Bullfrog

Happy Memorial Day!
Since I had the day off, I had the time to go out for a long photography walk during the day. I was pleasantly surprised at all the things I saw. This frog didn't sit still long, as you would expect, so I wasn't able to get different angles or lighting on him. I had not been able to get a clear shot of him previously though and so I was very happy to get this one. I saw several varieties of dragonflies, a couple types of turtles and the usual birds along with this bullfrog.

Trumpets and Bees

As I was leaving the office this morning, I ran across these flowers of the Trumpet Vine. The bees were in full on pursuit of the perfect flower. I captured a few of them with the little camera before heading on my way.

Dragonfly?

The right camera with the right lens and the right lighting when you come across the right thing is priceless! I have seen several of these "bugs" flying around lately but they rarely seem to stop moving. In fact, I was really happy to have gotten a decent shot of one flying around me a couple days ago, especially since I was doing manual focus.  This guy didn't stay put terribly long but he did actually stop on a branch and I was able to get focused and get the shot before he whisked himself off again. I tried to get a shot with some of the trumpet vine flowers in the background for a bit of color but he was on the move by the time I repositioned and I actually like the green I got here.

On the prowl

My cats took a little walkabout outside this afternoon. They are indoor cats, so this was quite the adventure. They all did their own things, from rolling in the grass and purring to walking very cautiously around and checking out every little thing to the full blown prowl here. She has this look of intense focus on her face. Though it was quite sunny, she was in the shadow of the house here and so it's well lit but not bright and makes her look as soft as she really is. We didn't stay out long in the heat of the day but they each enjoyed the time outside.

Momma Duck

I usually go visit the ducks in the morning but today I went out in the evening. I was hoping for some good lighting with the sun setting. This momma duck actually came walking toward me with her babies, very strange, but great for photos. She didn't get too close but she didn't mind posing for some pictures. I think she's just beautiful.

Pinguino

This is my life...Elli hugging a penguin balloon in my room over lunch, and no it's not even her birthday, it was Liz's birthday! What you don't see in the picture is the mouth to uh, mouth resuscitation that went on here! The balloon was leaking and Elli "fixed" it. Not much time for pictures lately but this was worth sharing :)

Kansas daylily

I bought this plant in Kansas a few summers ago. Ask Melissa all about it ;)
Since I planted it, the bushes have grown up and filled in and the plant has to peek through the top. I should probably move it to a better location but it's fun to see it stick it's head up through the top and open up.

More yummy flowers

More pollen drinking insects are checking out our flowers this spring. Tonight I saw wasps, bees, dragonflies, moths, flies and other various insects on the yucca flowers and then here the bee was going into each flower of our bush. I didn't get many shots before it got dark since I had a game early but here is one of the bees in a flower.

Wildflower

I took a hike with a friend on my "local" nature trail today, where I usually do my outdoor running. I hadn't actually run out there in a week or two and it was nice to get out to my stomping grounds again. We stopped at the wildflower area, then checked on the dewberries, went around the  lake and visited the ducks and egret, then headed over to the pond full of turtles and frogs. It was a bright, sunny day and the flowers were beautiful in the sunlight and I got a few good pictures with the bright light and shadows. Unforunately, the sun was very bright and strong on my skin as well...

Waterbird...

On my morning walk, what has become a regular weekly walk, at Southlakes Park, I met this beautiful bird. I'm used to seeing blue heron, geese, ducks, egrets and other various birds but this particular water bird I thought had some great markings and distinctions. He and I played a little chasing game. Each time around the lake, he would be sitting on these rocks and I would approach, try to get his picture and then he would fly to the other side. This was repeated with each lap around the trail. This was my favorite of the pictures I got of him. I also had a lot of fun getting some picures of a whole duck family. There was a mom and dad and 7 little ducklings that kept an eye on me but allowed me to get close enough to them for some fun shots. It was a great photo day.

Yummy flowers

This buttefly was flitting from flower to flower on my bushes this evening. I was trying to get some bird pictures, then a dragonfly, and finally settled on some bees and butterflies. I watched this one for awhile. If you look closely, you can see his antenae and proboscis pointed down onto the flower. I watched him moving them around and finding the perfect spot for nectar and then he would rub his wings together back and forth as he was drinking. This bush attracts the hummingbirds, bees and butterflies for some great photo ops.

Birthday Volleyball

I didn't really have a chance to take pictures today, other than this shot I got out at volleyball practice. This is the beautiful sky view we've had out at the court the last few weeks. It makes for a beautiful sunset over the trees too. We played until the sun had disappeared and left us trying to hit a ball we could hardly see...fun times!

Marbled eye

Our dog Rhoda is a Catahoula Leopard Dog with two different colored eyes. Her mother had a cracked glass eye, with one eye having two colors, she has the marbled (blue-white) eye and a green eye. The marbled eye can look almost white in the sunlight. We were playing outside and it was sunny off and on and I caught this picture with no sun glare to catch the color in both eyes.

Here birdie birdie

I went outside to find something to take a picture of this evening. I had hardly stepped out and I heard a bird talking to me from one of the almond trees. I started to sneak toward the tree and I heard rustling and he moved within the tree and then over to the curly willow. I was now under the almond tree trying to catch the bird as he moved around. When he sat on this branch I knew I wanted to get the shot, the bird on the thin branch with the curly willow leaves as a background looked great. I inched closer and started focusing and I was able to get this photo.

Nuts!

As I was leaving a photo shoot today, I saw this squirrel running across the grass. He was letting me get fairly close so I followed him as he went under a tree. I expected him to climb it, but he dug up a buried nut. Then he looked up at me and took it to the grass, started to eat, then decided he should take it up a tree. He checked every couple of feet to see if I was still watching. Then he sat on a branch and had himself a little meal. He took another look at me, then came down, again checking to see if I was still there every few feet. I have a new friend.

Brothers

My nephew's fourth birthday party was scheduled today, and we had the threat of storms yet again. We lucked out again and the weather was gorgeous for the party at the park. The sun came out and the kids had a great time "decorating", running around, playing on the playground and then eating lunch before attacking the pinata and presents. It was a fun time and I brought out the "good" camera again and got to have my own fun with pictures. There were a lot of great photos of the boys but this one is my favorite of my sweet nephews.

Graduation Horror Movie?

Jacqueline graduated today...
I took a few photos at her graduation party but I love this one, she just captured the psycho look a little too well! The reflection of the pink on the blade up to the icing and on her dress are just nice touches. I will probably edit this a bit to crop out some of the background people but regardless, this photo just makes me laugh :)

Volleyball sunset

Today was supposed to be all rain and storms. Thankfully, what we got was not heavy and didn't last long. Tonight was the last practice before our first volleyball game and we needed the practice! The few times we felt a drop or two, we said, nope it's not raining and it went away ;)
We got a great sunset view as we finished up for the evening.

Googly Eyes

Eriq finally came home from Wisconsin tonight and he brought me these cool glasses. They are clear with red print and clear with black print designs. But what makes the special look is that they have a solid color just on the bottom so as you look straight into them, the whole glass appears that color and as you move around, you can see the color "move" with you. I put them on a nearly solid surface and have the row of lighting above. Then I got right over them so the coloring appears on the inside halves. The lights show both on the counter and as double rows in each glass. I needed some creativity in my photography, so this picture is about playing with light and my new gifts of course :)

Indoor flowers

When mom came over for Mother's Day on Sunday she brought me a gift! I got these purple mums, my favorite color! The blooms are huge, they might be a double bloom variety. I have these indoors and I liked the lighting was able to get on them.

Almonds

The almond tree has thousands of fruit nearing harvest. Today, with the storms, we have had some serious wind gusts. Normally, the almonds are harvested by shaking the tree to knock the almonds down to the ground. Due to today's wind the amount of almonds dropping is even more than we've had lately. I had only a few minutes to collect them before practice this evening. Despite that, my collection bucket was overflowing and I had to leave some in a pile as I collected over 250 almonds before I headed out.

Apples

I have let my garden go wild on me in some areas, but the years of work on some of my trees is paying off this year. I have had a few apples in the past and I had enough grapes to can some jelly a few years back but its been a sparse few years lately. This year however, I have hundreds of almonds and dozens of apples and the beginnings of grapes. I can not wait to start eating some of these goodies!

Goslings

Another day, another nature adventure. Today I saw three snakes, three geese, four goslings, a couple of ducks and quite a few birds. All of this on three laps around a 2 mile trail with a couple of ponds. Spring is in the air and the baby animals are out and about. It's a lot of fun to watch them grow, although not the snakes so much as the others...

Tomato!

I used to be quite the gardener, but priorities have changed and now I don't have an entire salsa garden every year. However, I do try to have at least a few fruit and vegetable plants each season. This tomato plant has a few baby tomatoes on it and I am always very excited to see them! I love tomatoes and could almost live on them, in fact, I nearly do during the summer. There are tuna stuffed tomatoes and tomato salads and tomatoes and mozarella and the list goes on...
I was also excited this past week to have found apples on my apple tree, grapes on the grapevine and almonds both on the tree and starting to fall to the ground. The strange weather pattern we experienced here this past fall and winter have turned into a very productive growing season this spring heading into summer. I hope to spend some more time in coming days enjoying the fruits of my previous labor.

Windmill - part 2

A couple of mornings ago, the fog was out and I got a photo of the windmill in the fog. I mentioned that I had wanted to get a photo of this windmill previously and hadn't had the opportunity so today was a beautiful clear day and I hit that stoplight again. I was even able to get the angle I wanted with the face of the windmill catching the sun a bit and showing the depth and Lantana sign at the bottom. I think its pretty, that's all...

Anna face!

It was time for a non photography focused picture...so here it is. A couple of my students decided to write me a nice note on my desk today and I had the camera out so I took their picture. Anna made this face, which is apparently her "signature" face. These two are a fun pair in class, which you can probably tell by the look Liz is giving Anna while she makes THE face at the camera for me. Lately, it's been rough at work, this helps me remember the good parts. Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Fog rolling in

The fog was heavy this morning as I got up and headed to work. It was pretty interesting as it started to clear in some areas and yet it seemed to be even more thick in other spots later down the road. I was happy to catch a stoplight at Lantana as I've thought about photographing this windmill in the past and this was the perfect opportunity. All the colors are muted out by the thick fog so it looks more like a silhouette and even some of the blades are faded.

Mohawk

Sophie is trying out a new look, the mohwk! It's all the rage in kitty circles...ok, really she just loves bath time. For some reason she wants a little extra attention when you're in the bath tub. She doesn't care if you are wet when you pet her. In fact, it's encouraged, she will jump up and grab your hand and make you pet her. Tonight she was being especially forceful and she got wet for her troubles. She kept nuzzling the wet hands and had a mohawk and her ridge up her back and even a bit of wet tail. I hadn't taken a picture yet today and I just had to go grab my camera and get her "new look" for today's post.

Toes

I was playing in the sandbox with my nephew and there was his little foot next to mine. Little, almost two year old toes and pudgy feet. He was using his feet and toes to grab the toy cars and play with the sand with some great dexterity. I thought it was cute :)

3 Musketeers

This morning in the park, I saw this squirrel run across the grass and find a little silver treasure. He grabbed it and ran up the tree and I saw that it was a mini 3 musketeers wrapper. He ran up the tree and got comfortable, he was really enjoying himself and while he kept and eye on me, he wasn't stopping just because I was there. When I got a bit closer, he did scurry off to another spot but he was not going to let go of his treasure. We may have some chocoholic squirrels at Southlakes...