Two years ago, I couldn't name cormorants, probably the most numerous birds at White Rock Lake. I called them Stinky Birds, because of all the odoriferous scat they drop in some areas around the lake (specifically the shore line just south of Mockingbird Lane on the Dog Park side of the lake, along Lawther), stinking the place up. In a similar spirit of ignorance, I'm calling these flowers, "pompom thistles." Why not?

They're small, about the same diameter as the length of the last digit on my smallish fingers.

And this is an example of the diminutive Lacy White.

Flowers are always nice in the spring, but getting those bugs to pose was the hard part. Getting them in focus with my cheapo Nikon 70-300mm lens will be even harder.

Me naming things according to my imagination again. I like that, "High Meadow Belles." Of course, I have no idea what they are really called. So, of course, I had to look them up. Which is how I came to know what little it is I now know about bird names. They may be Poker Heuchera. Or maybe not.

Those supposedly don't get this far south, but the local Latino Culture Center has them planted (I suspect the ones in the supposedly wild meadow at White Rock Lake are also planted) in their garden. They seem to like it here, well south of Montana and Wyoming, the states listed for them in the Audubon Society's Field Guide to Wildflowers, which is the only wildflower book I have, so far. Well, I have a poster on my kitchen door, also. But I don't see these there, either.

Then again, they could be Blue Yucca. I like a plant that can call itself yucca. But these don't have the traditional yucca stalks at the base. Oh, hell. I'm sticking with High Meadow Belles.

But I'm pretty sure these are wild onions flowering. Later in the season, I like to pull a few, wash the dirt off and chop them up for salads. They're mild but sweet, and fibrous. They often grow in my front yard, but these were shot with the lake in the background. They're not in the book, either. Or at least I can't find them.

This may be the most beautiful flower I've photographed in a long time. And I've been working at shooting flowers especially since I got the new camera. This is my third attempt at one of these, very common flowers. Talk about being everywhere. This is very close to being in focus, without actually being in focus.

I may have to try a couple more times, but I'm honing in on it.

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