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Photography

> My (new) place and its environs

"I'm goin' down to the house in he woods..." - the late great Tom petty

As the place sat empty for a year, the wildlife moved in...right above the front door!

Four birds fledged out of this nest a few weeks after I moved in

Bird's-foot violets on my front lawn in june

Wild rose on the trails across the road in June

Hoary puccoon flowering back in June - these flowers are in a part of the Alpena State forest just to the north of me that appears to be managed as prairie or savanna

Blazing-stars blooming in the prairie, in an area that has since been burned

Western sunflower blooming in the prairie - this bloomed all along the road all summer long

What have wee here? The headwaters of a trout stream...

...that further down looks like this

I have not fished this yet but you KNOW there's brookies in there!

There's all manner of delights in this little canyon, including wild cranberries and sundews...

...red sphagnum moss...

...and even orchids! Ladies'-tresses, Spiranthes cernua

Not an orchid but just as beautiful, Indian-pipe coming up under jack pines

Prairie/savanna in the Alpena State Forest

Amazing mushroom with purple gills and violet mycelium (Laccaria trullisata) growing in pure sand

Mourning cloak, a butterfly that is often the first species I see in spring

I spotted this lovely little Augochlora bee on a still-blooming sprig of aster in front of my house

A gorgeous Amanita muscaria coming up next to my house