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Join me for a morning walk, crawl, and stumble along the granite outcrop. Only a short hike uphill thru the spring woods and across the railroad tracks. Soon, my walking stick raps with each step, poking into cracks, and behind ledges for better balance. I gaze upward toward the top intimidated by the steep slopes.
Slow and easy works best out here on the outcrop. The good stuff hides in fertile depressions scooped out of the granite by storms many ages ago. A sturdy pine grows from a fracture; pine Cone catkins washed into the low spots look like puddles of mealy worms. Elf Orpine sprinkles its frosting on the mossy spots. Orange fungus on the rocks looks like a swipe from a paint brush. Sedges and fluffy dry grass catch the morning light. I find and photograph Grancy Graybeard as H-Man Slim suggested. Then discover a new flower I have not seen before, nor heard about - Sunnybell, a yellow with six petals in the Lily family. Heading back I slide downslope and stop for a cute patch of wooly ragwort. I kneel to shoot and quickly realize my slide placed me directly on top of an ant hill full of toxic chemical squirt guns. (Later I found them in my pockets and socks.) At the end of the trail I photograph a false solomon's seal and Catesby's Trillium. Another hiker seeing my camera and asking if it was for wildflowers told me where to find the Trillium. "I like to check people out before telling them about the Flowers, you know," he says.
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© Pine Tree in Granite Fracture
© Elf Orpine, Diamorpha Smallii
© Sunnybell, Schoenolirion croceum
© Grancy Graybeard, chionanthus virginicus
© Catesby's Trillium, Trillium catesbaei
© Granite Slope in Morning Light
Stone Mountain Park
DeKalb County, Georgia
Friday 13 April 2007
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That last pic is so good!!! I love the colours and the angles! The sunlight on the rocks.. just a really nice picture!! :)
Posted by: Lea | 13 April 2007 at 11:20 PM
A rare case of ants in the pants for Doctor Flowers.
Posted by: rankin' rob | 14 April 2007 at 01:28 PM
Great job, Doc! You need to show me where the Catesby's can be found next time we are at the mountain.
Slim
Posted by: harold | 16 April 2007 at 05:07 PM
Great job, Doc! You need to show me where the Catesby's can be found next time we are at the mountain.
Slim
Posted by: harold | 16 April 2007 at 05:08 PM
Great job, Doc! You need to show me where the Catesby's can be found next time we are at the mountain.
Slim
Posted by: harold | 16 April 2007 at 05:08 PM