Foxglove stalk full of bell-shaped blooms

as the snow accumulates in the high mountains, it stacks up and begins to slide down the mountain side as a glacier. as the glacier continues to get pushed from behind (from more incoming snow), it becomes packed into a very dense ice and can travel decades across the country side. sometimes they end by finally giving way to the heat, and turn into a stream of icy cold water. other times they end by crumbling into an ocean like this one.

a fresh and perfect bloom of a yellow, white, and pink variegated rose

Alder Lake in Washington state

Whenever I'm in the mood to photograph butterflies, I try to seek out large clusters of small deep-throated flowers. They seem designed just for the mouths of butterflies and during the right season, it can make for some great photos. Typically, I setup near these flowers with all my readings made in advance and hope for something like this beautiful Clipper butterfly of the Philippines to land in front of me.

an up-shot of the large clusters of dates on this Phoenix dactylifera in Kauai

two female bears resting on a sandbar in the middle of a lake (Aleutian Islands).