Photo Dump and Blog Reboot

Hello dear readers, part of the motivation for putting out this post is to rouse this blog from its prolonged estivation/hybernation before an entire year has elapsed since my last post; it turns out that starting a new career is a lot of work and my attention to the blog has lapsed. I also wanted to post some pictures that I've taken with my fancy new camera and macro lens. Finally, subjects of this nature also tend to be fairly apolitical (climate change aside), which has given me a reprieve from the raging in the media. The weather here has been fairly nice recently, so it's been a good time to get out and explore the sandstone ridges west of town. I won't say more than that- here are some pictures for you all.

A seed of Cercocarpus montanus, or mountain mahogany, traces an almost perfect 

golden ratio spiral. Mountain mahogany is a common bush on the hogbacks and mesas near Denver. In the spring, this is one of the foothills shrubs which look pillow-like from a distance, but are actually quite pokey when you are wading through them.

A super up-close look at the edge of the thallus of the lichen Caloplaca trachyphylla growing on white Dakota Formation sandstone. I first noticed in this photo how grainy the thallus appears up close, but I do not know what the granule-like structures are.

The desert moss Syntrichia ruralis (center) sits amid snow, another unidentified 

moss (brown upper left) and an unidentified Cladonia. Cryptogams enjoy any humidity 

and temperatures which allow growth, and aren't picky about the season.

An unidentified Parmelia species of lichen (bluish, foreground) gets friendly with 

another green, unidentified lichen in the background. I found this particular lichen to 

be interesting for its color: many lichens initially simply appear gray, but become much more colorful upon closer inspection. 

A lichen community grows on intensely stratified sandstone on a 

small hog back near Dear Creek Canyon Park.

A sandstone boulder shot through with quartz crystals also features a prominent 

splat of Candellariella rosulans (yellow). The hogbacks west of town are interesting 

for their minerals as well; on my hikes I have noted several quartz incursions such as this one, as well as long lines of vertical gypsum crystals poking through the soil.

That is all for now. I want to post some more information-rich stuff in the coming weeks, but I thought it would be nice to ease back into this with some colorful pictures. Thank you for reading and remember to heed the small beauty that hides all around us in nature!