a moment of beautiful – bug-shot shadows
the space: the surface of the power pole in front of our house
the beautiful: the pattern of shadow through bug-eaten leaves
The power pole in front of our house is habitat for a vine of Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia (L.) Planch.). also known as Woodbine. I brought the vine home about thirty years ago, as a slip collected from a plant in the park beside the St. John River. Over the years, it has struggle against the winds, determined to blow it from its perch, the power company, unhappy with its use of the pole, and the lawn mower as it snips away at the horizontal tendrils.
This year, it has a new challenge to overcome. An insect has chewed the vine full of holes… probably not a severe problem for the plant.
On Friday, I caught the shadow pattern created by the bug-eaten leaves as the sun shone at the right angle for a moment… a new way to see the consequence of belonging to the food chain!
© Jane Tims 2012
nichepoetryandprose 
Oh! That’s a wonderful catch, Jane! I love the light and shadow in this image. A moment of beautiful, for sure. 🙂
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Robin
August 4, 2012 at 6:55 pm
Hi Robin. I’ve watched since and haven’t seen the shadows again. I think the sun must be at the right angle for only a couple of minutes each day. Jane
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jane tims
August 5, 2012 at 7:17 am
Virginia creeper is my favourite “weed”. We have way too much of it climbing up our old ash trees, but I love how the vines drip off the top
branches and show off with their beautiful burnt red colour in the fall. Ours have not been bothered by bugs yet, so please tell yours to stay home! I love the pole pattern you captured so well. Jane
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Jane Fritz
August 1, 2012 at 11:19 pm
Hi. I will tell our bugs to stay put. “Vines drip off the top branches” is a good way to describe these vines! Jane
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jane tims
August 2, 2012 at 9:44 am
How resourceful and creative of you to see and to capture the positive beauty in what could be seen as negative. Terrific shadow and light photo.
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Carol Steel
July 30, 2012 at 10:01 pm
Hi. It was too beautiful to ignore! Jane
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jane tims
July 31, 2012 at 8:37 am
How beautiful! I love that you caught the images – the beauty in the time of stress, and at a fleeting moment too!
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weedimageoftheday
July 30, 2012 at 1:08 pm
Hi. I wonder what story you would have made for this…. Jane
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jane tims
July 30, 2012 at 4:15 pm
: )
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weedimageoftheday
July 31, 2012 at 4:10 am
Gorgeous photo… Glad you caught it.
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snowbirdpress
July 30, 2012 at 8:24 am
Hi Merrill. The shadows occurred just for a moment, as we were leaving the yard. A minute one way or the other, and I would not have seen them! Jane
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jane tims
July 30, 2012 at 10:06 am
I’ll bet by next year the plant will develop some form of protection against the bug… I see it all the time with plants. This year by bush beans had all their leave eaten by bugs right down to the stalk… in a little while they grew new leaves, and they never got touched again all season.
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snowbirdpress
July 30, 2012 at 8:23 am
Now that is a positive perspective! It works for slugs too. For a while they were the bane of my existence, but now they are all gone! Jane
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jane tims
July 30, 2012 at 10:04 am