Trout lilies.

 

 

 

These are all photos by Meade, taken yesterday on the shore of Lake Mendota.

Scarlet elf cups.

"Sarcoscypha coccinea, commonly known as the scarlet elf cup, scarlet elf cap, or the scarlet cup, is a species of fungus in the family Sarcoscyphaceae of the order Pezizales."

 

 

We found them today in Blue Mound State Park, where we walked my favorite trail, the Over Lode.

AND: Here's the photo Meade took of me: 

Tree-hugging.

 

We were impressed by this super-large pine tree in the arb.

It seems to be reaching out for a hug, don't you think?

FROM THE EMAIL: Wild Swan writes:

I'm impressed by the shoes. They complement the pine tree colors so perhaps they walked you over there. for their own reasons. The shoe is a lonely hunter/ that hunts on a busy sidewalk.

Thanks. And let me give you the Amazon link for these shoes: here.

Late afternoon sky.

Me, with my old iPhone, photographed by Meade with his new iPhone 12:

 

I love the ability to get the wide angle — though it makes me look bizarrely tall — and the color and detail in the clouds clearly surpasses what I got with my iPhone XS: 

"I had to email you, because the photo you posted of Meade catching you 'wandering off' bears an uncanny resemblance to the park in Antonioni's great film Blow-Up."

"In the film, the protagonist surreptitiously photographs a rendezvous in the park. And then as he keeps 'blowing up' the prints, i.e. zooming in, he starts to think he's witnessed a murder. I thought you'd appreciate the similarity of the images! By the way, I've been reading your blog every single day for years and years. Huge fan. I love that you never skip a day, even holidays. Also by the way, I completely agree with the decision to stop comments. The commenters were often rude and obnoxious, and to the extent they drew you into conflicts and took your attention away from other things, that was a waste of your time. And your time matters to your audience -- us! I agree with the person who emailed you saying the comments had become male-dominated (I would say misogynistic). Which seems to be a theme in online comments sections. Those commenters were a tiny sliver of your audience, and frequently an unsavory sliver. Thanks for everything you do! Please don't stop! The Althouse blog is a daily delight."

That's email from someone with the first name Paul. Thanks, Paul!

Here's the shot from "Blowup":

And here's Meade's shot of me: 

We took a walk in the Arboretum today.

Meade caught me wandering off: 

 

I was sticking to close-ups: