One week ago today I was in the midst of an eight-day trip to North Carolina to be with my mom (who will have her 101st birthday in April) and my brother and his extended family. On that Sunday my brother, his wife, and I were in the mountains in the far-western part of the state, very close to the Smoky Mountains, and I had a couple of hours free to explore in the woods. I had only one camera with me, my trusty little Pentax Optio W-90, because (1) it’s waterproof and we also had planned some trout fishing, wading in a local river, and (2) luggage space was at a premium) and only my GorillaPod for stability. Still, I put both to good use and had a wonderful time getting intimate with the wildflowers (and some poison ivy or oak, but that’s another story). I found some interesting lichens and a couple of little critters, too, but I’ll save them for a future post. I’ve beenable to identify all but one of the flowers that I photographed, and if anyone can help me with it, I’ll be grateful! (The petals were very tiny, less than 1/8 inch long.)
Bloodroot-1
Bloodroot-2
Buttercup
Golden Ragwort
Great Chickweed
Cutleaf Toothwort
Unknown 2917
krikitarts 
Love the Chickweed…but also a nice series
Thanks, David–yes, that one came out particularly well. I also made a couple of acquaintances with fauna; they’ll be coming up soon too.
Wow Gary, these photos are spectacular!! I especially love the water droplets on the chickweed. Beautiful job!! And early best wishes to your Mommy on her 101st birthday That is truly amazing!!
Hi Cindy! Yup, that one seems to be getting the most attention so far. That one and the buttercup were closer to the ground and more sheltered, so the dew drops were still hanging on.
Very lovely! They are very delicate being wildflowers but very strong in their appearance. Kuddos to the photographer! :)
Delicate and strong they are and must be, or they wouldn’t be so successful. Thanks again for you good opinion, Dezra!
101. Birthday?! Wow! :D Beautiful photos :)
Yes, she is really amazing, a true inspiration!
Lovely series of images Gary. I particularly like the second one where the flower on the left is just waking up. You must have had good light to get such nicely balanced exposures.
(P.S. 101 is a phenomenal achievement. Congratulations to your mother!)
Thanks, Finn–That one was actually in pretty much full sunlight, so I cast my shadow over it for the photo. I’d like to have had an assistant to stretch out a piece of gauze or something to diffuse the light, but I couldn’t find one, so I had to assist myself. As usual.
Beautiful images, Gary! Adrian