Henne backlit cattails

On a delightfully warm, Indian Summer afternoon, my path brought me to the boardwalk at the Henne preserve, and there, I had high hopes of taking pictures of the last of the dragonflies: no doubt, meadowhawks, and, with any luck, a darner or two (most likely, one of those lingering Shadow Darners, and maybe a Common Green). Perhaps the first wave of migrating ducks would be within camera, or, at least, binocular range, and there might be lots of other interesting wildlife present; there's always something worth investigating at Henne. It was, however, oddly empty. One meadowhawk sailed by, landed briefly—too briefly for a portrait—and then disappeared. No other odes. Very few birds. No lingering wildflowers. Just quiet... and cat-tails. Typha latifolia is our dominant native wetlands reed, and if this were older times, folks would be out in the marsh gathering the "fuzz" on the flower heads for all sorts of uses: from the absorbent material in old-school diapers to the insulation in cold-weather clothing. The rest of the plant has utility as well. You can eat the rhizomes, make paper out of the leaves, thatch roofs, and, of course, weave chair seats. My use for the cat-tail was less utilitarian. I appreciated it simply as an object backlit, beautifully backlit, worth photographing.