Tag Archives: delicate beauty

Blackwater Pinks

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Filed under Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, MD, Native Orchids, Native Plants and Flowers, Wildflowers

Pink Lady's Slipper wildflower, photographed by Jeff Zablow at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, MD

I was seeking butterflies, she was more interested in revisiting a spot that annually yielded Pink Lady Slipper Orchids. It was a mostly cloudy morning there, at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, near Madison, Maryland.

Yes, I did once visit the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem and I visited the Vatican and its breathtaking Sistine Chapel.

Standing there, gaping at these native (American) orchids, evokes the same kind of Awe,

Three bunched Pink Lady Slipper Orchids, elegance, delicate beauty and improbable pluck, in the shady recesses of a wild, Wildlife Refuge. Speaking in whispers, for G-d is close by.

Jeff

Winter Antidotes XI – the eye pleaser

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Filed under Flowers Loved by Butterflies, Raccoon Creek State Park, PA

Spring Larkspur Wildflower photographed by Jeff Zablow at Raccoon Creek State Park, PA
Minutes past noon, and what is the temperatures outside my window? One degree Farenheit! No doubt, 1 lonely degree above 0F. Petra, my Black Russian, ran the ball in the yard today, until she stopped, lifted her front right paw, and signaled. Up went the other paw, and in we went.

Yesterday, in a wind blinding whiteout, I crossed Beechwood Boulevard at the traffic light, with the light. A vehicle heading in that direction, was ½ a block away. Remember, I was with the light and it was 175 feet way. It sounded its horn, and went into a frightening skid, crossing to the other side of the avenue, and just stopping before a light pole in front of Colfax school. Whoever was in that SUV must have had a near heart attack!

Get this though. These deeply tinted spring Larkspur blooms will be open for business some 85 days from now. We’ll be on this favorite trail, and we’ll stop. We will admire these blossoms, and I will think, Thank G-d for such delicate beauty, here in this wonderful year, 2015. One degree days, two degrees days, will soon be forgotten.

Our location for this photograph is Raccoon Creek State Park, 43 minutes west of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Jeff