Pictures for Pam, Day 138: Droplet on Houndstongue Leaf

(+1 inset) (please view large, it's a neat droplet!)

I have been waking up at 6:30am for the past few days, partly because of my feathered alarm clock going off early but also just because I've readjusted to this new time and I've been getting enough sleep so I'm waking up earlier. It's nice to just lay in bed, dozing for another 15 minutes before getting up. I listened to the soft patter of rain on the windows and snuggled under the covers like a contented kitty until 6:45. How nice to wake up with the world around me. :)

It wasn't raining when I left the house and only came down a couple of times during my walk. Nothing heavy enough to require an umbrella which is what I like. I don't mind a bit of rain on my head, it immerses me in the unfolding day.

What a day for birdy song! I counted no less than a dozen different bird species and had to laugh when one of them belonged to a single Mallard duck flying overhead who gave me its opinion of me…well, I never! :) Turkeys, geese, hummingbirds, acorn woodpeckers, white-breasted nuthatches, those were the species that I could clearly identify. The rest of them…I have no idea. We live rurally enough that the variety of species here is vast. Isn't it wonderful? I haven't been listing the other birds I've seen this spring because they don't come to the feeders but there have been red-breasted robins, western bluebirds, crows and ravens, red-tailed hawks and vultures and more that I wasn't close enough to identify. It's really such a treasure trove of wildlife here. Aren't we lucky!

Since it's a rainy day today, I'm posting a neat image I captured the other day. I noticed that the Houndstongue was sending up flower stalks so I went out for pictures. At one point I noticed a droplet positioned at the very tip of one of the namesake leaves and got a series of images. The main image turned out just as I had hoped, with crisp focus on the droplet and the cluster of buds in bokeh behind. I'm also including an image of the lovely droplet-covered buds in the background.

Pam, I know that Pacific Houndstongue doesn't grow where you live but you certainly have plenty of hound's tongues to choose from! :D I picked your picture of Lucas on the shore at Lake Arbuckle today and what a happy, hot and contentedly exhausted doggy! :) Such a sweetheart. Thank you for sharing your Rainbow Doggy with us to enjoy! :)

Explored on 3/28/19, highest placement, #3.