Almost an empty-nester

Launching

Gossamer

I have a few more shots of milkweed to share over the next days, but I’ll be on the road for the better part of three days as I drive to Arizona to find a rental house for us. After being on the the road for almost ten hours for two days and eight or so the third, I won’t have much time for reading posts. As always, I’ll answer comments. I’ll be sharing photos that strike my fancy, so we’ll see what comes along. I’ll keep you updated and also, I hope, entertained.

A shell of its former self

For Six Word Saturday

Evolution

I’m in love with this downed milkweed plant outside our house, watching it evolve day by day. This first stage is “tucked up.” The seeds are all in a row, waiting. They look like large-headed creatures dressed in silky white and all standing at attention.

This is the launch phase. The first seeds are leaving the pod, teased out by the wind, ready to dance through the air.

How many angels in a pod?

for Six Word Saturday

Lookin’ a bit seedy

Light

For One Word Sunday

A girl’s best friend

I love milkweed, seeds and pods, and their role in providing food for monarch and other butterflies.  But there’s much more to this plant.  The silky floss has good insulation properties and its fibers are used to clean up oil spills.  On the darker side, many natives in Africa and South America use the poison on the tips of their arrows, while milkweed is toxic to animals when taken in large amounts.

Often the floss of the milkweed flies in the wind, like a head of blonde hair. But in the case of the seeds I found in the park not long ago, each strand was adorned with a plethora of tiny, frosty diamonds.

 

 

 

Come and play.

Not everything in the park was bedecked with ice crystals. While this milkweed seed was frozen (at least temporarily) in place, its silky strands were blowing free and although it’s not a leaf, I found this quote more than apt.  Evidently, this little seed wasn’t quite ready to play.

“Come, little leaves,” said the Wind one day, “Come to the meadows with me and play. Put on your dresses of red and gold; For Summer is past, and the days grow cold.”
~George Cooper

Life has gotten rather busy lately, with extra shifts at work, Christmas preparations, and just general life things.  If I haven’t made it to your site recently, it’s not from lack of interest, just lack of time, so please forgive me.  Because I’ve been working Wednesdays, I also haven’t participated in the photo challenge for a few weeks and if you do multiple posts a day, I’m likely not to make to all of them.

I do hope each of you is having a wonderful and wonder-filled December and will come back tomorrow for another frost photo.