Bearberry - they're tiny

Hello Friends,

One week down in Iceland, one week to go. Awesome. Amazing. Exhausting. Every day we hit the road for new adventures and a new hotel every night.

Today's images aren't easy to find. Actually they are, but you've really got to look closely to find them. You might notice that Betsy's fingers are in these images holding the flowers. The width of a single bell-shaped blossom was approximately 1/6 of an inch (.4 centimeters).

I've found these bearberry flowers and occasionally their fruit on the ground almost everywhere here on nature hikes. Per a Google Lens search: "Flowers: Small, waxy, bell-shaped (urn-shaped) blossoms that typically appear in spring. Fruit: The flowers eventually develop into bright red, edible but sour berries. Leaves: Leathery, shiny green, spoon-shaped leaves that remain on the plant year-round. Habitat: It is a circumboreal plant, meaning it is found throughout northern regions of the globe, often growing in dry, rocky soils or sandy coastal areas."

I took these shots with my Google Pixel 9 Pro, zooming way, way in. I'm frequently astounded at how good the camera is on this cellphone, even its macro shots are generally better than I can get with my macro camera. I turned them into 3D images with DepthMaker and worked them further in PhotoShop.

I've not entirely ignored politics this past week, but it's pretty much ignored me. Icelanders are too polite to bring it up, and we haven't met many of the numerous other Europeans travelling here, at least enough to get into such conversations. The food here has been at times mediocre but often excellent, especially their lamb and fish dishes, and very pricy by our standards. Taxes are high here and the standard of living and enjoyment of living seems very good.

Best regards,

Barry Rothstein

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