

autumn splendor

Virginia creeper.

Sugar maple.

jewelbug

Japanese beetle on asparagus fronds.

mackerel skies

Sunset from my friend's dock in Shady Side, Maryland.

opioid

Ornamental poppies.

sonoma

Taken while wine-tasting in Sonoma with my family this summer.

farmer's market

 Wildflower bouquets.

 

A rainbow of autumn vegetables.

boulder

Mountains formed almost entirely of craggy boulders on the drive from Yuma to San Diego.

amphibian

Saw this green frog today in the Dell Pond, a stormwater retention reservoir at UVa that looks like a pretty pond, part of the colonial architecture (but serves a purpose in rainwater maintenance!  I heard a lecture about stormwater in my Restoration Ecology class last year and will never look at drainage ditches the same way again.).  This guy will probably spend the winter hibernating at the bottom of the pond, nestled in some plant roots.

Also, if you click the image and enlarge it, you can see my reflection with the camera in his eye.

housefly

Taken through a standing magnifying glass, the photos of this housefly I killed show that sometimes the closer you get to something, the cooler it looks.

Look at that sweet proboscis--the flat pad at the end is the labellum and the bit that sticks out at the top of the mouthpart (just where the proboscis joins to the head) is one of the maxillary palps, used for tasting and smelling.  I wish these photos could really capture the detail I could see through the actual glass!  I just realized I should have set my aperture smaller to get the whole fly into my depth of focus...

larval

Potato beetle grub on a horse nettle.  You can see its "frass" (special term for insect poop) to the left, and on its head and upper body there are tiny mites that parasitize this agricultural pest.

botany

Indian pipe, a parasitic plant that possesses no chlorophyll and feeds off of other plants.

Wild viburnum.

twinapple & my 100th post

Fruit of two fused blossoms.

family

My little sister and our two cousins.

toast

hook line and sinker

heat lamp

dreaming of spring

As we fade into fall, a reminder of what new leaves look like.

aperture

Tree branches seen through a hole in the trunk, shot last winter.

delicate

White peony, one of my favorite summer flowers.

football

The jumbro-tron at the stadium during our college football game this past Saturday.

nearest and dearest

My best girlfriends from college.  Miss you all.