Kayak Shooting

Our anniversary on Monday was absolutely glorious! When Double D suggested going kayaking, my face lit up like a Christmas tree. He also insisted I take my camera in the kayak. After giving it a lot of thought and imagining my gear hitting the water twelve ways to Sunday, I decided to trust myself. My biggest fear was a spider landing inside the kayak which would cause me to go berserk, thus overturning the kayak and everything in it. Thankfully, only a tiny, emerald green frog made its way inside. It was so cute. My lens was too big so I couldn't get a photo of the little jewel, darnit!

It's not easy to get super sharp shots from a floating vessel, but these came out pretty good.

Double D preparing to take his own shots.

Anhinga drying its wings against a wall of Spanish moss.

Double D took this picture of me taking the above photo.

I was able to get pretty close, so these next images are only slightly cropped.

Happy Halloween! Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe weekend! Catch up with y'all later.

Stretched

It's been a couple weeks since I posted any hummingbird shots. Thought I'd give y'all a break. These are from our local arboretum on September 19th. This little gal staked out the flowers that lined the walkway leading into the arboretum, guarding her area fiercely. There was one dry plant limb she favored that was closest to my camera set-up, about 6 ft. away. It was truly a gift. All that guarding and chasing off competitors required lots of stretching to stay limber. Her dedication was admirable.

Today is our 24th wedding anniversary. Since my aunt's 38th anniversary was on Oct. 23rd, we celebrated together at a seafood restaurant over the weekend. It's such a blessing to see my aunt free of pain, able to enjoy the simple things of life. My uncle (her brother) gave her a rose bush he started from a cutting off my grandmother's rose bush. He brought it to me and I gave it to her on Saturday, along with tissues. :) The rose bush has been around for decades and survived being run over by my granddad's lawn mower for years. The rose bush is a survivor, so it's only fitting that a cutting goes to JoAnne. It already has three buds on it and will have the deepest, velvetiest, red blooms you've ever seen. My uncle promised to start a cutting for me, too.

Thanks to the wonderful hosts of:

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Winged Things and a Rant

Had an interesting encounter last weekend at the arboretum. I watched from a distance as a young (and very pretty) pregnant girl picked a small bouquet of flowers. Carefully she made her selections; however, one flower was rejected and placed on a brick post to wither and die.

When she made her way over to the rose section, closer to me, I saw no choice but to confront her. As gently as possible I informed her that she wasn't allowed to pick the flowers, that they were for everyone to enjoy, especially the butterflies and other insects who depend on them. I'll spare you the entire exchange, complete with eye rolls and sass. However, I remained calm yet firm.

As I was packing up my car to leave, she walked by, glaring at me, sans flowers. My jaw dropped open. I said "Where are the flowers?" She said, "Does it really matter? I mean, after you bitched at me, I no longer wanted them." "Well," I said, "that's just great. Now they're wasted. You really should have known better anyway."

Doesn't everyone know you cannot pick flowers from a local arboretum as though it was your own personal garden?!

Okay, rant over. Here are some critters I was able to shoot in between blood pressure spikes.

Guess who? Face blurred on purpose.

It's been a long time since I felt angry enough to confront a complete stranger, so it's still bothering me. Not one of my finer moments to say the least. My biking partner said she would have nicely informed her that twice a year the arboretum has plants for sale, but I didn't know that. Would you have handled the scenario differently?

Airborne

Studied and stalked these cute little Carpenter Bees and some other kind of bee. I realize your definition of 'cute' may be different from mine. *smile* I was thrilled to get some freeze-action airborne shots.

Thank you, Jesus for all this pollen!

My cheering section. Or so it seems.

I've been working this week and will work three days next week, so blogging has taken a hit once again. At this point, I need to stop apologizing. There are going to be times when blogging takes a back seat. I know it will mean less visitors, but it can't be helped. I need to earn as much money as I can between now and next September for my daughter's wedding. Plus, when family gets sick, that is a major priority. My dad's wife has been released from the hospital, but is still going through more tests. I don't think the doctors around here are at the same caliber as the ones in Dallas. But at least we haven't seen Ebola here. Yet, anyway. Very scary. God bless all those infected and the medical teams taking care of them. 

I hope everyone has a nice weekend. I am sharing this post with Eileen's Saturday's Critters.

Thankful

My aunt's surgery was a resounding success! The only pain she has is from the incision site which is temporary. We are so thankful to God for answering our prayers, and for the dedicated family and friends who offered prayers on her behalf. Thank you, my dear blogging friends, for your kind words and prayers. Now if we could just get my dad's wife out of the hospital! Oy vey. Always something going on. I am so thankful to be back home to take care of my family when they need me. Please be patient as I try to hobble along and visit your blogs.

Needless to say I have not had time to get out with my camera, so I went back to earlier in the year and found images that I hadn't yet edited or posted. Without further delay, here they are.

American Goldfinch, Jan 2014

White-throated Sparrow, March 2014

Red-bellied Woodpecker, April 2014

Indigo Bunting, April 2014

Blue Grosbeak, April 2014

Leucy the Leucistic Cardinal, April 2014

Sharing with Anni at

And also Stewart at

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Mighty Miracles

When this post goes live, my aunt will be going through surgery to relieve intense pain from the trigeminal nerve located in the brain. She has been living with this awful disease (formerly known as Suicide Disease) for years. Diagnosed at various times for a myriad of other disorders, we now suspect the root of it all is Trigeminal Neuralgia. It's been very debilitating for her, so I'm praying the procedure is a success.

Here are more shots of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird from our local arboretum. Hope you all have a delightful weekend. I'll catch up with you all very soon.

Do small things with great love.

Mother Teresa

Billy Bass

I present to you my prize possession: Billy Bass. He was caught by me in Pike County, MS on 8/13/14, weighing in at 5 lbs. 2 oz. My dad lovingly had him mounted by the best taxidermist in the State.

Where do you think I hung him? After a lot of agonizing over how this would work with my traditional, old world style furnishings, I settled on a prominent wall in the living room. I decided that I was truly proud of it, my dad was proud enough of me to go the expense to have it preserved, and besides, it would make a great conversation piece! I've seen professional decorators on TV throw in a wild, out-in-left-field decor item that doesn't match anything in the house (anyone see the hot pink deer head?) and it works. At least I think it works. What do you think?

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Weekend Update

Howdy folks! The arts and crafts fair put on by St. Luke's Episcopal Church was a great experience. I loved spending the day with Sweet B and her equally sweet son. We met a lot of people, even making some contacts for future work. A lady from St. Amant purchased cards from both of us and asked us to photograph her horses and stables. There were three ladies who wanted photography lessons, and the guy in the booth next to us was interested in buying art for three locations of a business he was expanding. So even though sales were a little lackluster, we made some great contacts! Our minds were swirling with ideas like getting a web site, etc. Not sure where all this will lead, but I feel hopeful.

Some of you asked which notecards sold at the arts and crafts fair. Below are the ones that sold. You've seen them all before here at some point.

I have been a little worn out from the experience, so I promise to catch up with everyone during the week. Oh, and since I have so much extra card stock I am going to host a couple of give-aways in the near future. Y'all be good and have a great week!

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