Ribbet!

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Green Frog (Rana clamitans)

Green Frog (Rana clamitans), photographed at McKee-Beshers Wildlife Management Area in Poolesville, MD

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Itsy bitsy frog

The teeniest of frogs—barely a 1/4″—in one of the ponds at Lilypons this morning

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Frog on lily pad

My friend Michael Powell and I took a drive out to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens this morning to drop off some signage material for the event this Saturday and also to do a little shooting. He said he wanted to find a frog on a lily pad and I found this one for him. We both did some shots until the frog was startled and sank into the abyss. I had my Tamron 180 lens on my Nikon D800 but since there are now wire fences around the water lily ponds, I couldn’t lean in a far as I was inclined to do—hence the more environmental look to this shot (rather than my usual closeups). I kind of like the shadow of the tree functioning as a leading line down to the frog. See my bonus critter? It’s a little guppy/fish at the bottom, right.

Check out Michael’s most excellent nature photography blog here: https://michaelqpowell.wordpress.com/

Eye candy, batch #4

Sigh…culling through my archives, in preparation for my March/April 2012 exhibit, is making me want to photograph blooms and bugs right now.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Whimsy in the garden

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Blooming in my garden today: Passion Flower

I’ve been tending to this same Passion Flower plant since 2006—so this makes the fifth year I’ve been able to over-winter it in my studio office! As I was photographing this flower, I heard a creaking, croaking sound. Could there be a new frog taking up residence in our teeny, tiny pond again? I couldn’t find him, but I certainly could hear him! I’m crossing my fingers in hopes that I can get a shot of this new garden inhabitant.

Also blooming in the garden today: 22 bright pink and green downward facing lilies (they’re stunning en masse!), three huge white Casa Blanca Lilies, large clusters of Purple Coneflowers, two groups of Shasta Daisies, and one beautiful deep purple and white Dahlia. I’ll get some photographs of those this afternoon.

Passionate about Passion Flowers? Check out the links below to see more images shot in my garden over the past few years.

https://cindydyer.wordpress.com/2008/08/26/its-about-time/

https://cindydyer.wordpress.com/2008/06/22/backyard-blooms/

https://cindydyer.wordpress.com/2008/06/21/meanwhile-in-the-garden/

https://cindydyer.wordpress.com/2008/07/28/lady-margaret/

For more information on passion flowers:

Passiflora Online is a comprehensive website with growing tips, FAQs, plant ID, hybrid and species images, pollinators, and much more.

Plants in Motion has videos of a passion flower in bloom and also short clips of bees visiting the flowers.

Tradewinds Fruit has a great database of passion flower blossoms. Click on the “related species” section on the left of the site to see a wide variety of passion flower plants.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

The Frog

The Frog
Be kind and tender to the Frog,
And do not call him names,
As “Slimy skin,” or “Polly-wog,”
Or likewise “Ugly James,”
Or “Gap-a-grin,” or “Toad-gone-wrong,”
Or “Bill Bandy-knees”:
The Frog is justly sensitive
To epithets like these.

No animal will more repay
A treatment kind and fair;
At least so lonely people say
Who keep a frog (and, by the way,
They are extremely rare).

—Hilaire Belloc, 1870-1953, La Celle-Saint-Cloud, France

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Ode to Clyde

In reference to some recent photos I sent out, specifically one I titled, “Clyde Just Hanging Out,” my Dad had this to say:

LoughLough,

I looked Clyde over very carefully, and I could not see the “hanging out” part—of course, I’m not a frogologist, so I may have overlooked it.

I believe the term “hanging out” has fallen into disfavor in the ‘hood. “Hanging out” has been shortened (just the term, not the part) to simply “hanging.” The preferred expression now is simply “hanging.” The change probably came about because “hanging out” generated all too many smart-alec responses.

I did notice that Clyde has that tell-tale glint in his eye (both eyes, actually) and it is springtime, so you may well soon suffer as the Egyptians suffered when Charlton Heston got pissed-off at Pharaoh and turned all those frogs loose in the land.

Yeah, I know, I know—some people have far too much time on their hands.

© 2006 Cindy Dyer, All rights reserved.