Queen Anne's Loss

This past weekend I took Lorelei, Hannah and Storm up to Roan Mountain. We had intended to head to Cloudland but the gate was closed. We instead parked and went up into the balds of Carver's Gap. In the summertime this would probably be a low meadow full of Queen Anne's Lace, but now everything is dry and dead and flat. The Queen Anne's Lace stems have turned stark white, and are all bent in the same direction by the wind. They looked like the bones of a forgotten, spindley alien. I liked the stark white contrast against the darker trees and rocks.

While down at ground level, I also shot this silhouette-ish shot of the weeds against the backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains.