Tuesday, March 24, 2009

CACTUS, CACTI....

I was lying in bed this morning, half awake, thinking about the pictures I'd taken of cacti yesterday, when it occurred to me how odd the English language is. It isn't the first time I've had that thought, of course, but new words had prompted it.

How, I wondered, did we come to have 'I' for the singular person, and 'us' for a group of people, and then end up with 'cactUS' for one spiny plant, and 'cactI' for two or more? It's one of those imponderables, I guess.

I also wonder how something so inherently dangerous to the soft-shelled human can be so beautiful, especially in blossom. I will leave the solution to that to God and scientists, though, and simply focus the camera.




Like a chenille bedspread, only less comfortable




Sheer pointy-lism




Strawberry cream, with sugar



Follicle me!



The view at the top




Spring green barrel



The original matrix



It really was this color!





Juxtaposition


Dots and whorls


Tic Tac Wow

2 comments:

The Beading Gem said...

These are just beautiful photos. I love them!

Splendid Little Stars said...

lovely photos and wonderful imaginative words!