Withered...

...spent, dried up, perished, done, brown, crispy, faded, shriveled and in some cases BEAUTIFUL.

I was out photographing a friendly little hairy woodpecker this afternoon when the sun lit up this fiddle fern. It may be well past its prime, but I though this fern was pretty striking all crinkled and curly and glowing in the sunshine. Fortunately there was a dark tree trunk behind it and with the exposure set for the fern, the tree trunk basically disappears... I like the way this isolates the sun lit leaves.

If you have time, I posted the above mentioned hairy woodpecker on Flickr, a closeup and one surrounded by color.

Hope you are having (or had) a great weekend. :)