I didn't plan on taking any more pictures as I made my way back down the Upper Table Rock trail the other day. I'd already overdone it and the last thing I needed to do was burn out my newly rekindled passion for photography. Of course if I saw something that really got my attention, an exception was in order (The red honeysuckle berries I posted were a good example!).

Have you ever noticed that once you begin to notice photographic subjects, it's really hard to turn this sense off? As I walked along the meandering dirt trail, subjects flashed by trying to get my attention. Countless glowing leaves, interesting bark, trees, branches, plants, moss… This can be a bit maddening and it's exhausting to process the flow of information, continuing to say, "No, I have enough pictures. I can appreciate this for myself but no more photos."

Another flash got my attention and the unfamiliar shape turned my head and stopped me in my tracks. I peered closer…what was I seeing? Why, it looked like a tiny Japanese lantern! Approaching to get a better look, I could see warm rays of light illuminating a pair of poison oak leaves which had dried up facing one another, creating the lovely and unique effect. Ok, now THIS was something worth taking a picture of. In the many years that I've been exploring the woods on our property and here as well, I've never seen anything like this before. I made sure to include the important clue which helped me to identify what I was looking at: a remaining poison oak berry which makes these leaves instantly recognizable.

Pam, I hope that you have had a very nice Sunday! It was very cold but beautiful this morning and the sunshine warmed the day considerably as the hours passed by. I took pictures for the Macro Monday 2.0 challenge and had a really nice time figuring out which would be best to post! Hope you're doing well my dear!