An experiment that doesn't seem worth the time... Cosmos... was windblown ... in a not very photogenic environment.  I like it because I spent so much time on it.

Cleveland, Ohio skyline from the Ohio City Farm and Market. 

Key Tower (center background): Designed by César Pelli, this post-modern skyscraper features a pyramid top with a red key logo and is the tallest building in Ohio.

Terminal Tower (far right background): The iconic 52-story Beaux-Arts landmark built in 1930, standing tall with its spire and intricate stone detailing.

Sherwin-Williams Global Headquarters (left background): The modern glass-clad skyscraper featuring prominent branding near the top.

Carl B. Stokes United States Courthouse (center foreground): The post-modern high-rise federal courthouse defined by its distinctive wide, overhanging canopy roof and vertical window mullions.

The Flats / Cuyahoga River Infrastructure (bottom foreground): Features industrial train tracks, transit bridges, and an RTA Rapid Transit train passing through. (Narrative from Gemini - AI)

 Me, myself and I - photo by Marie Ann Caputo

 Let your light shine... for a season... table decoration at Ashley & Brad's Reception.

Serenity at the Brandywine Falls, Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

 

New England Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae). The dense, glandular, hair-covered stem, small clasping leaves along the stem, rich violet-purple ray florets, and vibrant yellow-orange central disc florets are key characteristics of this native late-season perennial. (Narration - Gemini AI)

 

Brandywine Falls is a spectacular 65-foot waterfall situated in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, carved by Brandywine Creek over thousands of years. The waterfall features a distinctive bridal-veil appearance, created as the rushing water cascades over a hard cap layer of Berea Sandstone down soft, underlying Cleveland Shale. Visitors can explore the site via an accessible boardwalk path leading to dual observation decks that offer close-up views of the gorge's geology and surrounding hemlock-lined ravine. (Narration - Gemini AI)
 

White Snakeroot (also known as Richweed or White Sanicle)  Scientific Name: Ageratina altissima (formerly Eupatorium rugosum)  Family: Asteraceae (Daisy/Composite family)  Key Features: Features dense clusters (corymbs) of small, bright white, star-like disc flowers lacking ray petals, set above coarsely toothed, opposite leaves with prominent veining. It is a common native perennial found flowering across eastern North America in early to mid-autumn. (Narration - Gemini AI)

 Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus) — ventral (underside) wing view showing the characteristic orange, black veining, and white spots along the wing margins.

Flora: New England Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) or a closely related native purple aster, showing vibrant purple ray florets with yellow centers and hairy stems. 

(Narrative - Gemini AI)

 The Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus), also known as the sunchoke, wild sunflower, or earth apple, is a native North American perennial species in the daisy family (Asteraceae).

Key Characteristics & Features

• Botanical Nature: Despite its name, it is neither from Jerusalem nor a true artichoke. It is a true native sunflower species. The name "Jerusalem" is believed to be a corruption of the Italian word for sunflower, girasole (meaning "turning to the sun").

• Floral Structure: The bright yellow blooms typically measure 2 to 4 inches across and consist of 10 to 20 ray florets surrounding a dense, textured central disc of yellow-to-brownish tubular florets.

• Growth Habit: The plant grows vigorously on tall, coarse stems covered in stiff, hair-like trichomes, often reaching heights of 6 to 10 feet (or more) in late summer through autumn.

• Underground Tubers: Below ground, the plant produces fleshy, knobby tubers rich in inulin (a prebiotic carbohydrate). Native Americans cultivated these tubers as a primary food crop long before European arrival, and they remain popular in culinary uses today.

• Ecological Value: The late-season flowers provide a crucial late-summer and early-autumn nectar source for native bees, butterflies, and other pollinators when many other flora have faded. (Narrative by Gemini  AI)

 A sunflower at Temple University's Ambler Arboretum.

 Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) or a closely related Rudbeckia coneflower species, captured at two distinct life stages:

• Foreground (Left): An unopened flower bud with soft green phyllaries (involucral bracts), developing yellow ray florets just beginning to emerge, and a tightly clustered dark central disc cone.

• Background (Right): A fully opened bloom showing mature bright golden-yellow ray petals radiating around a deep brown-purple central disc cone. (Narration - Gemini AI)

 The insect is a Western honey bee (Apis mellifera), foraging on flowering stonecrop (Hylotelephium spectabile / Sedum).

Key Diagnostic Features

• Abdomen Pattern: Alternating black and amber-yellow bands with fine fuzzy rings, tapering to a pointed tip characteristic of female worker honey bees.

• Leg Anatomy: Hind leg displays the wide, flattened tibia adapted as a pollen basket (corbicula).

• Head & Eyes: Large, dark compound eyes covered with microscopic hairs, and characteristic elbowed antennae. (Commentary Gemini AI)

Little Round Top is a rocky hill south of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, famous as the site of an essential Union defensive stand on July 2, 1863—the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg. Holding the hill anchored the extreme left flank of the Union Army of the Potomac. If Confederate forces under General Robert E. Lee had seized this high ground, they could have placed artillery overlooking the Union lines along Cemetery Ridge and rolled up the Federal flank.

Brigadier General Gouverneur K. Warren, chief engineer of the Union Army, rode up the undefended hill, recognized its strategic vulnerability, and urgently diverted troops to occupy the crest just minutes before Confederate forces struck. The statue is over General Warren. (Gemini AI - Narration)

Fences played a decisive tactical role across the battlefield during the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863. Constructed by local farmers for livestock and boundary demarcation, these structures disrupted advancing formations, channeled troop movements, and provided critical defensive cover.

Today, the National Park Service maintains tens of miles of historic fence lines to preserve the visual and tactical landscape of the 1863 battle. (Gemini AI - Narration)

 

Chillin' with the musicians raising funds to combat childhood cancer on the square in Gettysburg, PA.

 A pretty petunia. The flower features a classic trumpet- or funnel-shaped (infundibuliform) structure where the five petals fuse into an elongated tube. The side profile highlights the delicate, translucent branched venation that carries nutrients and structural support through the petal limb.

 Death mask of a dragonfly.

A poor old dragonfly bit the dust, and ants were cleaning him out - inside out. Took the opportunity to get some detail on one of his wings.

 Visited the Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology. It would take two days to do it justice. Didn't make it to Meso-America or the Far East.

The Sphinx of Ramses II at the Penn Museum of Archaeology in Philadelphia is the largest ancient granite sphinx in the Western Hemisphere and serves as the museum's signature centerpiece.

Pharaoh Ramses II

Stele of the Code of Hammurabi (specifically a museum cast/replica, such as the one on display in the Penn Museum's Middle East Galleries). The text begins with a prologue glorifying Hammurabi's piety and conquests, transitions into 282 case-by-case legal provisions ("if a man does X, then Y shall happen" covering property, family law, trade, and physical harm—including the famous principle of lex talionis, or "an eye for an eye"), and concludes with an epilogue invoking divine blessings on future rulers who uphold the laws and curses on those who erase them. (Gemini AI)

The Ur Lament: The upstart kings of Isin lament the fall of Ur even as they present themselves as Ur's successors. City, bitter is the lament made for you! How long will it grieve the weeping Nana? ... Ur has been given over to tears! ... Where the dances of the Land once took place, people are stacked in heaps. The corpses like fat left in the sun, melted away of their own accord. ... The king of Isin's personal god brings you a greeting gift. Nanna, in your restored city may you be properly praised.

Fascinating. A doll with movable legs and arms.