Thursday, November 4, 2010

(Day 308) In the jungle, the mighty jungle

Those ominous clouds from yesterday's post not only ushered in a pretty decent rainstorm last night, but they were the advance guard of a system that brought waves of rain today. I say waves because we experienced bouts of pretty intense rain interspersed with periods of sunshine. The day after we arrived here I set our rain gauge outside - by this afternoon it had already registered 50 mm/2 in. of rain. And this evening we had another deluge that no doubt added to the total.

I recall that we had similar weather experiences earlier this summer. I know that Florida bills itself as the 'Sunshine State' and now I've determined that there are 2 types of sunshine here  - regular sunshine and liquid sunshine. Those 2 conditions go a long way towards explaining the jungle growing just outside the front window. During one of those 'regular sunshine' periods today I disappeared into it for a few moments to capture some images. (Now, don't misconstrue any of these comments as negative - I didn't have to shovel any of this precipitation !)

(18-55mm  f18 1/4 sec  ISO200)

25 comments:

becky said...

Excellent shot, Rick. it almost looks like computer generated art! Very abstracted, great line & color.
Don't y'all get hurricanes in Florida?

Jesson Balaoing said...

nice photo

Scott Law said...

Love those veins. Great shot and I hope you have a good umbrella.

Carolyn Ford said...

..."the lion sleeps tonight!" Wow, what a jungle!

darlin said...

I had to laugh, no shoveling rain eh?

Another magnificent shot Rick. The sun shines where we see it shining, even when it's raining outside it can still shine inside where all good things need to blossom and grow, it's all a matter of perspective and I love your view.

Cheers and God bless.

Chad said...

Now this is a picture I really like. Even though its very simple it is perfectly lit and composed. The colors and veining;outstanding.

Rick said...

@becky - thank you Becky. I think the neighbours might have been wondering what I was doing ducking in and under the large plants out front, but I found these wonderful patterns under the huge leaves - I'll have to post a shot of the leaves one of these days. Hurricanes ? What are those ? ;-)

@Jesson Balaoing - thank you.

@Scott - thank you Scott, and yes, I do (needed it today !).

Rick said...

@Carolyn Ford - got that song in your head now ? ;-) Yep, haven't seen leaves this size before !

@darlin - I figured a northerner would appreciate that ! Words of wisdom; thanks Darlene - hope your weekend is shaping up well.

@Chad - thank you Chad - made my crawl under the wet leaves worthwhile !

My name is Riet said...

HI Rick. Lang niet gezien. Mooie foto. Hier is het ook storm en regen. Echt herfst.

Dagmar said...

Owww so green, love the veins from the leaf.

En wat de taai taai betreft you have two options, eighter you book a flight and pick some up at here or and now this is tricky because you never sure what the h.ll you get yourself into ;-))) you give me your adress so I'll send you a bunch!!
Pick your way buddy.
In the meanwhile I'm chewing several more down as we speak (well accually I can't because they are so darn sticky).
Wonderful big smiled (not that fancy right now) Dagmar

Costea Andrea Mihai said...

beautiful green veins!! congratulations!

ju-north said...

Great shot! More please!

Dawn said...

ABSTRACT ART!
Love it!

Haha...good looking at the positive.
Sounds like we Albertans may be shoveling come Monday.
Yay for your liquid sunshine:))

Katherine said...

Hi Rick.. Queensland is also known as the 'Sunshine State' and we have been experiencing the very same sort of weather you described in this post. Intermittent rain & sunshine!!
Great shot Rick... I think well worth the risk that your neighbors might have had misguided thoughts about what else you could have been possibly doing whilst loitering in and around the greenery!! Hee! hee! hee!
And your wife would've been thinking..."There he goes again" ... so funny!

Leovi said...

Nice composition with a lovely texture and a delicious green

joey said...

One of my favorites, Rick!

Cat said...

So much beauty to be found in the simplest of things! Macro shots of leaves are beautifully intriguing.

Alexander DeLarge said...

Beautiful and almost abstract and I LOVE IT. Congratulations Rick, you've shot a perfect picture.

elena nuez said...

Love love LOVE it!
inspiring me a lot!

Hope said...

I like this.. looks fresh, healthy, and clean..
love those veins..

Unknown said...

Beautiful Close Up - Which Lens did you use?

By the way, this is Jody's Blog - http://globalhomemaker.blogspot.com/ - She has just started writing it: She wants to share her thoughts with the rest of us!
Jody is a US Military Wife, her Husband Ron is my best friend and we are also neighbors :-)

Greetz,

Joseph

Rick said...

@Riet - nice to have you visit Riet; ja, 't is al weer te lang geweest. Hope your weekend is sunny and dry !

@Barefoot from Heaven - ah, Dag - so sweet of you ! I can just picture you sitting there with a mouth full of taai taai ;-) Lekker, heh ! Fijn weekeind Dag !

@Costea Andrea Mihai - thanks Costea !

@ju-north - thank you Julia ! (working on it ;-)

Rick said...

@Dawn - yes, and growing RIGHT outside the front door ! Will look to see if you post any 'wintry' photos - don't hurt your back !

@Katherine - back to sunshine today - yay ! Yes, my wife confirmed that she saw me yesterday. and just shook her head. I didn't try to explain - just asked her to look at the result (a picture is worth ... )

@Leovi - thank you Leovi !

Rick said...

@joey - thank you joey !

@The Whimsical Gardener - one of the things I've learned from doing this 365. Thanks Cat !

@Alexander DeLarge - thanks Alex; amazing what nature can produce !

Rick said...

@bicocacolors - thank you Elena !

@Hope - the rain refreshes lots of things, and these leaves were among them. Thanks Hope !

@CarreraCaballo - thank you Joseph; I actually just used my kit lens, the 18-55mm (non-macro); it's one of those rare, inexpensive lenses that actually produces some pretty good images.

I will go check out Jody's blog - thanks.