Bloom Mania

I am a bit keen on flowers. I really didn't know it until I received a camera for Christmas. I have taken a ridiculous number of flower pictures this spring.

Flowers are simply lovely. I am enamored with their gradations of limpid color, the way that light filters through their delicate petals, the gentle movements they make in breaths of air, and the way they cradle drops of water. 

Right now there aren't too many things blooming on the homestead. There are several colors of irises. There are a couple colors of columbines. There's the usual dandelions, buttercups, and white and red clovers.

The tulip trees are in blossom. The blackberries are in bloom. Wild roses cascade along the drive and encrust the circumference of the hay field.

But my muse this week has been the lavender irises. This is mostly because they are right outside the garage door and easy to access on the way to the barn.

Depending upon the time of day, their color shifts to purple.

I like the beards on iris... and the veining. I love the undulating, loose folds of paper-thin petals creating curvilinear curtains that shelter their hollow core.  

I even enjoy pictures of them that happen to be out of focus. Then I can concentrate simply on color. (This is the sheltered interior of an iris.)