My Journey and Experience of Nature's Beauty Part I

(All photos taken by @paradigm42)
Nature is my greatest inspiration. The quiet joy and peaceful contemplation I experience in beautiful places like this is what I try to capture in my photos. I would like you to join me on a short journey through one of my favorite places to experience nature's creative beauty.

Even a simple moment in time like this has its own quiet beauty in the pale blue sky and the green of the earth reflected in the water.

One of my favorite kind of trees is the majestic Weeping Willow shown above. It is a tree that needs a lot of water so it is easy to see why it has thrived here so close to the creek. You will often see Weeping Willow Trees near all types of water sources and where the water table is high.

I came across this Red Admiral Butterfly towards the beginning of my travels on the trail. There it sat like one of nature's ambassadors welcoming me. It was even kind enough to patiently sit for some photos.

I'm not sure if this is a male or female but from the ragged state of the bottom of it's wings, I'm sure it has some interesting stories to tell.

The Red Admiral Butterfly can be seen in the northeast during the warmer months, however like the Monarch Butterfly it spends most of its life in Mexico and warmer southern most states. With such a long migration I can only imagine the adventures it has experienced in its travels.

These pretty flowers that seem to dominate the landscape are called Wild Chervil. Native to Europe, this wildflower is concidered to be a highly invasive species in the northeast of the US. They certainly have taken over at the moment here!

It is a member of the carrot/parsley family, and both the flowers and leaves are edible with some medicinal qualities. One must be careful if deciding to harvest Wild Chervil for such uses since it is also very much similar in flower and plant look to its cousin of the same family, Poison Hemlock.

I actually thought this was Poison Hemlock when I was first trying to classify it until I read about just how poisonous even to the touch it is, and realised that park services would never allow such a poisonous plant to take over a public nature trail like this has.

This lovely wildflower is called a Canada Anemone. Unlike the last flower I featured, this one is native to this area. A member of the Buttercup family, it blooms in June thru July and prefers partial shade and areas that tend to stay moist.

The Canada Anemone is not concidered particularly edible but does have astringent qualities and has uses in Native American medicine.

Bees and other pollinators also visit these lovely flowers making them a welcome part of the ecosystem here.

I think these nifty and interesting purple flowers are called Ragged Robin but I'm not quite sure.. If anyone has any insight, please let me know!

I know I have seen these before, but I can not remember what the flowers looked like before going to seed.. It makes for a cool macro shot though. :)

A beautiful and intriguing wildflower, I have never had the pleasure of noticing before, the Strict Blue Eye Grass is native to a majority of the US.

A member of the Iris family the leaves are concidered edible and have some medicinal qualities. Ultimately though it is truly a beautiful addition to the landscape.
I hope you have enjoyed this first part of my small journey through the joy and beauty of nature's canvas through my eyes. I will post part II soon.
As always remember that it is all about the little things in life and thanks for looking in! :)