Monarch Wing
Monarch Wing
An incredibly beautiful monarch butterfly hovered over a neighbor’s garden as I walked past. She chose to explore the autumn joy sedum, walking around on the flat umbels and fluttering from one to another, but with her wings closed so I could only get the side. Beautiful still. Polka dots.
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The First of Many Flowered Asters
Many-flowered Aster
The first of “many-flowered asters”, a classic autumn flower. That’s actually the name of the flower as well as a turn of phrase, but you can see by all the buds around this one flower that there will be many asters in the near future. When the stems bloom it’s a billow of white and yellow.
Sunrise and sunset are only 30 minutes from exactly 12 hours apart. Autumn is near.
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All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check my Etsy shop or Fine Art America profile to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.
It’s Where You’re Going
It’s Where You’re Going
“Allow me to help you…realize and discover what a beautiful flower you are.”
Maxine Powell polished the diamonds of Motown as the director of the in-house “finishing school” hired by Berry Gordy to manage all the new young stars he was creating. She died on October 14 at the age of 98 after a long career as an actor, model and personal development instructor and life coach. The Motown sound is truly one of my favorites, and I had heard about her briefly in reading and watching stories about the musicians who performed in that era. The story I listened to about her was so inspiring and included the quote used in the image above, near the end of the story; I found it very moving. When reading the accompanying article when I went to listen to the story again, it included the quote at the top where she referred to her students as beautiful flowers.
Finding this delicate and colorful cosmo peeking through the colorless chain link fence I photographed it from every angle, knowing it had something to say. Maxine Powell’s words gave it voice. We all have capacity for change, and to break the bonds of what fences us in.
Please share.
The Fence is Only a State of Mind
The Fence is Only a State of Mind
So what do you call a photo that’s kind of an iconic image? A flower peaking through a fence? Sticking its neck out? Looking for freedom? Taking a risk? That was my first choice.
In any case I was on foot on my way back from the bank and had my camera and all my lenses with them. I saw the purple cosmo from a distance down the alley and couldn’t wait to work my way to it, past the Roses of Sharon, the old white barn garage, and the wrought iron fence.
I was just taking this photograph, near the last of about three dozen shots, and shifting from a kneeling position on the gravel and asphalt of the alley to a more reclining position when a big red Ford truck pulled up. It happened the be the person who owned the flower and the back yard, and she looked down out the truck door and said, “Yes?”
“Photographing your flower!” I said. “I’m fine, you probably think I’m lying down in a faint from the heat!”
“I’m also a nurse, so I did wonder,” she replied.
She began to move away and I told her not to be surprised to see me in such position again photographing something else out in that alley.
Daffodils, Finally
Daffodils, Finally
At least one clump of daffodils has dared to act as if spring might be here.
Late Bloomer
Late Bloomer
A few last flowers unfold on a slightly warmer, sunny November afternoon.
Known for blooming in May and June along with the forget-me-nots and buttercups, clematis likes cooler weather and each fall, after the burning heat of late summer has browned most of the vine’s leaves, the rains of September and cooler nights of October revive the new growth and a few buds form and bloom, bringing a touch of spring color, albeit a bit faded, to the autumn garden.
Better late than never. Take the risk.
Really Red
Really Red
It doesn’t get much redder than a scarlet runner bean flower.
Hummingbirds are frantic, still need to catch a photo of them.
Sunrise Lily
Sunrise Lily
This daylily faces directly east and welcomes the sunrise, opening quickly after the sun is over the horizon.
It’s a very old daylily, older than me. I moved it from my mother’s yard when I sold her house almost ten years ago, and I remember watching the clusters of buds form on the plant, reminiscent of small bananas until one by one the popped open on a summer morning. My mother dug it up from the yard of a friend’s mother before I was born, so who knows how old this daylily really is, or how many other yards it graced on summer mornings before my mother’s. That’s another reason I call it the Sunrise Lily. It blooms each year right around her birthday.
Today 