Turtles and Tufts!

You never know WHAT you will find

when you go on

a photo shoot

out in the woods.

One day, we were surprised to

still see turtles.

We ordinarily see quite a few

in the springtime,

but when autumn rolls around,

we don't usually see many.

We rolled up to a beaver pond in our truck

and saw a turtle way out in the pond

on the very edge of a log.

I hopped out of the truck, expecting the turtle

to jump in the water right away, and not give me the opportunity for a shot at it.

Imagine my surprise, when not only did he STAY on the log,

but began to do some funny antics for me:

(Tell me that he is not "balancing" on that log and sticking his leg out?)

I began to laugh, at which point, he jumped in the water.

Embarrassed no doubt. haa

We found another turtle on a log sunning himself further down the road

in another pond.

Must have been a suntanning kind of day!:

Here is a plant beside the pond that had metamorphized into a seed tuft. I loved it!:

Three turtles on a log! (Gee that sounds like the name for a child's book, doesn't it?):

We saw a few more, but they immediately jumped into the water, the minute I got out of the truck.

(They must have heard from the first turtle and didn't want to embarrass themselves either!)

This time of year, one is usually disappointed

about the lack of wildflowers

(or hybrid flowers for that matter) to photograph.

Up this far north, things are dying fast due to frost and the cold night temperatures.

However, if you take the time to look close, you find seed pods that are very interesting..

or in my case,

little TUFTS in plants that you wonder what the heck they are!

So, upon gazing on these, if anyone out there knows what kind of plant or bush

this was before it went to "tufts", please share your knowledge with us in the comment section.

But, I was amazed at the artistry in these seed tufts...I found them full of texture

and wonderful to photograph due to the movement in them!!

A bush of little dustmops!!

I just loved their looks-like-I-just-woke-up-with-tousled-hair look!:

I wanted to run my fingers through their hair:

And, I loved the little seed pod centers inside all that "hair":

And...

you know ME.

I had to play with the image in black and white too.

Loved how it looks that way!

Very dramatic!:

The shaggy bush, from afar,

reminded me of something you'd see in a

Japenese garden:

(and the U.P. is pretty FAR AWAY from Japan, people!!)

Maybe next time you go into the woods

and are disappointed not to find beautiful flowers

or exotic animals....

look closer.

Because nature has beauty

everywhere, at all times.....

You just have to

let it show you....

look closer...............................................................