Liken the Lichen

Posted on August 8, 2015 by Mama Cormier

…..I’ve always been fascinated by this composite organism

Lichen is a dual organism composed of fungi living in close association with green algae. It appears as a thin crust on bark and rocks and grows extremely slowly. Some grow as slowly as 0.01 mm per year in arctic regions and in more temperate climates it might grow 5 to 8 mm per year. Lichen can live for thousands of years.

At my cottage, up in the Georgian Bay area, lichen appears mostly on the bark of trees. I love photographing it up close.

Sunday Trees – 128

Posted on April 27, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….Becca Givens needs some participants for this challenge

Luckily I love trees and I love photographing them. Here’s my contribution to Sunday Trees. If you want to join just post a picture of your favourite tree every Sunday and ping back to Becca Givens over at On Dragonfly Wings with Buttercup Tea.

Daily Prompt: The Power of Touch

Posted on December 7, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…..it’s no secret I love texture

Nature has an abundance of beautiful textures. Here are a few of my favourite subjects to photograph because of their textural surfaces.

Fossils embedded in the rock.

Tree Bark

Feathers in the sand.

Lichen

For more photos of texture check out Daily Prompt: Texture

Frogs and Bark

Posted on August 26, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. almost stepped on the first and have an obsession with the second

Just got back from the cottage and I immediately downloaded my photos from the camera. I had a relaxing weekend with my husband. No stair building, no leave raking… nothing too strenuous.

On our walk of the beach yesterday I almost stepped on this little guy. Good thing I was looking down at the time. A little further down I found a second one.

I love the texture of bark and think it makes great material for photographs. The lichen on this maple tree gives the bark a beautiful bluish tinge.

A lot of the trees have these interesting scars on the bark. We think that it’s due partially to the deer that sometimes come across the ice in the wintertime and chew on the bark for food.

On our recent trip to Niagara Falls, I came across this beautiful little grove of trees at the Botanical Gardens. I’ve never seen such white, perfect little birches in my life. My cottage is surrounded by birch trees but the young saplings are never this white and the older, more mature trees are gnarly and textured with peeling bark.