Sail Away

It's time to sail back to the boat club and then return to Detroit for a day before flying home tomorrow evening. The rain started in the wee hours of the morning but thankfully slowed down and then stopped about the time we set sail. The sun was still hidden behind the clouds for the entire "3 hour tour" today but at least the rain stayed away for our journey. I love looking up at the lines on the boat and the wind in the sails while sailing. The colors are muted due to the weather, but it's still a beautiful view.

Heron

On Mackinac Island, you'll see a lot of horses and seagulls and of course, other wildlife. Last night, we saw a night heron but were unable to get any pictures as it was very nearly pitch black. Today, on the tour of the island, I have seen a caterpillar, otters and this heron. He was down through some brush along the water's edge and standing still until I came close to see both him and the three otters that were playing nearby.

A spider's life for me

A marina is full of spiders, they weave their webs like magic on all kinds of boats each night.  Every morning, the spiders have beautiful new webs and unless you want to share your boat with them, you have to throw them overboard and they sometimes become fish food. They win the war however, as you can not possibly find them all and the next morning, some will be back. The spider's life on a boat can't be beat though, spinning webs over night, catching large amounts of small bugs blown around in the wind and the beautiful views. This spider had the view from the back of the boat, beautiful, isn't it?

Boat Dog

Nori is a labrador retriever, known for their swimming abilities. She is above and beyond the "average" dog, as she spends weekends on a sailboat and swimming and rock hunting in Lake Huron. She also has a swimming pool at home for when she can't be at the lake :)
We headed straight from the airport up to the boat today and after getting unpacked, we took Nori out for a swim. The water is so clear and the sun shining, a perfect day to play in the lake, and she posed so nicely for a picture!

Good Morning

I went out this morning and found this spider had created a strange sort of web across the front yard. It stretched from the tree to the truck and then had circles formed in the top half but the spider  was hanging from what would be the center and was the very bottom part of his web. It was definitely an incomplete web, however, as you can see, it seemed to work just fine as he caught himself a June Bug. Of course, then it was time to move the car and thus the web was going to collapse, so the June Bug may have gotten a reprieve. Then I went out back and saw this grasshopper moving across the yard. I got in close and you could see the dew on his back. It was a fun morning here at the house for bugs.

More bugs...

Again this afternoon it looked like a storm was coming through, the clouds came over and there was some distant thunder but we didn't get any rain. It made for some cooler weather and I went outside to take advantage of it and got this shot.  I have an abundance of this guy around my garden. I have taken several pictures of them but they move so quickly from flower to flower that it is hard to get a clear and balanced photo. I got lucky today with this one. He was hanging from the flower instead of nestled into the bush and his wings are nicely posed.

Summer Storm

The sky this evening was beautiful, shades of oranges and pinks and thunder clouds coming in without being too dark. The colors were more vivid in real life but you can see slight shades of color and the depth of the clouds in the photo. This is the precursor to a storm but one of the prettiest incoming storms I've seen. It was another hot summer day, so we could use a cooling storm and a bit of rain.

Trumpet bee

The flowers are in full bloom around here and the pollen drinkers are as abundant. I've seen quite a few moths, butterflies, dragonflies and bee-like bugs out and about in my yard lately. This trumpet vine flower is fairly large so this bee (?) went all the way in and then back out again as opposed to the quick fly by that most bugs do on smaller flowers. That gave me a better chance of catching his photo. The one flower sticking out with brushes of sunlight just worked out perfectly. I still need a good macro lens...

Backyard beauty

I've been stuck at home for most of a week, that's driving me crazy! The few trips out are just not enough and obviously my photography has been limited and comprised of things I can shoot very locally. Today was another particularly stressful day and when it finally calmed down, I just had to get outside with the camera. I was pleasantly surprised to find a frog near my pond and then this new lily just opening in the pond. There was a storm rolling in and that made for fun lighting. I am not much for using flash if not necessary but I like what I got in this shot.

Scrapbooking...

Does this even need explanation? This is one of my "life" photos as opposed to "good" photos...but you can see that my kitties do enjoy spending time with me. OK, so really they were hanging out with Rachel. She came over to scrapbook and as you can see, they were not shy about helping out! It may not have been our most productive scrapbooking session ever but we had fun :)

Orange

This is his father's son! Dave used to just love oranges, and we thought it was particularly appropriate since he was the one born in Orange County, CA. He would just go crazy over them and his two "older" boys have taken on his love of oranges, even if they are Denton boys. Dave taught Luke how to peel one and then they each got a piece and then there was a lot of "one more please Aunt Anna" until the orange was gone. This kid is Mr. Expression so I do especially enjoy taking pictures of him.

Where's Waldo...the bee

My crepe myrtles are blooming in beautiful bright colors. I have some of a couple different varieties, including the very bright red/pink Dynamite, one of my favorites. I was out looking at the various plants, blooms and of course insects. We saw a hummingbird but I didn't catch a picture of him, however I got this bee on the myrtles. I didn't realize how the little yellow shows until I looked at the bee blending in a bit here.

Middle Child

Matthew was the baby boy until today when he officially became the middle child and older brother to Joshua. He was really enjoying visiting mommy and daddy and meeting his baby brother at the hospital. He was talking up a storm and playing with the toys they brought for the baby and having fun with all the family being around. Then Mimi gave him a sucker and he was just not sure why everyone kept asking him to share it or borrow it...first daddy asked "will you share with me" and then grandma asked to hold it while pictures were taken! Are those adults crazy?

Momma's little helper

I've been getting the hang of working on scrapbooking on the coffee table in the living room these past few days. It's not been super productive but progress nonetheless. Dottie is our upstairs kitty but since I haven't really been able to spend time upstairs, she has had to adapt a bit. Today, she decided it was acceptable to hang out and scrapbook downstairs. She was "helping" by crawling in my bag, taking stuff out and of course, chewing on the handles. I caught her cute pose here, paws slightly outstretched toward the camera.

Why me?

Poor Rhoda has to wear an Elizabethan-collar (e-collar) to protect the stitches in her head from surgery. She absoultely despises the thing and we can't convince her it's for the best. So, she keeps giving me these pitiful looks, why mommy, why me?
But isn't she beautiful anyway, especially with the tumor gone! Now if we can both survive the rest of recovery...

Head of the table

Gus decided to join us at the table for dinner tonight, as there were only 3 of us, he was able to take the seat at the head of the table. I thought it was cute but of course when I went to get the shot he had moved. It actually came out even more fun with the glowing eyes reflection.

Wonderland

I was working out in the yard today, clearing weeds and trimming branches, when I found a family of snails. There were big ones and medium size ones and little ones all over. This one just looks like he is surveying his world from on high, which is actually not an inch off the ground but it sure looks like it.

Texas Sage

Our Texas Sage is in full bloom, like the other plants and flowers I've chose for this area, it is of course, purple. I headed out to get a few shots and saw a few bees checking out the beautiful purple flowers. Last week I was working on some shots with varying depth of field. Although this photo isn't the best representation of that, it caught me as fun with the focus being in the center with the bee and both foreground and background off focus with the different colors and textures, shadows and light.

Kitty Heaven

Gus absolutely loves being outdoors! He has figured out how to open the back door when I'm outside and he will join me in the yard. Today, I let him play for awhile and got this shot of him right as he goes for a nibble of the grass. It was a pretty, sunny day to spend outside, for a short time of course since it is summer in Texas.

Self Portraits

I was never much good at grabbing the camera and getting a self portrait. However, I have been practicing a bit...once you know your camera you can figure out the placement and angle and even mess with the lighting if needed. So, here's the only shot I actually took today and it is of me and my niece at brunch :)

Courthouse Music

Today we had a mini reunion of high school classmates. One of the things we did was to take a tour of downtown. As we approached the square we saw people standing around on the courthouse lawn. Once we got closer we saw that there were people playing various instruments and entertaining a small crowd. We stopped for a bit before moving on and I got this shot.

Comfy Cats

It's hard to tell who was more comfortable during this nap today. These two have always enjoyed each other and they often curl up together in various places. I couldn't help but take their picture today. It's nothing amazing but it might just want you want to curl up and take a "cat" nap.

Peek a boo kitty

Obviously we play this game quite often around here. Today, again I pulled out something that the cats decided to play with. This is Dottie's favorite color, it matches her eyes. I liked the colors together with her black and white and the reflection in her eye. This weekend's challenge is shallow depth of field, the focus here is a bit different than I was looking for but I like the blurry foreground and focus on her  whiskers and hairs.

Cat Nap

I've been cleaning out around the house, it's my summer cleaning time. I emptied this computer case and set it on the floor. In typical fashion, the cats, opened it and have taken turns napping in it. Sophie typically gets it during bath time, but the others find a spare moment for a cat nap. I caught Gus here waking up from his turn.

Stairs!

Today's project number one was to get all the Christmas stuff back in the attic. It had to be taken down when the air conditioner was replaced. I opened the attic, went to get a box and came back to find that Dottie was climbing the stairs, no problem, she just wanted to check it out...

Kansas

I took this picture on the way home from Kansas today. We had clouds and rain through most of Kansas and Oklahoma, which made for some great views, when it wasn't pouring. This photo isn't as crisp as I like, needed a much faster shutter speed to stop the motion since we were driving, but despite that, it's a good representation of what we saw driving home. The clouds, the grass, the fence and even a well placed windmill all with a fuzzy effect is kind of cool looking.

Fireworks

Surprise, it's not a picture of fireworks on the 4th of July! Well, not exactly of fireworks anyway. Despite the rain, we were out at the farm shooting our own fireworks. The wind kept shifting directions and of course, we're all trying to take pictures of the fun. I look over and dad is just immersed in the smoke from the fireworks. He looks like he's just stepping out of a fire or through the fog, it was after one of the big ones we set off and it just smoked all around him. Obviously, we had a lot of fun and got a lot of pictures today!

Sycamore

This gorgeous old tree is in Shelly's front yard. It is quite an interesting tree, with the peeling bark like paper and the yellow new growth underneath. Although it's a bit messy with the dropping bark, it looks like it would be a great tree to have for shade and of course climbing!

Man's best friend

After supper, several of us headed out for a walk/photo walk. Melissa and I headed out into a field looking at flowers and birds and we met this adorable dog. He was heading north on the road and he came running over to us and proceeded to try and lead us on a journey. We met up with Deanna, Eriq and Shelly and the 5 of us plus the dog had a nice walk with him "leading" the way. He was very friendly and decided to hang out with us for the evening, although he wasn't thrilled when we started the mini firecrackers! We found out his home was just up the road and he usually returns at dark, and sure enough, as it got dark, he headed that way.

Old town

We went into town today to check out a new little scrapbooking store and play a bit in town. We hit the local shop along a main street and I liked the old town look here. From here, we went on to the bigger stores and then for a lunch at one of our favorite Kansas places, Spangles. Then of course, back to use all our great finds in the "scrapbooking room" at the house.