Nature Play

I'm getting a tremendous amount of pleasure from the potted echinacea that I bought for $5 at the farmers' market on August 23. Its temporary abode is the front porch, as I haven't figured out yet where to plant it, and I enjoy these bright colors several times a day from my seat at the kitchen table.

We had some light rain earlier today, and I thought this plant might like to be out in the front garden for a little while. The light was soft, and my earlier attempts at blip-worthy photos had been unproductive, so I took a few shots of the echinacea amongst the heather and other plants, playing a bit with aperture.

The sky darkened and I heard a distant rumble, so, being a prudent sort, I quickly drew a close to this "vacation" for the echinacea, and put it back under the shelter of the porch roof. A wise decision, as the heavens opened and we had very heavy rain for about half an hour, along with thunder loud enough to make us unplug our computers, although we hadn't seen any lightning.

The fine threads on the lower left of the foreground flower belong to this tenant--a tiny crab spider, just like the one I blipped on an aster flower in the back yard a few weeks ago.

The echinacea's crab spider has a dark pink stripe on the sides of its abdomen, presumably to help it blend in with the pink petals. I was lucky to get this shot, as it scurries underneath the petals as soon as I loom over it with my camera, which I've done several times this week!

The natural world never ceases to bring me pleasure.

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