Queen Anne's Lace

It was a hard choice. I had fifty shots of Queen Ann's Lace. But I finally chose this one because I had to lie flat on my back on the pavement to get it.

Dana is a hard taskmaster. I commented this morning that I had found a patch of these exquisite, lacy flowers on our walk yesterday, but passed up those shots for one of her dog. She approached the situation pragmatically. Why not walk there today and take some more pictures? When we got there, the dogs were quite happy to sit in the shade and watch the proceedings as Dana directed me on the choosing perfect bloom and shooting the perfect angle. After trying a few shots herself with her iPhone, she announced that the perfect angle was from underneath!

It's not that I didn't try lots of other angles, and lots of other blossoms. The way they begin is as a ball formed by the individual "arms" enfolding their crown of tiny white blossoms. I'm charmed by this image of a basket of tiny flowers atop a stem.

The individual stems unfold, releasing the blossoms, and opening into a shape rather like a little bird's nest, which continues to open until the quintessential flat, lacy flower is fully open. Close inspection reveals one tiny red flower in the very center. (From underneath this umbrella-like structure is much easier to see--except for the lying on the ground part. And the getting back up part.)

Perhaps the thing to do is post one picture a day of this delightful wildflower in each of its phases….