O Marvelous!
What new configuration will come next?
I am bewildered with multiplicity.
~William Carlos Williams
Soil . . . scoop up a handful of the magic stuff. Look at it closely. What wonders it holds as it lies there in your palm. Tiny sharp grains of sand, little faggots of wood and leaf fiber, infinitely small round pieces of marble, fragments of shell, specks of black carbon, a section of vertebrae from some minute creature. And mingling with it all the dust of countless generations of plants and flowers, trees, animals and – yes – our own, age-long forgotten forebears, gardeners of long ago. Can this incredible composition be the common soil? ~Stuart Maddox Masters
I went out first thing this morning to see if I might find something picture worthy and came across some rather extraordinary things. A garden is not just about flowers or vegetables or fruits or trees. It’s about the soil and creatures as well. Some might think what I found is strange, bordering on ugly or scary, but they are essential to the life of a garden.
First I came upon the sedum at top starting to show color followed by a mystical passionflower not yet fully open. Then I found the two fruitings, above and below, of fungi in the soil. Fungi perform an essential role in the decomposition of organic matter. In fact they are the principal decomposers in ecological systems, and interestingly fungi are genetically more closely related to animals than plants. These two are strangely beautiful in a way, don’t your think?
If you want to live and thrive,
let the spider run alive.
~American Quaker saying
Next I found this huge spider, and although I’m not a fan of spiders, it was an awesome specimen sitting in the middle of an amazing web. I’d seen this same kind of spider in almost the same exact place two years ago, but this one is much bigger than the previous one. So I snapped my photos quickly and gave it a wide berth as I moved on. I was willing to let him run alive as the saying goes, just not after or on me.
For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations. ~Isaiah 61:11 ✝
Yes, and they are all wonderful additions to a garden. That web is unusual though. I’ve never seen one with a spiral like that. 🙂
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I hadn’t either V but his is always like that! 🕷
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Awesome photographs.
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Thanks Inese❣😘
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Beautiful color! I didn’t know, or forgot, that fungi are genetically more closely related to animals than plants. I wonder if that’s why mushrooms taste a little like meat (to a vegetarian anyway.)
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Hmmmm! Ya know it could be‼️👍😊
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Wonderful—images still rich, full and vibrant—unlike this dried up land of ours!
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I’m sorry yours is so dried up❣😘😘😘
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Nature often brings me beautiful surprises and awe too! I find fungi and mushrooms fascinating and happy they are being researched as aids in solving many environmental problems. 🙂
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Same here Brad‼️😊❤️
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😊❤️
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A few days ago I saw a spider outside my back door. it’s not a huge one. I’m let it live for now. But if any of them are outside my front door I have to kill them.
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I don’t like to have to kill them but I do too if they are too close. 👍😊
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