<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Portraits of Wildflowers]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[Steve Schwartzman]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/author/wordconnections/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Better than fish in a&nbsp;barrel]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p>A little over a year ago I mentioned that the expression &#8220;like shooting fish in a barrel&#8221; has never appealed to me. I expect shooting those fish is supposed to be easy because they&#8217;re trapped in the barrel and can&#8217;t swim away, but wouldn&#8217;t the bullets smash the barrel to pieces and allow water (and fish) to spill out all over the place? Hmm. No, if I want to indicate that something is easy I&#8217;ll say it&#8217;s like shooting wildflowers in Texas. That&#8217;s how I felt on April 7th when I spent hours in the Texas Hill Country reveling in the abundant spring wildflowers I found along mile after mile of highway. Today&#8217;s post and the ones for the next week will show you some of that day&#8217;s flowery abundance.</p>
<p>Let&#8217;s begin with this view from TX 71 west of Austin, which records a colony of pink evening primroses, <em>Oenothera speciosa</em>. There&#8217;s that <em>speciosa</em> again, meaning &#8216;showy, look-worthy&#8217; in Latin.</p>
<p><a href="https://portraitsofwildflowers.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/pink-evening-primrose-colony-1684.jpg"><img data-attachment-id="25019" data-permalink="https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2015/04/24/better-than-fish-in-a-barrel/pink-evening-primrose-colony-1684/" data-orig-file="https://portraitsofwildflowers.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/pink-evening-primrose-colony-1684.jpg" data-orig-size="1050,495" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;22&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Steven Schwartzman&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS 5D Mark III&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1428418732&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;\u00a9 Steven Schwartzman&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;93&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;400&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.004&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}" data-image-title="Pink Evening Primrose Colony 1684" data-image-description="" data-medium-file="https://portraitsofwildflowers.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/pink-evening-primrose-colony-1684.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://portraitsofwildflowers.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/pink-evening-primrose-colony-1684.jpg?w=1024" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-25019" src="https://portraitsofwildflowers.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/pink-evening-primrose-colony-1684.jpg?w=1024&#038;h=483" alt="Pink Evening Primrose Colony 1684" srcset="https://portraitsofwildflowers.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/pink-evening-primrose-colony-1684.jpg?w=1024&amp;h=483 1024w, https://portraitsofwildflowers.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/pink-evening-primrose-colony-1684.jpg?w=150&amp;h=71 150w, https://portraitsofwildflowers.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/pink-evening-primrose-colony-1684.jpg?w=300&amp;h=141 300w, https://portraitsofwildflowers.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/pink-evening-primrose-colony-1684.jpg?w=768&amp;h=362 768w, https://portraitsofwildflowers.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/pink-evening-primrose-colony-1684.jpg 1050w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px"   /></a></p>
<p>© 2015 Steven Schwartzman</p>
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