Pam's Week 26: You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman...

This week's topic was "patterns in nature".  My first thought was to capture as many different types of patterns as I could, such as chevrons, parallel lines, wavy lines, spirals.  I'm sure if you've read any of my previous blog posts, you'll not at all be surprised when I tell you that my initial thoughts did not come to fruition.  Instead, I extended my definition of "patterns in nature" to include random patterns that appealed to me rather than the initial repetitive-pattern type I'd originally pictured.

On Monday afternoon, I was slaving away at my desk, catching up on the month's worth of stats I had to complete before heading off for a much-deserved and needed vacation at the end of the day on Tuesday.  Lo and behold, my phone rings.  It's my husband, informing me that it's 30 degrees outside and he was thinking of taking the kids to the beach.  It almost felt as though he was inviting me as an after thought when he said, "Did you want to come?"  I guess they'd attempted to go the park but the heat drove them away with the desire to go for a swim instead.  I suggested that they wait the 45 minutes until I got off work and then if they had everything ready to go, we could jump in the van and head to the beach for a picnic supper as soon as I got home and changed.  Lucky for us, we have multiple gorgeous beaches within an hour's drive or less.  The downside, however, is that they're located on the north shore of Lake Superior.  For those of you who aren't familiar with the lake, think of the coldest, deepest lake you've ever been in and this is likely colder.  A tidbit of useless but interesting information - Lake Superior holds more water than the other 4 Great Lakes combined!  And it was nearly completely frozen over for the past 2 winters in a row (this past winter it was apparently frozen over to as close to 100% as it could be without triggering another ice age)!  Apparently it usually only freezes over completely every 11 years or so...

Anyways, the point of that babbling ramble is to introduce this week's photos.  All of these were taken at Harmony Beach.  I considered getting out the camera again during our impromptu camping trip this week but it was too cold and windy (I only freeze my fingers off for the sake of my art with Sharon, apparently).

I like the patterns of the little pebbles that make up the sand...

I love the pattern of the sun reflecting off the water (heck, who am I kidding - I like the sun reflecting off anything!).  If you look closely, you can also see the ripples in the sand at the bottom of the lake.  And yes, I did actually go into the water and get all but my head wet, albeit briefly.  There was a day when I would get into the lake on the 24th of May weekend but it's been a long time since I've been in the lake before July!

I liked the striped pattern on the wings of this butterfly (or maybe moth?).  I couldn't get close enough without scaring it away.

This is sort of how I pictured my week - the chevron of the leaves...

It was rather windy on Monday so there were waves crashing on the shore.  The patterns of the bubbles in the surf was appealing to me.

Another picture more along the lines I was envisioning - parallel lines.

And a close-up of the chevrons on a maple leaf.  Looks like there are some bugs/eggs or something on it too to add a little colour.

I liked the veins in these pretty purple flowers.

A feather in the sand - more chevrons (apparently the chevron is nature's favourite pattern - Mother Nature must be trendy).

I don't know what you would call this pattern but it's kind of spiky and fun and I liked it.  It's a spruce tree (I think - I don't know my trees very well, embarrassing as it is to admit it).

I may or may not have already taken some of next week's photos too.  I learned some interesting/surprising news this week and may or may not have had a few beverages in response.  Of course, the beverages and photos may have been innocent photos and drinks of a camping trip.  I will never tell.....

Here's hoping the sunshine and heat make a quick return (likely on Monday when I return to work).  Have a good one, everyone!  Happy Canada Day (belated) and to my US friends, Happy Independence Day (in advance)!