Sharon's Week 26: Admiring Nature's Bounty

Patterns in Nature

Like Pam, I had initially thought that my patterns would be repetitive in nature (no pun intended) but when a pattern caught my eye and I looked carefully at it, I realized that there was a lot more randomness within the pattern than I expected.  Several times this week I meant to look up the actual definition of pattern (in hopes that I was still meeting the assignment) however I never thought of it when I had a dictionary handy until right now.  Here is Webster's definition:  something that happens in a regular or repeated way.  Crap...I was hoping there would be something in the definition that was less about the repetition.  Oh well, I choose to make up my own definition: something that catches my eye.  There, that should cover all the photos I took for this blog.

We begin with my baby girl Narcissa.  She is a greyish brownish tabbyish sweetheart of a kitten.  Since tabbies have a classic marking on their faces, this one should be as close to Webster's definition as I will get today.

Okay, I lied.  I guess I do have a few pattern-y patterns.  This leaf caught my eye because of the pattern of diagonal lines and the zig-zaggy edges and the curled tip.  It was at the playground at the end of Pumpkin Point Road.  I bet you didn't know there was a playground there, did you?

This little blossom is everywhere.  I have no idea what it is...

but it starts out like this.

In full blossom, the pattern is more random but I love the pattern of stars on the little buds before they open.

I'm not sure that I ever noticed these dots on the underside of a fern before.

This beautiful yellow flower grows in huge abundances low to the ground in unfriendly conditions.  This particular group was at the rest area at the causeway to St. Joe's Island.

A clematis in my garden.  The bug is too small in this photo but it has a beautiful pattern on its wings.  As well, I love the pattern of the middles of clematis flowers.  They are also quite beautiful once dead.

Clover petals hide yummy honey if you're willing to swat away the bees.

Apparently the little yellow buds are formed in the fibonacci pattern.  I personally don't get it but if you read Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, maybe you can figure it out (or if you happen to be a math whiz).

This is a small section of what may or may not be giant hogweed.  They tell us that it is not but man, it looks so similar.

This is a closer up view.

The beauty of the pattern of seeds on a dandelion has always appealed to me.

The water at Whitefish Island is mostly covered with these leaves at this time of year.  What is really cool is that you can see the paths that the beavers and muskrats use as there is a break in the leaves in those areas.

I am hoping that this milkweed will  have some monarch caterpillars on it for next week's photos.  This pattern in particular made me pause this morning...just look at the detail in those tiny little flowers - the little cupped shapes with that piece sticking into it, the star in the middle of the white part, the perfect star shape all repeated a million times over in the milkweed patch.

This is one of those plants that looks like a giant dandelion seedhead.  I don't know what it is but it has this amazing star pattern in its centre.

I'm off for Indian food before Paint Nite then fireworks (happy to live in a border town) with Pam.  Yay!  I hope your Saturday is amazing as mine.