Off Topic

 Over a week has gone by since my visit to Butterfly Valley Botanical Area.  I've become less interested in posting what amounts to a list of species we saw.  Instead, I want to share the shifts in consciousness that often occur when adventuring with other people.  Dalynn, Spencer and I probably anticipated searching for certain specific things as none of us remembered visiting this area in the Fall.  I knew that Fall was Dalynn's favorite season, and that on this trip she was hoping to find the Hibernaculum of the Sundew.  I was mostly interested in seeing if there were any flowers still blooming, and what color changes had occurred since Spring, especially in the Pitcher Plants.  I think Spencer was probably open-minded about any photogenic subject he might encounter.  In any case, we all started wandering around looking for things.  When Dalynn yelled out that she had found an Amanita muscaria, Spencer and I rushed over to take a look.  After taking some photos of the Amanita, I suddenly realized I had spent that past half hour looking at the ground.  On a whim, I decided to look up.  The above photo is what I saw.  I call this post "Off Topic."  I'm used to seeing that phrase in red pen on college essays, but this time it seemed apropos of a hike that was focused mainly on carnivorous plants, but in this instant I snapped out of it and looked up.  Something astronomers do all the time!  

Close by, I looked up again and found a White Alder covered with Tongue Fungus.  Turns out Spencer hadn't seen this before.  We both took a few photos, then moved on.  I got lots of photos of mushrooms, Pitcher Plants, and a few other items typical of my photo journeys, and I may yet post some of them.  But, this evening my mind is busy contemplating the different ways people take in nature images and process them, how their focus can change, and what it all means in the long run.
I would like to spend a lot more time in this most intriguing area.