For December

Beautiful images from Dierk Haasis!

Holly in the Rain

Brightening up a gray day:

Autumn

Perfectly capturing the season's mood, this image by Dierk Haasis, just published on his blog.

November slide show from Dierk Haasis

Go here and enjoy these brilliant pictures.

October Sunshine

Afternoon sun on fall leaves and berries;

New from Dierk Haasis

Take a little time to enjoy the slide show for October, 2011, and then to discover this lovely photo of a daisy, with its poignantly beautiful accompanying poem, all by Dierk Haasis.

Light After Dark

Stunning images in the current slide show on Dierk Haasis's blog -- from the water and light concert in Hamburg's beautiful park, Planten un Blomen, to the newly added views of the Japanese tea house which is also located in that park.

Tiny Wildflower Patch Responds to Rain

Recent showers have finally turned my lawn green again, and yesterday afternoon a brave little dandelion and a scattering of tiny yellow blossoms delighted my eye as I walked down the driveway to pick up the afternoon mail.

Initially I thought of them as clover, because of the appearance of the leaves, but a knowledgeable friend has pointed out my mistake to me and identified these as yellow wood sorrel. A good description of the plant, with its scientific name, Oxalis stricta, is given here.

The dandelion plant, under a holly tree, was conspicuous with these two bright flower heads, even though they were only about half an inch in diameter -- much smaller than usual, on account of the prolonged summer drought.

Water Concert

Go and enjoy Dierk Haasis's images from a water-and-light show in a Hamburg park. The pictures are so beautiful that one can almost imagine the lovely music that accompanied the changing play of light and color.

For September

On Dierk Haasis's blog, a new slide show, varied and beautiful.

August Peaches

At their peak of ripeness yesterday, these yellow freestone peaches are still just right for eating out of hand, and their special tart sweetness needs no enhancement.

Bicycle Race Images

Slide-show on Dierk Haasis's blog: images from bicycle races in previous years.

August Gallery

On the home page at Dierk Haasis's website, as at the beginning of every month, there's a new gallery, showcased in a slide show. I'm going to be enjoying this collection of beautiful images all month long.

He announced them this morning on his blog, also.

Beautiful in Blue

New images on Dierk Haasis's home page are so lovely -- and a welcome antidote to Tennessee's still oppressive July heat.

Bermuda grass and other seedheads

July Gallery

Dierk Haasis has just announced the new gallery on his front page, here.

The beautiful photos there are worth seeing over and over again.

Temple of Nature

This lovely image by Dierk Haasis is just as beautiful seen as a photographic print displayed in my home as it is on a computer monitor. Fine art at its finest, it was a birthday gift to me from the artist himself, whom I value for his friendship even more than for his art.

Look for him also at Imagekind.

May Photo Collection from Dierk Haasis

On the home page of Dierk Haasis's website, in the slide show he's arranged for May, I was delighted to see two old friends. Prints of the bumblebee in a wall cranny and of the harbour viewed at sunset each hang on my own walls, where I can and do enjoy them every day.

As always, there are scenes which are thought-provoking and images of sheer beauty succeeding one another in this slide show. The close-up of the purple flower is so lovely it makes you hold your breath to view it.

What the cottontails eat

The lawnmower misses most of the clover that's mixed in with the bermuda and other grasses and wildflowers that populate the front and back yards on my street.

From Dierk Haasis: more lovely spring photos

In his Picasa gallery Frühjahr, Dierk Haasis has not only given us pictures of the marsh frogs near Hamburg to enjoy. He has now added some excellent photos of herons, a delightful squirrel, a foraging bumblebee, trees in bloom, and wildflowers, including a field of veronica (sometimes called speedwell). Go watch the slide show and savor spring in northern Germany.

Don't miss these!

Photographs by Dierk Haasis of the frogs that live in the marshes near Hamburg, Germany. During some warm days of early April these males congregated, all of them having turned bright blue for their short mating season. Read his interesting account of them and see the pictures here.

The text is in German, but on-line translation is easily available, using Google or Babel Fish.

Art for Spring, and Beyond

From Dierk Haasis, your choice of beautiful images. Browse for them here.

April with Dierk Haasis

Now have a look at the pictures Dierk Haasis is offering this month -- delicious fish, a beautiful Easter egg, and many other enjoyable and thought-provoking images. Spring delights, all!

Dogwood Winter, With Tulips and Dandelions

Rainy and overcast, the skies briefly let a little sunshine through in the late afternoon of Thursday, March 24, 2011. And I spotted a welcome little tulip showing its head near my sister's mailbox. Was quite surprised, also, to find her dogwood tree in full earliest bloom, while, in my own back yard, to my delight, a dandelion was launching its seeds on their gossamer parachutes into the stiff breeze.

With the clearing skies, the temperature fell to 32 degrees F. (0 degrees C.) that night.

It's pretty early for dogwood winter, and the redbuds are also in bloom, but I haven't seen any blackberry blossoms yet.

New Pictures by Dierk Haasis

Taken at a wonderful location, this beautiful set of images can now be viewed on Dierk Haasis's blog. For those who read English more easily than German, here is a translation of the text, made using Google Translator.

Wonderfully surreal, new images from Dierk Haasis

In his Flickr photostream , there are seven new photos, uploaded today.

Don't miss the magical ivy!

Often Called a Tulip Tree

Around Nashville, Tennessee, the Magnolia liliifera is frequently called a tulip tree.

Warming up

with daffodils and a dandelion

Forsythia

Sunshine on a gray day -- the forsythia blooming as a hedge near the sidewalk that separates the Lipscomb University campus from Granny White Pike. And the bright flowers were swaying in the chilly wind this morning, when I took these pictures of a planting next to the log cabin which was once the farm home of the school's founder, David Lipscomb.

March, At Last!

And a new slide show now delights me on Dierk Haasis's home page. (You can also find it on his blog.) Two of my old favorites have greeted me here, heralding warmer weather, with the wind rushing past the bare legs of racing cyclists and, later, a close-up of a beautiful orange tulip. Social comment and humor inform many of these pictures -- such a varied group, scenes around Hamburg over the years, including two of its beautiful harbour at night. The gaze of a deer holds me for awhile in one image, and then, tucked in among views of recent street scenes and historic architecture, I encounter once more a small white bird in winter's frozen dark.

Longing for spring, in February

On an afternoon walk, warm sun on my back, a breeze from the south in my face, I couldn't help longing to rush the season, to see the tangled branches of the forsythia covered with yellow blooms, to see new leaves and blossoms in the pansy bed under the oak tree. rising above the litter of blown twigs and frost-curled fallen leaves.

But this is all the camera wanted to show me:

Welcome, February

... and welcome also to the new slide show on Dierk Haasis's home page.

Scenes around Hamburg, its beautiful harbor, a close-up of a jeweled spider, raindrops, and an airplane aloft in a blue sky dappled with white clouds, among many other excellent images.

Also, check out his galleries while you're there.

Some Winter Habits of Trees and Shrubs

There's pleasure in looking for tiny signs of spring in the ornamental trees and shrubs about my neighborhood, this late January day.

Young Ornamental Crabapples
Puzzle: Why aren't the winter birds -- robins, cardinals, mockingbirds -- eating these little fruits?







Forsythia Buds
"Can Spring be far behind?"



Japanese Cherry Trees
Their shining gray bark and pink twigs.

All that snow has to go ...

And, finally, it's melting away!

Amaryllis Blooms at Last

A houseplant that I received as a Christmas gift is opening its spectacular scarlet blossoms, just in time to welcome the newest snowfall tomorrow.

New January Slide Show

The home-page gallery of Dierk Haasis for January, 2011, includes some of the most beautiful and satisfying images he has ever made. It's a slide show that I'll be returning to again and again.