Monochrome Sky with Winter Trees

When I stepped out of my office last evening on the way home, the sky was really dramatic - overcast, but with a lot of texture in the clouds.  The fading evening light shone through a translucent gauze in places, while other parts of the sky were obscured behind thick clouds. I exclaimed to Kali, "Isn't the sky wonderful right now?  I've got to take some pictures!" to which she replied, "It just looks cold."  (It wasn't cold; we had a record high of near 70 degrees F yesterday.)

I ran to the house and managed to get some shots.  I think the effect was better a minute earlier, but I didn't have my camera with me then, so these will have to do.

I took the last image, below, up into the canopy of the huge, 250-year-old sycamore tree growing directly behind our house.  I think that the camera rendered the sky almost indigo, but it simply was very dim just before all the light went out of the day.

Late Summer Meadows and More

I had a chance to take a mid-morning walk in my local natural area this morning (August 4, 2009). The Joe-Pye-Weed (Eupatorium fistulosum) was in full riotous bloom, and New York Ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis) and the first goldenrod (Solidago spp.) flowers were beginning to show color.

I caught the image of a Tiger Swallowtail (Pterourus glaucus) male alighting on one of the Joe-Pye-Weed flowers, along with a honeybee.

Crossing from the meadow into the adjacent dark, cool, moist forest, I noticed this ironwood or hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana) growing just inside the edge. At first, the tree's angular form struck me as very Oriental, but I don't think that this image conveys the same feel I had in the woods; nevertheless, I still like it.
As I emerged from the woods back into the meadow, I came across these Tiger Swallowtails in copula. The female is above, the male hanging below. The pair soon took flight, with the female doing all the heavy lifting and the male tagging along for the ride (of course).