Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: perfection

What??? Just checked our weather forecast and I found little snowflake icons for this coming Thursday, 13 September!! I am SO not ready for this. We did get snow in the mountains back in August. Yesterday, 8 September 2018, there was a second Fungi Foray out at West Bragg Creek. A handful of us from Calgary were there, plus so many people who belong to a mycological group. Many of them arrived armed with the dreaded baskets! Never a good sign, as that means mushrooms will be picked before those of us who are photographers and/or like to see mushrooms left where they are growing, get a chance to take photos. This year is not a particularly good year for mushrooms and other fungi. However, we did see quite a few different kinds, including this little family growing along the edge of a tree stump. As always, any IDs given are only tentative - have no ID for these. This little grouping was not in West Brragg Creek itself, but in a "secret" spot. Three of us went there after the foray. A treacherous place to try and walk, but a few different species can be found there. Definitely not a place for dozens of people. One of the things we wanted to check out in this second spot was a log that was covered in Blue Stain. On our last visit, we had photographed a white mushroom and when I got home, I noticed that the log below it had Blue Stain. We wanted to check if we could find any of the beautiful and unusual turquise fungi cups were to be seen. When we eventually found the right log in the forest (ha, ha!), we were delighted to see that there was a scattering of these teeny cups. Almost all of them were very pale, but some did have a turquoise rim. Will eventually post a photo of them. The weather was just perfect for our morning's walk. On the drive west of the city to West Bragg Creek, there was a beautiful Chinook Arch. I just had to pull over on the highway and take a quick shot through the windscreen. It was so tempting to keep driving further into the mountains - West Bragg Creek is right on the edge.

There were only a handful of tropical butterflies at the Calgary Zoo on 9 April 2013, when this photo of one of the large Blue Morphos was taken. Even fewer when I was there again on 16 April 2013. It's early in the butterfly "season", but eventually their numbers will increase and the tropical plants will get much larger, and it will once again be a tropical paradise! The staff and volunteers put in so much work and effort to create this amazing place for us to enjoy. Actually, I've just realized that this butterfly is different from my previously posted Blue Morpho images, so it must be a different Morpho species. "A Morpho butterfly may be one of over 29 accepted species and 147 accepted subspecies of butterflies in the genus Morpho." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morpho

I LOVE mushrooms that look like small goblets or bird baths in the forest. This absolute beauty was growing at the Waiparous trails, NW of Calgary, when a few of us spent the day botanizing the area on 31 August 2012. And, yes, I wish I had removed the twig before taking the photo, but I seem to remember that I was feeling just too tired and painful to bend down, plus I have to try and keep up with the group : )

A beautiful yellow Lily, photographed at the Calgary Zoo on 23rd August 2011.

I don't know the ID for this fungus, but it was quite beautiful. Photographed on a botanizing hike at Brown-Lowery Provincial Park on August 20th.

These fungi often seem to be in such perfect condition when we come across them. This one was growing on J. Edworthy's land, where we spent a most enjoyable day last summer (July 29th), recording all wildlife, plants, insects, fungi, etc... Can you believe it - it's snowing - again?!! Lol, I'm beginning to convince myself that maybe winter will never come to an end after all! I made myself go for a walk with friends this morning, from Bebo Grove to Shannon Terrace and back. Not many birds to be seen, and no sign of the little Northern Pygmy-owls. Another day that is heavily overcast with no light for photography : ( I think the only photo that I might be able to rescue is of icicles - anyone want to sit and gaze at icicles, ha?? Anyone? It's almost April, and spring HAS to be around the corner. Meanwhile, stay warm, everyone!

This didn't come out quite how I was expecting, as I had placed this gorgeous Rose against my WHITE fridge! Actually, I bought this flower to photograph, ready to make into a photo tribute for 10-year-old Zahra Baker, in North Carolina, US. However, I needed to wait until the human remains just discovered have been tested and presumably determined to be those of this amazing young girl. In the meantime, I decided on a different idea for a tribute photo (partly because the floral meaning of an orange Rose was not what I wanted), but I still must wait. I don't know how many of you have followed this brutal, tragic case - about as sickening and heart-wrenching as a murder can be. This young girl looks so sweet in the photos and videos of her. She survived bone cancer and lung cancer, had a below-the-knee amputation as a result of the cancer, and wore a hearing aid. Yet, despite all these battles, you only saw photos of her with a smile that lit up her whole face. Her father and her stepmother have not yet been charged with her murder. How can any parent do such horrendous things to such a sweet child? How can anyone abuse and kill their own little girl??? Yes, this kind of News is unpleasant and upsetting. Some people will choose not to watch this kind of News, which I can understand. However, I have always been someone who wants to know everything, no matter how bad. I want to be aware and not live with closed eyes and ears. I believe people need to know what goes on, including so that they can maybe step in when it's needed. Any suspicions of abuse need to be reported - we have a moral obligation to do so. Tragically, in Zahra's case, many reports were made, but nothing was done ...... and now this young girl is dead.

I just love the bright orange stamens of this white Lily against the green bokeh. Seen growing at the Reader Rock Garden almost two weeks ago. Several of these small Lily flowers grow up a single stem, so it's not always possible to avoid bits of leaves or petals belonging to the next flower. The weather has been beautiful today - a surprise after our tremendous rain and hail storm yesterday evening. I haven't watched the News to see what flood damage was done, but there must have been damage from the storm in parts of the city. We had a long day of walking today, recording all the plants, animals, birds, etc. in Bragg Creek Provincial Park. Two highlights of the day for me was a little cluster of three teeny Bird's Nest Fungi, and seeing a new plant, Menzies' Catchfly (will have to check the name and spelling). And now I am totally exhausted after doing more walking than we expected. Was nice to call in at the Cinammon Spoon for coffee afterwards : ) I did drive down a couple of my usual backroads on the way home - loved soaking up all that glorious Canola colour! This week, I will be out for another three full-day outings in a row - if I can manage that many. Will be useless for anything by the time Sunday arrives, LOL. And it's going to be hot, hot, hot - and I don't do well at all in the heat : (

I always love to see fungi gills and thought this one was in beautiful condition : ) No nibbles (yet!) from squirrels or slugs : ) Growing on a broken-off branch in the forest at Janel Butler's ranch, south of the city in the Millarville area. This week, I will be out for yet another three full-day botanizing trips in a row - if I can manage that many. Will be useless for anything by the time Sunday arrives, LOL. And it's going to be hot, hot, hot - and I don't do well at all in the heat : (

This small mushroom was maybe an inch across, if that, from what I remember. Thank you, Susan, for pointing out this colourful find of yours : ) It was pushing through the soil at the Mountainview Handicapped and Sports Society Centre, north west of Calgary (near cremona), when we stopped to botanize the area on 30th July. We did this after spending a good part of the day botanizing a wonderful bog near Cremona. (FInding it difficult to remember where I've been and on what days - all my outings tend to blur into one, long outing in my mind, LOL!). Not a lot of fungi (yet!), but we are starting to see the occasional one on our outings. Not sure if this is Russula emetica (also called "The Sickener", as it is poisonous).

Saw this very tiny mushroom growing amongst the moss while we were botanizing the forest at the Mountain View Sports and Handicapped Centre, near Cremona, on 30th July.

Yesterday, we were lucky enough to have one of these very large butterflies actually land with wings spread, against a pale green backdrop. Most of these Blue Morphos at the Calgary Zoo are seen at rest, with wings tightly closed. No matter how many times I see one, I still find the gorgeous blue iridescence of the wings breathtaking. "The Peleides Blue Morpho (Morpho peleides) is an iridescent tropical butterfly found in Mexico, Central America, northern South America,Paraguay and Trinidad. The Blue Morpho Butterfly (Morpho peleides) drinks the juices from rotting fruits for food. Its favourites are mango, kiwi, and lychee. Blue Morpho butterflies live in the rainforests of South America, and can be found in Mexico and Central America.The wingspan of the Blue Morpho butterfly ranges from 7.5 cm to 20 cm.The entire Blue Morpho Butterfly lifecycle, from egg to adult is only 115 days. The larvae of Blue Morpho Butterflies are cannibals. The caterpillar Blue Morpho Butterfly is red-brown with patches of bright green. The brilliant blue color in the butterfly's wings is caused by the diffraction of the light from millions of tiny scales on its wings. It uses this to frighten away predators, by flashing its wings rapidly. The Blue Morpho Butterflies stick together in groups to deter their predators, a form of Mobbing behavior." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morpho

I thought the depth of the refraction was kind of neat and I always love the absolutely perfectly smooth surface of a water droplet. This one was resting on a Rose petal. LOL, my kitchen window usually makes its way into my refractions - this is the only place I can get enough light! Note added this morning: 11 of my flower images have been "stolen" and posted on someone's (name removed now that my images have been removed from that photostream by Yahoo) Flickr photostream. He only has four pages of images so far, so most unlikely that any of them are yours. Might not hurt to keep an eye on it, though. I have put a comment under each of my images displayed on his photostream (some of which he had also turned into black and white) and will send him a Flickrmail, asking if he knows that he just cannot do this.

I am NOT a gardener, but felt quite proud when this flower appeared - one year only - from a Dahlia root that I had planted. The Dahlia is the official flower of the city of Seattle.