Nature Notes and Weekend Snapshot: Wildlife is a buzzing

Saturday I went outside into my back garden to try and photograph the colorful moths and butterflies for my nature notes/weekend snapshot post.
I have so many plants attracting the colorful moths and butterflies the it should be easy to photograph them but there are also a zillion bees.The bees are more interested in the flowers than they are in me but the quantity makes it hard to walk through them. I had a big fat bumblebee land on my shirt. It didn't sting me but it took awhile for it to move which was a little unnerving.The blackberries are starting to set their fruit and I can't wait. I love blackberries and I have a lot of them.The next shot shows the bottom part of my garden close to my house and the blackberry vines are a large mass to the left and the butterfly weed, yarrow, hibiscus, purple cone flower, orientalis, coriopsis, black eyed susan, and others are on the right although most aren't blooming yet.Facing my greenhouse and storage building which are up the hill in the back away from my house, you get an idea of how hard walking through the wildflowers and perennials which are filled with bees as well as butterflies can be.It's hard to see what's blooming until I walk through my garden and up to specific beds. The larkspur is in bloom which is a favorite of mine.A few coriopsis are beginning to bloom, although only the large ones not the miniatures.
Some of the gerber daisies started blooming quite early which I've posted about before and there are still some yet to bloom. I like it when some of the blooms are staggered although these daisies will bloom off and only until the autumn.The white yarrow is blooming although the yed and yellow yarrow aren't blooming yet.I'm pretty sure I've posted the early hydrangea blooms but they are becoming bluer and fuller by the minute. The cardinals continue to pop in and out of the trees like temporary flowers.
I'll end with a shot from my morning walk on the greenway trail near my house and boy is it green.Please visit Nature Notes and Weekend Snapshot for other participants.

Photohunters: Books

The photohunters theme this week is book(s). I took the easy route and photographed some of the books in my house.I have book shelves on either side of the fire place in my den/office. I also have book shelves over my computer table/desk in that same room.Still in the den/office, the book shelves below are over my day bed where I can lie down to proof work. One of the perks from my employer letting me work from home is that I can do some work lying down.Beside the door out to my deck I have bookshelves with more books.Moving into my living room, I have book on, under and beside the little desk.
I also have a few old books I stuck in with the china in my living room cabinet.
I also have bookshelves in the bedrooms in my house but they are even messier than the mess I've already showed you. I do have a tiny bit of pride so I'll skip the messiest of the shelves although they are all messy as you can see. For more photohunters take on the book theme, please visit the home of the Photohunt on Saturday.

Day Trip on the Road

This is a great time of year to drive on the North Carolina highways because there is so much in bloom. Many decades ago as a part of a state beautification campaign, the major highways were planted with a combination of flowers which return and are also replanted and maintained in some cases.
Bill and I went to Wilmington, NC for memorial day to visit the USS NC (memorial battleship). The whole way there and back I was able to practice snapping shots of the flowers. It's kind of hard when you're zipping by at a fast speed but I got the feel of the flowers.It is fun trying to shoot the flowers under the circumstance of speeding by (of course with Bill driving). I'll admit I occasionally try to take picture when I drive but mostly at stop lights. I've pretty much stopped doing it unless I'm a passenger because it's not really safe to combine driving with photography.
Usually when I'm taking roadside shots it's on the way to the mountains because the beach we usually go to takes us a different way. I was glad to have a chance this time of year to be heading to the part of the coast we take US 40 East on as there are so many fields of flowers.
In some cases it looks like the flowers go with a house or a farm but they will be on the highway side of the fence which is how I can tell they are part of what the state maintains.I also took some photographs on the USS NC memorial ship but the lighting wasn't great for the ones I took of the whole ship. Everything worked out great though for some shots on the ship of the guns pointing towards the sky with the signal flags in the picture.
Since Bill was in the Navy between 1968 and 1972 and served on a cruiser with some similarities to the retired ship, he was able to explain a lot about how it operated. I was amazed at how much he remembers, especially since he's older than I am, ha.
I was fascinated by the small plane on the ship. I wouldn't mind going up for a spin in that.I am not sure what bridge I was photographing as I leaned over the ship but it looked like a photo op to me. Of course everything is a photo - op for me. A seagull landing on a gun is a photo op for me. I'll admit that I'm a lot more comfortable around seagulls than I am around guns but these guns stopped firing a very long time ago.
I did find it interesting reading some of the information as well as seeing photographs of North Carolina servicemen who were stationed on the ship during World War II.A lot of the houses in historic part of Wilmington were decorated for memorial day although the lighting wasn't great for shooting them.This has been another of my long rambling all over the place posts, so I'll stop here.

Nature Notes and Weekend Snapshot - Sights of Late Spring

This has been a pleasant spring where I live. Maybe a little on the wet side but that beats the alternative. It's also been cooler than usual but now that it's getting hot, I am reminded why I like the cooler weather. There is so much going on in the natural world. This rabbit stopped in front of my neighbor's garage for an extended photo shoot.
I often meet the neighborhood cats before I meet the new neighbors they are attached to. The cat below is new to the neighborhood or at least new to my deck. It's amazing how many different cats come and hang out on my deck until I ask them to please leave so the birds can come out of the trees for a bath.
Alright little robin redbreast it's safe for you once again. Feel free to come down for a dip.
It's also nice to see the children outside playing although it makes me nervous when they skate board and ride their scooters in grocery store parking lots as these kids were doing today.
The little buggies are starting to hang out with the flowers. I enjoy finding them in macro shots where I didn't even know there were bugs until I downloaded the shots.
The bugs in both of these shots are the size of seeds and I actually thought they were seeds when I took the macro shots.The hydrangea bushes are started to form their flowers although they are a ways off from the bright blue blossoms they will have in a few weeks.
It's also nice to see my ornamental grasses beginning to grow back and form plumes. The plume below is on a variety called orientalis which I like because of it's redish almost purple tinge.I was pleased that my iceplant survived past droughts. It died back early during a previous drought but continued to return in the spring.The last shot is almost unrecognizable as an iceplant flower because they are so tiny and I got so close with the macro shot that it almost looks like a daisy. The shot above is also a macro so the actual flowers are even smaller than that shot too.To visit other participants, please go to the home of Nature Notes and/or Weekend Snapshot.

Photohunters: Plastic

The photohunters theme this week is plastic. Plastic is a popular material for playground equipment.My posts often feature the lake and greenway trails near my house. Almost all of these trails start or end with playgrounds for children and plastic is a part of the building material for this equipment. The first one is at Shelley Lake and the second one is at the Optimist Park. Both of these parks are very close to where I live which was nice when my daughter was growing up.
You may notice that the one thing these parks are missing is children. That's not always the case. I took these pictures on cold winter days. For other photohunters please visit the home of the Photohunt (posts Saturday mornings).

Nature Notes and Weekend Snapshots: Everything's Happening in the Mullberry Tree

I don't remember who, but last week someone posted their mulberry vines and mentioned that the birds weren't eating the fruit. I mentioned that I had mulberry trees and that the birds loved the fruit but that mine didn't have any fruit yet.Well lo and behold the next day I looked at the tree to see if the fruit was setting and sure enough it was full of fruit. By this weekend, much of the fruit was ripe and I got a lot of shots of the birds in the tree. All the shots except the last two were taken this weekend.You may have to click inside the shot above to get the full effect, but the robin bit off more than he could chew. Talk about getting caught with food in your wide open mouth.
If the mulberry tree wasn't so leafy, it would be easy to photograph the birds feasting but but they keep darting behind the leaves. Even so, I did get quite a few shots when they came out into the open. The shot above is a case of find the birdie in the picture. If you don't spot it you can click inside and find her.
The shot below wasn't taken this weekend but I thought I'd show a range of the variety of birds that feast in this and my other mulberry tree. I shot the cardinal below early in the week when I first started checking to see if the fruit was setting.
One more shot from early in the week shows one of the top branches against the blue sky. We've been having so much rain that I felt like throwing in a blue sky shot to round off my mulberry tree feature. Naturally it's impossible to get in position to take a shot like the one below without scaring the birds so it's a birdless shot.
Other participants in these themes can be found at Nature Notes and Weekend Snapshot.

Photohunt: Painted

The photohunt theme is painted. I used to have a variety of dianthus called painted dianthus which was lost years ago during a drought. I had this variety for 5 or 6 years with it coming back from the roots each year. Below is a shot I took in 1999 with my first digital camera so the quality isn't very good.I think my macro shots of the morning glory almost look like they were painted.
My neighbor's iris below looks like it was painted to me. I guess the morning glory and iris are a stretch for the theme but I do tend to think of flowers as having been painted by an invisible artist.
For more photohunters, please visit the home of the hunt on Saturday. I am posting early as usual.

Weekend Snapshots and Nature Notes - Plenty of Rain

We're continuing to have a lot of rain and I really don't mind. Everything is growing great guns. I had a pleasant mother's day lunch out with Bill and it stopped raining long enough to get there and get back without driving in the fierce winds we had yesterday. I am able to enjoy the natural world from windows during the storms. We've also been having at least some part of each day when I can get outside and take pictures, although it's starting to get pretty muddy from all the rain we've been having.
In spite of the mud I am trying to walk around my garden whenever it stops raining because each day I spot something new. I was pleased that my gerber daisies are already blooming.
I always have a ton of Queen Anne's Lace which I enjoy. It's a weed or a volunteer depending on your point of view but I like to think of it as a much enjoyed volunteer in my garden. My blackberry vines are another volunteer and last year I had a ton of blackberries to enjoy. This year will be the same if all the blossoming vines are anything to go by.

To view other participants please go to Nature Notes, and/or Weekend Snapshot.

Photohunters: In Memory

The photohunter theme this week is "in memory". I thought I'd go with in memory of my mother (born in 1924 and died in 1990).The shot above is of my mother as a child and the shot below was taken one Christmas a few years before she died.For other photohunters, please visit the home of the Photohunt.

Ducks and Geese at Shelley Lake

I was going through folders I keep of shots I might want to use on my blog but haven't posted yet. I have some geese and ducks shots from the lake near my house that are as old as September 2008 as well as some as recent as a week ago.
I decided that rather than mention when they were taken, I would insert the month and year into the photograph.I guess it doesn't really matter when they were taken but a nature buff might arrive here and think, I didn't know a ____ looked like that in NC in early May.
I enjoy the water birds so much at the lake. They are really fun to photograph and also to watch as they go about their business of swimming, resting and the other things they do.
There are geese and ducks year round at Shelley Lake although there is more variety certain times of the year.
I think the fall is when we tend to get some of the more unique looking ducks but I never manage to get any good shots of them. They are usually in a group with lots of other ducks and geese and I never seem to photograph the stand outs.
Even so the Canadian Geese and ducks which I commonly photograph do each have their own personalities and style as individuals. I guess I'll stop here. Not much to say. I mostly felt like posting a few of my fine feathered friends.

Melanoma Monday 2009

If you are here for weekend snapshot or nature notes, that post is below this one.
Today is Melanoma Monday an event started by the American Academy of Dermatology to increase melanoma awareness. Last year I wrote a Melanoma Monday Post which I hope you will go to if you didn't read it last year. After my melanoma diagnosis four years ago at Stage III, I have gotten to know many people with melanoma. Sadly some of these fun, caring, interesting people are no longer with us, dying far too young from this terrible cancer. There are also many like me who have been lucky even when diagnosed with deep primaries and positive nodes who are doing great so if anyone reads this post who is recently diagnosed with melanoma, please know there is lots of room for hope. Also, the prognosis is excellent for those diagnosed early so please consider a skin cancer screening.
Since I already said most of what I have to say in my post last year, I'll leave it with a few, brief thoughts. Remember, protect your skin when you are out in the sun, try to avoid the heat of the day, and even if you don't have a history of sun burns and have darker skin, pay attention to any change in moles or dark areas under nails. Melanoma does not discriminate and can attack people of all skin types and races. Below is a good graphic to show you what I think of tanning parlors.

Weekend Snapshot and Nature Notes: Sweet smells, surprises, and success

It rained off and on this weekend but I've enjoyed lazy days of enjoying my garden when it stops raining but having the rain start back up before I could get going on the million things that need doing.
The sweet smells of peppermint and lavender as well as the pungent smell of oregano are beginning to greet me when I venture outside into my garden.
I started my lavender from seed over 10 years ago and am always pleased when it starts coming back in the spring. The oregano was started as a clipping over 15 years ago and it is spreading out all over the place.One of the surprises this year is my foxglove. I used to have a lot of foxglove but it was a casualty of several droughts. This year out of the blue, a spire of foxglove sprang up in the middle of my butterfly weed, hibiscus, and perennial grasses.
Normally my yellow roses don't bloom until June so it was a surprise to spot a yellow rose yesterday.
One of my garden successes is a hydrangea bush which was an off shoot of a large one located at the side of my yard. I dug up a small offshoot and moved it to my back garden. You can see it on the bottom right of the photograph below. It has been growing there for over 5 years and has become a substantial bush in its own right.
The minute it stopped raining long enough to dry up, a pleasant site in the natural world appeared. I love seeing children out playing. Sometimes they add a splash of color with spring dresses and skirts much as the flowers do. I remember when my daughter was one of those spring flowers in her colorful sundresses. The little girl below reminds me of my daughter at that age.
My dutch iris are starting to bloom and they are such a delicate delightful site to me.I have many different varieties of iris. Some have already bloomed, some are just starting to bloom, and some are yet to bloom. I love all of my irises but the ones blooming now are at the top of my favorites list. For my last weekend/nature shot, my friendly squirrel sheltered under the pecan tree branches.To find more weekend snapshots, and or, Nature Notes, please visit the home of Weekend Snapshot and the home of Nature Notes.

Photohunters: Walking

The photohunters theme this week is walking. My feet took me walking out into my garden every day during this last week of April.When my feet took me walking outside on a cold January day, I left behind evidence that I had been walking in the snow. Last November I enjoyed walking around the lake near my house on a regular basis.
When we went to the North Carolina mountains in October, I had to be careful while walking on the rocks.In September last year, when I was walking on the greenway trails near my house, I thought about how the trails lived up to the name greenway.
Last June I enjoyed walking at the beach on the North Carolina coast. I'll end with that shot since that rounds out some of the places I've been walking throughout the state where I live. If you ever want to walk from one end of North Carolina to the other, we have a mountains to sea trail which has 1,000 miles of trails. I don't think I will ever walk one thousand miles but nice to know it's there if I want to.Please visit the home of photohunt to go walking with other participants.