Monday, July 4, 2011

Smitten and Distracted

I am smitten.
It happens every spring.

It's wildflowers.

And

Trilliums in particular.

They bloom here around Memorial Day, give or take a few weeks,
and
then they only live for about a week and die.

But while they are here,
they are glorious.

We were heading for a wedding late May and I spied
some on the side of the road.

I wanted to stop and get some photos, but my husband didn't think
it a good idea to hike up my long skirt to climb over the grass on a public highway in my heels to do so.
(Silly man).

But, I honored his opinion and waited until the next day to go out
to our favorite place in the woods
to capture some shots of them.

We found a whole entire hillside of them!:







I just love looking at flowers from all different angles:















Some even had some wild forget-me-nots
beside them too!:

Then I spied a beautiful light blue butterfly
flitting all over.
I must have chased him for 5 minutes and he would land
but with his wings CLOSED.

I finally captured one of him with his wings
partially open and on a wild strawberry blossom:

Now...
where WAS I?
Oh yeah..
the trilliums...
(See? Didn't I tell you I was distracted from all of Nature's wildflower beauty?)

Do you SEE why Trilliums are one of my favorite wildflower?
They are protected in Michigan and cannot be picked or transplanted:


And then the apple blossoms
came out.

Oh.
My.

And we had a flock of Bohemian Waxwings
fly into our yard and start eating the blossoms with flurry!:










Where was I (again??)

Oh,  yes...
the Trilliums!:

You can see why I get distracted
with our U.P. Spring.
Everywhere you look, there are gorgeous wildflowers
and birds and blossoms.

I wanted to get back out to take more Trillium photos and we got a few weeks straight of rain!
So it's a good thing I got out there that ONE day.

***********************************************
Happy 4th of July everyone!
Hope you are having a wonderful holiday filled with family and fun!

17 comments:

  1. Not only did I love the trilliums, but all the rest! Especially the little forget-me-nots and the butterfly you chased about. Happy 4th to you, too! :)

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  2. BEAUTIFUL!! We finally had a flock of waxwings in our yard last night. They usually stay in the woods. I think they were looking for the big birdbath/fountain I use to have out. It isn't there anymore and they couldn't all fit in the small one so they left!

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  3. haha. now you got me all distracted as well...lol. lovely wild flowers...rather fond of the blossoms myself...

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  4. wowee kozowie on the last few bird shots in the flowering trees. they are stunning and i love them. i also like the looking up from the ground shots of the flowers. so much beauty out there and you found a lot of it. wish you had lifted the dress and climbing over and had hubby take photos of it... ha ha happy 4th

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  5. forgot to say i like that blue butterfly, have not seen one of those before.

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  6. Loving these photos! Wild violets and Johnny Jumpups are also favorites of mine. They scream spring, don't they?
    Happy 4th to you and yours
    Sandi

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  7. I can see why you would get distracted and what wonderful distractions these are!

    Happy Fourth of July to you and yours!

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  8. Oh my.These are gorgeous.It is amazing,how a flower ,so simple can be so beautiful.

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  9. Beautiful photos. You finally caught the butterfly's blue upper side! I haven't been able to yet.

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  10. I love the Trilliums also. The Smokies are full of them. Great pictures, Joan... Makes me yearn for SPRING --now that we are in our hot summer here.

    Happy 4th
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  11. We call those birds Cedar Waxwings but they look the same. Your photos are always so clear and sharp. I truly enjoy them.

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  12. With all the beauty in your area, I don't know how you manage to get ANYTHING done around your place! LOLOL

    Absolutely gorgeous photos, as always, Joan.

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  13. my favorites are the apple blossom. so pretty

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  14. They're beautiful distractions indeed. Trillium are protected here in Ontario too. It's out provincial flower. You sure took some lovely shots of them. Nicely done.

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  15. A million trilliums. And wonderful circle entries. I think I have a bird shot in mind. But I have a trillium of them to choose from!

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  16. A truly mixed bag of wild flowers there, you never know what you're going to see.
    Happy 4th of July

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  17. Love the little forget-me-nots and the butterfly! Once again, beautiful photos.

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