06 April 2014

Dogwood, the Celebration


We leave town on Tuesday, and the dogwood has honored me by opening today, so I get to appreciate it in its fresh glory, perhaps for the last time first hand. I'm inclined to love dogwoods simply because of their name, but there's something uncanny about their beauty and their sense of humor when you take a closer look. Anyway, I love this tree, and I have a series of closer looks for you to enjoy here. 

01 April 2014

The Mysterious Naked Grapefruit

I have taken to not only peeling my grapefruits, but also making a thin slice along the top of each section and peeling away the thin membrane bits and also the fuzzy white bits--and all the nutrients, I hear my mother saying. Nutrients cannot always be the reason for eating something, however, and I have yet to tire of this process, even though it takes me at least 20 minutes to prepare the entire fruit. You can tell from that last sentence that I do not have young children.

I place the glistening grapefruit slices in an attractive bowl (I have a red glass Goodwill find that sets them off well), admire them for a few moments, and then gorge on their tangy, thirst-quenching goodness, mouthful after mouthful after mouthful. It is the consummate grapefruit consumption experience bar none, even Salty Dogs, and they're pretty good.

I don't have any pictures to show you of this part, but last night as I was admiring the beauty of the sections, I held one up to the kitchen light and was completely enthralled by the subtle pink-gold tint of the fruit, and the depth of field visible in the translucence of the juice-filled vesicles.

I'm not sure that any of the photos I took (and I took MANY) reproduce exactly what I had seen in the kitchen, but with the help of Ian and my headlamp, I think I got some interesting shots regardless. Below are some of them. Enjoy!


Grapefruit, more or less normal color. 


Super close-up of the vesicles, which have been described as kind of fluid-filled hairs. 



More vesicles writ large. 


My headlamp has a red light option.

 
I spent quite a bit of time playing with the camera settings after that, and have included three shots from settings play. In this one, my bioluminescent grapefruit heats up. 


WHITE HOT GLOW!



AND . . . burned out. Time to eat!