Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: fragility

We are all waiting with baited breath for the first Prairie Crocus (also called Pasque-flower) to bloom!!! Such gorgeous, hairy plants! Legend says that the Great Spirit gave this delicate plant a fur coat to keep it warm until spring nights turn warmer. This is a photo taken on 5 May 2006 at Shannon Terrace, Fish Creek Park. Last spring, I photographed my first one on 26 March, but everything will be delayed this year because of our long, hard winter.

These teeny wildflowers are absolutely exquisite! They grow in moist woodlands and are so small that normally a person would never notice them. Each flower stem has 3-10 tiny, greenish white flowers on it. The flower is 5-6 mm (0.197 to 0.236 inches!)across, has 4 or 5 sepals, and 5 petals that are finely divided and branched. I think they look like little snowflakes : ). They are extremely difficult to photograph because they are always found in low light, very low to the ground, and they are so SMALL!

I was going to put "Spring is finally here" as the title, but the sky has clouded over and it no longer looks like spring, LOL. Either way, I was happy to see tiny bunches of Daffodils in Safeway yesterday - so cheap, but so beautiful!

The sun has finally come out, late afternoon, but it has been a cold day today, with an unpleasant cold wind (which has just started to pick up). Had a routine dental appointment this afternoon and when I got back home, I noticed that the first flower on my little Christmas Cactus had fully opened. Thought I'd make the most of it - after all, a day without using my camera is not my favourite kind of day, LOL! Hope it sends out lots of cheer : ) Rebecca (Red-Star) - this is to celebrate your successful, but bittersweet, house sale.

This was one of the many wonderful species of fungus that we discovered while botanizing the 152-acre property of Rod Handfield, south of Calgary, west of Millarville. Just loved the grooves and the light : )

My tiny back "garden" is a total disaster, with giant ferns pushing their way up through other plants and the lawn. My short length of hedge is growing through and over the fence. Tiny blue/purple geraniums were looking pretty, but soon will be an untidy mass of straggling stems and seedpods. BUT, I have two Peonies and they produce gigantic blossoms out of those tiny buds - and the smell is out of this world! I always find it fascinating to see the occasional splash of pink on the white petals, like raspberry sauce drizzled on vanilla ice-cream : )

I can't remember when I took this photo, but I used my old Olympus C750UZ and at that time I was having to hold the battery door closed with a huge elastic band. Each time this slipped, all my settings were messed up and no date was recorded. I know it was quite a long time ago, and I wasn't sure whether to post it as there is so little of the photo that is even moderately sharp, ha, ha. However, there is just something I like about the colouring and bokeh, and the small, delicate, hanging flowerhead. Purple Avens is a native plant in the Rose family and grows in marshes and wet meadows in July. Unusual pinkish purple, nodding heads. Sorry, everyone, I am falling further and further behind with any commenting (which is usually very random, anyway). This time of the year, after our long, cold winter months, I find myself out of the house most of the time, often seven days a week! Throw in severe sleep deprivation, and I tend to be feeling dead tired most of the time, too! Very enjoyable outings for me, (but absolutely necessary also, to keep my joints and muscles mobile, otherwise I won't be able to walk AT ALL), but I feel bad that I'm just not getting time to comment! I appreciate all YOUR comments so much - thank you so much for still taking the time to visit my photostream! So much appreciated!

Hope you all spent a few moments, at very least, thinking about our planet today. We have an amazing world to live in, for the most part, and need to do all we can to keep it that way. I spent this morning on a walk, seeing and photographing a few of the first early spring plants, including Prairie Crocuses, thinking how great it was to be enjoying spring at last. After a volunteer shift this afternoon, I had to drive home in a dreadful snow storm, LOL! The white stuff continues to fall heavily ....

Well, the poor Prairie Crocuses looked rather battered and droopy this morning, after the awful snow storm we had two days ago! They were all closed up, with their little fur coats - solar heating, Crocus style! "This furry little perennial is actually not a crocus, which is in the Lily family; it's really an anemone, in the Buttercup family."

Another clump of very deep purple Prairie Crocuses sen at 12 Mile Coulee. Normally, these wildflowers are pale purple/bluish/whitish, but we have now seen a couple of clusters in this much darker shade. They were so pretty. They have no petals - the purple sepals just look like petals.

I took this photo a long time ago, using my old Olympus C750 UZ. The metal door to the battery compartment got bent when I dropped the camera. Consequently, I used to have a thick, purple elastic band wrapped around my camera in an attempt to keep it partly closed. As you can imagine, it hardly looked "professional" and I'm sure many people got a good chuckle over it. However, it took some good photos : ) Sometimes, the door would spring open and then the date was not recorded on the photo. I also had to reset everything in the camera, which was very frustrating. So, I can't remember when or where I took this photo and worst of all, I can't remember what plant it is. Doug, or anyone else, if you happen to see this, would you be able to let me know the ID? Purple Prairie-clover? Might have been a garden plant. Thanks! Later: have managed to track down this photo on my external hard drive. It is Purple Prairie-clover, seen at Votier's Flats, Fish Creek Park on 7th August 2007. Thanks, George - you were right!

Possibly my favourite seedpods! These are from the Black Henbane plant and remind one of peanut shells : ) I love the spiky points and the intricate vein pattern. This plant was introduced from Eurasia and has become a problem. All parts of the plant are poisonous, too.

These blue and white flowers have lasted quite a few days already and have given me a few happy photo opportunities.

This is just a single tiny flower of the flower cluster of the wild Round-leaved Orchid. There are several (2-8) of these small flowers along a main stem. This plant grows in mossy areas of moist coniferous forests. It looks rather like a little angel with wings and a polk-dot gown. Very delicate little flowers, each one 12-15 mm long.

Have just spent three hours at the Zoo this afternoon, as we have more snow in the forecast over the next few days. Wanted to make the most of today's sunshine and now am in a rush to upload "my daily three" so that I can have some supper : ) This is what became of a brightly coloured rose I posted recently - I thought it turned into something quite beautiful. Apologies to my Flickr friends for not commenting much/at all - I have several projects that are keeping me running round in circles, not to mention all sorts of urgent personal things that just aren't getting done!!

Yes, this was this morning, LOL! Actually, it has been a beautiful, sunny day, around 0C or a degree or two above. Was out on a walk all morning at Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, which is where I noticed this leaf lying on the path. I can never see a leaf edged with ice-crystals and not photograph it. Straight after this walk, I called in at the Zoo, which was nearby. SO many people everywhere, enjoying the sunshine!! I couldn't get all that many photos - think I prefer a weekday, not a weekend. The most-photographed creature there for me was a Canada Goose, who was standing on the path, on guard, while his mate was up on a low roof, building her nest : ) One very happy animal was the new, male Snow Leopard. He and the female have just been introduced - and today he must have been feeling VERY happy (to the embarassment of many parents with young children, LOL). Hopefully, there will be babies this year.

OK, so it's a little bit weird, but I thought I'd still post it, LOL! Just a small piece of melting ice that I picked up and held up to the beautiful blue sky that we had a couple of days ago. Made me think of a mask when I saw it at home. The snow and ice are melting here, leaving many of the park paths slushy and muddy. Dare I say it? It was too warm for my liking today, LOL!

I picked up this very thin piece of ice when I was on a walk recently at Burnsmead, Fish Creek Park. Couldn't resist holding it up to the sky and really seeing the patterns in the ice. Suzie, I can't remember if there were leaves/branches on the ground or not (but most likely), but I do remember hearing a friend say the word "leaves". LOL, I'm running out of time to take ice formation photos : ) At least, I hope so.