Less is more

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

"Just" a regular Seven-spotted Ladybug that I came across yesterday afternoon, while on an afternoon botanizing trip at the Kerfoot Ranch, NW of Cochrane (which is NW of Calgary). This was a new location for me - the Kerfoot property is on the beautiful, rolling hills that you see when driving along the Grand Valley Rd. A small group of us searched for any species of plant, moss, lichen, bird, insect, and animal that were there, and the resulting list will be given to the landowners. In the morning, a friend and I had hiked at the Perrenoud natural area, looking for anything new - and anything that was interesting and beautiful, whether flora or fauna. The spring and summer months are so busy with botanizing different areas - all so interesting, but increasingly exhausting and painful for me ... sigh. However, I go where I am able and do as much as I can - I have to do as much walking as I can, for bone density reasons and to try and keep my joints mobile. A painful process, which kind of balances out with the pure joy I get from seeing and photographing some of the things we find. Heavily cropped image, so I'm surprised it still came out quite sharp.