Natural Wonders of Vermont Photographed Today - Big and Small

This morning, a walk in the woods...




I learned just now that these ghostly little plants are not a fungus, but a regular plant:
Indian Pipe is a unique herbaceous plant, easily spotted by it's waxy-white color. Sometimes it can be pinkish colored. Indian Pipe lacks chlorophyll and thus does not use photosynthesis. Without the need to capture sunlight with leaves, Indian Pipe is morphologically reduced, having no branches and vestigial leaves that are reduced to membranous fleshy scales. It is a perennial plant which can reach 20cm in height. Blooms first appear in mid July and continue into late August. The number of flower parts may vary but there is only a single flower on each stem. The flowers droop down towards the ground at first later becoming erect as the fruit matures. The fruit contains extremely small seeds.

And in the evening, cloudscapes...