Spent the day tooling around the valley floor. It's mid October and the place is pretty crowded. I'd hate to think what July is like here.
A couple of stately backlit oaks.
Looking right into the sun. Luckily a leaf was there to block the view.
Now, probably the first ever post on milkweed.
Milkweed is the plant in the foreground with the large yellow-green leaves. It's the principal food of the monarch butterfly, and it imparts its toxin to the butterfly so that monarchs are poisonous. At least that's what the placard said.
A closeup of the buds.
And this is a shot of the bud after it's burst, exposing a cottony dandelion-like lace. I used a flash at f/18, and the flash has reflected off the individual hairs. Very strange effect.