Photohunters: Entertainment

Note - I am auto-posting this in advance but won't be at my computer until Sunday afternoon so my visiting will be late.
The photohunters theme this week is entertainment. We are lucky in my state to have free admission to the NC Museum of art's permanent collection.Given the current economy it's nice to have free forms of entertainment.
They also have reasonably priced outdoor concerts during the spring through fall which I have attended in the past, although I don't have any photographs of those.I must be getting old for my first thought in terms of the entertainment theme to be a museum.
Even when I was going to concerts and other forms of entertainment more, I didn't take photographs of them.The art museum allows non flash photography except when you are in the special exhibit areas.
The first shot was taken in the art park facing the museum and the last shot was taking walking around the art park. The smokestack almost looks like part of the outdoor art but it is what's left of the youth prison that used to be on the museum site. I took the outdoor shots in early spring before the trees fully leafed out.Home of the Photohunt

Nature Notes - It's a Jungle Out there

The combination of a wet summer with enough sun for growth has resulted in a jungle in my garden.

I like the lush growth and so do the butterflies, bees, birds, rabbits, and many other inhabitants of my garden. If it wasn't for the heat and mosquitoes, I would have no complaints.

I am fortunate to have shade trees which give me some cooler spots when I want to sit outside. Even as some flowers are getting a little faded, I can see the promise of new ones to come next spring.

The center of the black eyed susan above will have hundreds of seeds.
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Today's Flowers: Hibiscus and Morning Glories

I like the way some of my hibiscus (rose of sharon) almost look like a double flower because they are growing so close together.

Some of the rose of sharon (taxonomy is Hibiscus syriacus) are so tall they are trying to compete with the trees.

I have been enjoying the different shades of morning glories. Last week I showed you my white ones and I'm frequently posting purple ones. Today I thought I'd show me my light blue ones.

If the photograph sizing is funky for this post, I'm playing around with different hosting sites. I'm trying to stay within the free storage for photographs and that means I need to start using another hosting site before I use up the free space on picsa. There may be a few kinks at first since I have a rather slow learning curve. However, I hope it works because I like photbucket so far and they give you enough free storage space to keep my blogs going after I use up the free picsa space.

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Photohunters: Utensils

The photohunters word this week is utensils. The shot above is of my kitchen utensils and if you click to enlarge you can see me reflected in the spoon.When I looked up the word utensils, I found the following in Merriam-Websters:

"1 : an implement, instrument, or vessel used in a household and especially a kitchen 2 : a useful tool or implement" Therefore, I decided that garden tools were also utensils according to the second definition.One of my more useful garden utensils is my hand mower. It allows me to cut grass I don't want but stop and avoid flowers I do want.
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Nature Notes: Comparing Lakes

I was walking around Lake Lynn recently and I found myself comparing it to Shelley Lake. Both lakes are near my house but since Shelley is the closest that's where I usually walk.
All of the shots in this post were taken this week at Lake Lynn and one thing I was pleased about was how much easier it was to photograph the great blue heron at Lynn that it is at Shelley.
I suspect it's because Shelley Lake has such a huge park and trail system along creeks that the heron have more protected areas to get away from the people. I spot them at both lakes but have trouble getting close enough for decent shots when I'm at Shelley.
In addition to noticing ducks and heron fishing, there were a few people out on boats fishing. Not sure if they were catching anything but it was a pleasant morning to be out and about.
The shaded parts of the walkway always make it nicer to walk in the summer. Both lakes have shady areas and sunny areas. I definitely prefer shade when it's hot.One of the trademarks of Lake Lynn are the funny looking ducks which they don't have at Shelley. There are a lot of different ducks and geese at Shelley but not like the funny guys below.
No offense intended as these ducks probably think I'm funny looking too.
The shots of the great blue heron are all of the same bird but obviously the sun's relation to me and the bird make a big difference.
There are some things I like about both ways I was shooting so I couldn't decide which photographs to use. My solution as usual was to post a bunch of shots. Nature Notes Home

Today's Flowers: It's a Blooming Summer

My day lilies are blooming and I enjoy their splash of orange in my garden. I also enjoy the orange honeysuckle like the vine below which I shot blooming on a tree near my house.
I thought I'd end with a white morning glory. I tend to feature my purple morning glories but I also enjoy the smaller white ones which are starting to bloom. Morning glories help get me outside in the morning as their blooms only last until late morning when they close up. Today's Flower Home Link

Photohunters: Rock(s)

The photohunters theme this week is rock(s). I started with a shot from my garden with my frog sitting on a rock above. The next three shots are from a walk this past Sunday along a creek near my house. I like big rocks like these and when they are dry, I've been know to sit on them and read or write.
I wonder how the rock above ended up with those perfect holes which almost look like eyes to me.
The next shot was taken in Duke gardens of rocks and a small waterfall.The last two shots were taken at Linville Falle, NC. There are a lot of rocks there.I love rocks so I could go on forever. I literally have thousands of photographs of rocks but this seems like a good one to stop with.
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Nature Notes: Beauty, heat, and mosquitoes

Nature Notes

It's easy for me to obsess about the heat and mosquitoes this time of year but there is also a lot of beauty to enjoy with a brief step outside my door, or even looking out the windows.I took the shot above on my deck. The pecan tree's green leaves were right in front of my face with the red of my large crepe myrtle being further back in the yard.
My large crepe myrtle tree is one of the last to bloom but it's worth the wait. It's hard to get a real sense of the size from these shots because it's so big that I'd need to cut back a lot of growth around it to see the whole thing.I took the shot above standing under the crepe myrtle and looking up through the green part of the leaves but the dark pink/red blooms are on the top. This is where the bird tend to go for shade which is why I have trouble photographing them because they are hidden deep in the crepe myrtle.
Around the corner from my house is the line of crepe myrtle trees in the photograph above. It takes about four of these trees to equal the size of my one big one. I also have some smaller ones but they get bigger each year unlike the ones above which are severely pruned each year.
It amazes me how fast the Virginia Creeper above has taken over my peas and beans trellis. I'm letting it go crazy since I didn't plant peas or beans this year and I like the way the Virginia Creeper turns red and orange in the fall. However, I'll tear it all down after the autumn color in case I decide to plant snow peas next spring like I used to do.
I guess I'll end with one of my hibiscus blossoms and also on a happy note weather wise. It will be much cooler this weekend. Woohooo! Nature Notes Home Link