Beauty in miniature

This beautiful flower is less than quarter of an inch across! Walking past the shrub/tree, I'm sure that most people never even stop to look at the clusters of several tiny flowers. This tropical, flowering shrub, called Jatropha gossypifolia, was photographed at the Calgary Zoo on 2 May 2011. It is a member of the Euphorbiaceae family. I love that tiny bud! I think those are called Trichomes that surround the bud.

www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/potd/2013/03/jatropha-gossypii...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichome

It's snowing again today .... I'm glad I decided to make another drive SE of Calgary, to the Frank Lake area yesterday afternoon, as there were still a few patches of blue sky. The closer I got to my destination, the more overcast it became. This didn't really matter as there was no sign of any Short-eared Owls - I think all my friends who've been photographing them recently must have "scared" them off, lol!! I did come across a Snowy Owl, though, perched high on a distant power pole. Took me by surprise because I was thinking only of Short-eared Owls. Total kilometres from the southern edge of Calgary and back = 165 km. Total time = approx. 3 1/2 hours. Just as I reached home, the snow was beginning to fall!

Flickr is horribly slow (for me) today. Having to click twice on photos in order to open them, they are so slow), plus various other issues. Hope you are having better luck. Not sure what's happening to Flickr these days - such a pity.