Gladiola leaf in the rain at night...

For me the most exciting things to photograph are those ordinary and yet spectacular things that most people seem to walk by without noticing. I am always noticing. I must have been one of those little girls you couldn't hurry up on a walk because I had my nose to the ground staring at a lady bug or tiny wildflower coming up through a crack in the sidewalk. Tonight when I took the dogs out for the last time, or rather TRIED to take them out -- it was raining and they are loathe to go out in the rain. I got some of them out and they all dashed back in calling over their shoulders, "Surely you jest." leaving me outside in the soft rain piddling in the puddles with my nose to the ground looking at the raindrops on a gladiola leaf. I thought it was the most dazzling thing I had ever seen. Just breathtaking. A light mist was beginning to cover my camera and I didn't stay out long but this was just right and I loved it and wanted to share it here. A moment in nature, in the rain, on a dark night, in my woods. Lovely. And it is just stunning if you click to enlarge it!