EASTER OF 2015

The photographs I'm about to show you were taken in the days around the Easter of 2015. The weather was warm, the wild asparagus shoots were thriving, and I spent most of that time outdoors.

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You'll see an eclectic collection of motifs, from friends to insects, and from landscapes to selfies, in today's post. In the following photograph ...

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... you can see me sitting on a ball of hay, under the olive tree, somewhere in the fields a kilometer or two from my hometown.

I found plenty of asparagus there.

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In this tryptich, I'm holding some eggs I decorated that Easter.

Here you can see a cat enjoying the sunny day on the bench in front of my house.

This big, interesting herbaceous plant was photographed near the archeological park of Nesactium, about ten kilometers from where I live.

I was there primarily for the asparagus shoots, and I found quite a few as you can see in this shot. The plant shown in the previous shot ...

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... is the Verbascum thapsus.

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You can always find interesting insects among its hairy foliage. In this set of four photographs, you can see the Rhynocoris iracundus walking across the lower surface of the large leaf, and the same bug feeding on its prey, the Tropinota hirta, a beetle from the Scarabaeidae family. Rhynocoris iracundus is a fairly big predatory bug from the Reduviidae family.

Verbascum thapsus is a biennial plant that can grow two to three meters tall. The one shown in this photograph has only a bunch of leaves on the ground level.

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Here you can see a slightly taller one.

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The plants of the same kind in this set of four photographs are pretty impressive.

Verbascum thapsus is one of my favorite plants that can be found in the area around my hometown.

I like how it looks, I like the fact that is big, and most important thing, I like the abundance of small arthropods that can be found among its foliage.

Verbascum thapsus has also some cool medicinal properties.

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In this set of four photographs, I took some of the bragging shots with asparagus shoots and played a bit with them in Photoshop.

This Lupinus pilosus plant was photographed in Marlera ...

... the coastal area five or six kilometers from where I live.

I picked some asparagus there as well.

You can see a lovely, prevalently green butterfly from the Lycaenidae family in this shot.

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The name of the species is Callophrys rubi.

Marlera has plenty of interesting insects to offer in springtime.

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Some stuff, like this tree for example, that I photographed on that occasion in Marlera, looked better in black and white.

Here you can see the dry remains of the Dipsacus fullonum plant.

In this photograph, you can see a pretty unique cone-shaped thing made by the Clematis vitalba climbing plants. The plants were climbing around something, probably a pile of vegetal garbage brought from some gardens of Liznjan, but then the garbage dissolved so the thing is now empty like a little empty house. The Clematis vitalba shrubs are strong enough to support this interesting vegetal architecture without the need for some other object to support it.

Here you can take a look at the scenery near the nearby abandoned stone quarry. In the following, non-monochrome photograph ...

... you can take a good look at the quarry.

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Here I zoomed in on some pines that grow there.

Here you can see me walking in search of asparagus shoots through the dense and thorny Mediterranean shrubland. The beautiful plants covered with a multitude of tiny white flowers are tree heathers (Erica arborea).

Here you can see me sniffing around the interior of one of the abandoned buildings of Marlera.

Here you can see the asparagus shoots I picked in the area around the village of Premantura. I drove a little less than ten kilometers to get there. I mean you can see only the asparagus shoots I had to show when I started my asparagus hunt in this shot.

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An hour or two later, the edible bouquet was much bigger. In the following photograph ...

... you can take a look at one of the fallen pines I encountered in that area.

In this shot, the focus is on the small hole I found in that dead tree.

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Here you can see what I photographed when I decided to take a break and rest a bit by the sea.

These beautiful, highly decorative empty bottles were photographed on the outskirts of Medulin, my hometown.

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You can always find some photogenic garbage there.

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Here you can take a look at the vegetation in that area not far from the last houses of Medulin.

In this grainy, muddled shot, the focus is on the leaves of the ivy. The two following shots were taken on another occasion, not far from there.

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in the area just outside the opposite side of town.

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I was primarily picking the asparagus there, of course.

In this photograph, you can see me sitting at home, in my living room. I was busy cutting off the hard, fibrous parts of the shoots. The soft tops of the shoots will be eaten, while the rest will be used to give a bit of asparagus flavor to the vegetable soups and then thrown away.

Here you can take a look at the soft, juicy top of the shoot on the palm of my hand.

The stone quarry shown in this photograph is situated more or less halfway between my hometown and the nearby city of Pula.

Here you can take a look at one of the herbaceous plants that grow on that stony terrain. Can't tell you the name of the species. In the following photograph ...

... you can see the asparagus shoots I collected in that area. Later, in the evening ...

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... I spent a few hours in the city.

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A friend (you can see her in the center of each of these two shots), had an art exhibition in the biggest Cultural center of Pula. The opening was a little cocktail party, something like that.

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I encountered quite a few old friends there, I met some new ones as well, and all in all, I had plenty of fun.

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Here you can see one of my friends holding the cat that owns the gallery. I mean, I don't know anything about the gallery's ownership but I saw the cat walking around very confidently, like someone who owns the place.

In this digitally modified photograph, you can see the same cat passing by some bookshelf in one of the three rooms that make the gallery.

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Here you can see a group of friends chatting and drinking in the hall near the entrance to the gallery. The following photograph ...

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... shows the scenery around the archeological park Nesactium.

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This time I wasn't there for the asparagus. You can see me collecting the young leaves of the nettle in this tryptich. Since the contact of the skin with that otherwise very beneficial edible plant brings a burning sensation I used fairly thick, resilient gardening gloves on that pretty hot sunny afternoon.

Here you can take a good, up-close look at the Cruciata laevipes plant.

The sky was nicely decorated with contrails that day.

I wasn't there for the asparagus shoots, but I did pick some nonetheless.

This selfie was possible thanks to my car's rearview mirror. I was parked by the side of the road, somewhere between my hometown and the nearby village of Pomer.

Here you can see the asparagus shoots I picked that day.

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I also photographed some interesting flowers there. This is the Serapias lingua, a species of small wild orchid.

This thing belongs to the much taller Carduus nutans thistle.

Here you can see another Serapias lingua portrait.

This is the Knautia illyrica flower.

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This Gonepteryx rhamni butterfly was feeding on the Lamium garganicum flowers.

Here you can see more asparagus shoots from that area.

These are the same shoots but photographed inside a plastic bag from one of the local grocery stores.

Here you can see my two dogs lying on the floor in the living room.

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The selfies shown in this set of four photographs were all taken thanks to the bathroom mirror inside my bathroom. If the glittering ribbon I mounted on my head looks somewhat familiar to you, that's because the same thing was used to hold the asparagus shoots together in some of the previous shots.

Here you can see a digitally processed selfie in which I'm wearing just an ordinary hat on my head.

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For this set of four better, more imaginative selfies I used a cable that probably had something to do with the mobile phone or the TV.

This horizontal "No Parking" sign was found and photographed at night, somewhere in my hometown.

In this daytime shot, you can see an ordinary, vertical "No Entry" traffic sign reflected in the window of the house by the side of the road.

These asparagus shoots were found and picked in Marlera. The bushcricket nymph, shown in the following shot ...

... was photographed in the same area, but early in the morning. Meadows were still covered with dew.

Here you can see a young bushcricket of a different species. In the following photograph ...

... you can see another asparagus bouquet from marlera.

This is the yellow sack spider (Cheiracanthium punctorium).

Here you can see a very small and very young bushcricket nymph with extremely long antennae posing on the ear of grass.

In this black & white photograph, you can see some fluffy seeds.

Here you can see some lovely, orange-colored fly. In the following photograph ...

... I came closer to that insect.

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In this set of six photographs, you can watch the Gonepteryx rhamni butterfly feeding on nectar provided by the big flower of the thistle.

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These twigs, leaves, and branches from the top of the fig tree, were also photographed in Marlera. Judging by the light, it must have been late in the morning or around noon.

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Here you can see the reedgrass by the sea.

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I took these shots in the evening.

AND THAT'S IT. HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE JOURNEY. AS ALWAYS HERE ON HIVE, THE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE MY WORK - THE END