Macro Monday

This is a different sort of Macro Monday. I didn't take any of these photographs. My daughter did. She recently had her fourth birthday, and one of her greatest wishes was for a camera. Well, Grandma got her a Fisher-Price Kid Tough Digital camera. I'll be the first to admit that the picture quality isn't good. The pictures aren't that great when the camera is held still and there is adequate light. The thing I found interesting was the perspective of a four year old. That, and her choice of subject matter. She seems to want to take macro photographs. Unfortunately, the camera manual recommends no subjects closer than four feet. Stinkerbaby, of course, didn't read the manual. So, here are some of my daughters photographs. If you can overlook the blurriness, I think you'll enjoy them.

So, although not my typical photo, here is my entry in
Macro Monday at Lisa's Chaos.

This is probably my favorite. It's the bench on the deck.


This is a close-up of Grandma's tic-tack-toe set.


One of Grandma's throw rugs.


Couch fabric, up close and personal.


The pics are much better out of doors.


She took this from inside the van. It was a pretty, if cold, day.

Hope you enjoyed our little adventure into pre-schooler photography.
Have a great week!

-Susan

Macro Friday

Well, I have gotten my camera out a couple of times this week! I even went out to play in the snow with my daughter, camera in hand. None of the kid pictures turned the way I had hoped. It was a very cloudy day.



You know me, if I can't find a frog, a bee, a bird, or a moth,
the leaves had better watch out!

Snow is rather difficult to capture in a photograph, I discovered.
Now that my daughter tried her hand at sledding (the grass wasn't fully covered), and I've been out to walk in it once, I'm ready for the snow to go away until December at the earliest.

I'm really just not a fan of winter. Not even a little bit.
How about you?
How much snow is too much snow?
I can tolerate a dusting. That's pretty.
I'd better stop now before I turn this into an anti-snow rant. . .

Stop by

blogging from bolivia
to link up your own Macro Friday post!

-Susan

Watery Wednesday

Yesterday was a wonderful day . We went to Land Between the Lakes. For those unfamiliar with the area, LBL is the land in between Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake. It's a huge, beautiful park.

This is my first Watery Wednesday. My first two photos today are rather watery.

Here is my practically requisite frog shot. Yes, it was warm enough for frogs! I saw several and caught two. Yes, of course, I let them go very shortly afterward. Both kids thought the frogs were really neat.

From the 1840's to 1912, before the lakes were created, the area around what is now LBL, was iron-producing. There were several iron furnaces. The prettiest industrial waste I have ever seen is something called slag. According to Wikipedia , "Slag is a partially vitreous by-product of smelting ore to separate the metal fraction from the unwanted fraction. It can usually be considered to be a mixture of metal oxides and silicon dioxide."


It's a beautiful blue to blue-green, glasslike substance.
I love the striations that are in many pieces.
Slag's mixed into the gravel on some of the roads around Center Furnace. It's in the grass. It's in the creek.
To me, it looks like gemstones strewn all over.
Unfortunately, you can't take slag with you, but you CAN take all the photographs you want. My next trip will be on a sunny day so I can see how the bits of slag sparkle in the sunlight.
Some pieces are as small as pebbles; some are as big as baseballs.




Here is a photo of the remains of Center Furnace.


Click on the above photo, and notice the decorative pattern in the bricks on the left side of the furnace. Isn't that neat? I think that's a nice detail for a factory that was designed to be run continuously.


I highly recommend a trip to LBL to anyone within a reasonable drive. Did I mention that most things in LBL are free? They are. The things that aren't free are worth the money in my opinion. The Nature Station is a great place to go, especially with kids. They have coyotes, deer, owls, a bobcat, and many other critters. All for a whopping $4 for adults. For $5 per carload, you can see elk and bison in an enclosure that is so large that the animals appear to be in the wild. In addition to our native White-tailed Deer, you will also likely see Fallow Deer in LBL. We didn't see any yesterday, but we usually do. We did see a Coyote cross the road in front of us. I think our total deer count was about 17. Of course, there are many places in LBL where water birds can been seen. We saw some unidentified ducks, White Pelicans, and several Great Blue Herons. I'm already itching to go back.

Hope you all are having a great week like I am!

-Susan

Black and White Wednesday

I'm sorry I've been absent so much lately, but as predicted, the baby did finally arrive! She's healthy and beautiful and amazingly sweet. I'm going back to see her (and her parents) as soon as I can. Aren't babies wonderful?! It's unreal to me to realize that my little guy was nearly that small this time last year.

Anyway, I thought I'd get back in the swing of blogging by joining
The Long Road to China for Black and White Wednesday. How wonderful for Lisa to finally get to be with her daughter!

Here is one of my first "babies." This is my birthday beagle, Hardy. He's one of the sweetest dogs ever. And for some reason, he nearly always smells like Fritos.
Good dog.

-Susan

Well, I know I've been missing in action the last few days. I love Macro Friday, as you may have guessed, and I didn't even have time for that this week. I've been anxiously awaiting my sister's baby and trying to make preparations here so I can leave the instant she tells me it's time.
And this new scanner is awesome! I've been playing with it.
This is also sinus headache season here. You look fine, no runny nose or anything, but your head is in a vice. Makes me want to crawl under my bed and hide.
Enough excuses. I came across this Victorian funeral card. We have several, but I liked this one particularly for a couple of reasons. One, it has a photo of the young woman. It's nice to put a face to the name. Second, her card says, "Gone but not forgotten." I figured, what better way to remember someone who has been deceased for 110 years than by putting her funeral card on the internet?
I have done a bit of genealogical research, and, as far as I know, M. M. Crabtree was not a family member. She must have been a family friend or neighbor.
Cousin Joyce, correct me if I am wrong about this.
Hope you have a great weekend!

-Susan

Black and White Wednesday

I have had some wonderful tree frog encounters lately. There was one that was almost white with sea foam green on his back. Another was light gray with distinct patterns on his back. Well, even after trying to edit to make the color look like it really did, I thought these would work better in black and white. This is a Bird-voiced Tree Frog with sea foam green on his back. He's a tiny little thing, no bigger than an inch.

Also, this week, I got a Canon Canoscan 8800F. The scanner hasn't been working on my printer for a while, but the big selling point for me is that this thing will scan negatives, several at a time. How cool is that?
It would be a lie to say it was easy to set up on my computer, but that's Hubby's department. It's still really easy to use. I have been going through a shoe box full of pictures and negatives. Grandma left massive amounts of photos, but few of her.
I didn't take the next two photos, but I did get permission from the photographer's next of kin.


Here is my beautiful mommy on her second birthday.
Notice the icing on her fingers and the cake showing.


Here she is with my beautiful grandmother. Losing my grandmother was one of the hardest things I have ever experienced. I'm glad she left so many photos behind.
If you still have a grandmother, go hug her now.

Stop by The Long Road to China for more Black and White Wednesday.

-Susan

miscellany monday

Well, it's been a critter filled weekend! I think for this week's Miscellany Monday, I'll detail the various things I saw.

1. I got to visit with my baby sister a little this weekend. Okay, she no longer qualifies as a critter, but she sure did when we were kids! She is anxiously awaiting her first baby, and we are anxiously awaiting her baby, too! Stinkerbaby asks me every morning, “is today the baby's birthday?” We still have a few weeks to go.

2. We had a Baltimore Oriole in our yard this weekend. He was a strikingly beautiful male. I haven't seen one in years. I think I'll buy some oranges at the grocery and try to attract him or his wife closer.

3. Praying mantis sightings have been happening all weekend long. Batman directed me to a medium sized green one on the porch. My mom spotted a brown one on the play room window. I saw one on the seed feeder. That one is still there this morning.

4. We have had a little more rain and a few more Bird-voiced Tree frogs, including one on the shutters this morning.

5. Yesterday, my usual Eastern Fence Lizard and my typical Five-lined Skink were posing (okay, basking) in the sun. As I moved in for a closer look, I noticed a lovely, striped snake right where I was intending to step. Luckily, I didn't step on him and I did have my camera. After examining the photos, I think it was a Common Garter Snake. There are a few snakes I can easily identify- the local poisonous ones! The rest I have to look up.

6. Since I'm being random, let me also mention, that if you are outside and suddenly smell fresh cut cucumbers, be careful and look around for a Copperhead. Seriously, they smell like cukes!

7. The real critter stars of the weekend were the hummingbirds. I have had up to 15 at one time that I could count! They buzz me on the deck. You'd think that would lead to some amazing photos. Well, not quite. But it's fun anyway!

8. An immature male Ruby-throated Hummingbird got onto my porch. I made the mistake of cleaning the windows and leaving the door open for fresh air. He sounded like a really big bug up against the glass. Then he chirped! I found him and carefully picked him up under his wings and launched him out the door. He was fine! No photos of that little guy, I was afraid of giving him a heart attack. It was thrilling!

Hop on over to lowercase letters
and see what miscellaneous things this Monday brings.

Happy Monday!
-Susan

miscellany monday

I'm feeling quite random this morning, so I thought I'd play along.

(1) I need to do better about eating breakfast in a timely manner. I wake up hungry, but the kids get up when I do, so it's difficult to feed myself. A brilliant friend of mine recently told me that if it's five hours after you wake up, it's not really breakfast. Thanks, Gini!

(2) I'm dying to do some sewing. There are many projects I'm anxious to start. Another quilt, a skirt for me, a dress for my niece, another mei tai baby carrier or two. . . Maybe today is the day!

(3) The start of the week always gets me excited about the possibilities. I know most people moan about Monday's, but I don't usually. I'm a SAHM, and I love my job!

(4) The hummingbirds have been reckless and abundant around here lately. If I can ever get a decent picture of them, I'll post it.

(5) Typing is significantly more complicated with a baby in your lap "helping."
I know I'm not alone in this observation.

(6) In a town the size of mine, it's always wise to assume when going to Walmart that you will, in fact, run into about half a dozen people that you both know and haven't seen in 8-25 years. It happens. Often. Ask me how I know. Maybe next time, I'll clean up a bit after housecleaning before Wal-marting.



Have a great week, and don't forget to check out lowercase letters and link up your own random Monday thoughts!



-Susan

Random summer thoughts

There are many ideas for blog posts flitting around in my head like so many dragonflies. I doubt I'll have time to post them very soon.
So, how does a random post suit you?

The weather has been terribly hot here lately. I know many people in many places have hotter weather, but a forecast of 99 degrees with 80%+ humidity is plenty hot for me. Summer is my favorite season, but this is too hot to be any fun.

Unless you're swimming. Which is what we are doing later on this morning. The aforementioned, ever-generous friend has offered again to have the whole gang over to swim. I plan on being back indoors by 11:00 a.m. when the day really starts to heat up!

My baby is going to be one year old this month! I'm in shock! I know, I know, you've all heard how fast the first year flies. BELIEVE IT!

Also in the time-flies category, I can't believe that school is starting again already! Since I don't have any school-aged kids, this really surprised me. Weren't summer vacations pretty long when you were in school? The idea of back to school clothes in 100 degree heat is especially unappealing.

One positive of school starting is that I can now hear the high school band practicing when the wind is right. Mostly, I can just hear the quads, but it still gives me a warm fuzzy to hear them. I think I'm going to take my daughter to our local invitational this year. Anyone know of good hearing protection for three year olds? She loves music and hates loud things!

Does anyone else out there have great memories from being in marching band? Easily, all of my best high school memories involve band or band trips. I may have to break out my saxophone later today, I'm getting so nostalgic. Maybe I won't since the last time I played for Stinkerbaby, she cried.

Well, it's time to start getting the swimming gear together and to have another cup of coffee.

Please post any band memories you care to share.

I'll go first, it was so hot for band camp my freshman year, the tread melted off my tennis shoes from standing on the pavement.
No, I'm not exaggerating.
Good times.

-Susan

A trip to the lake

We spent last weekend in a cottage at the lake with my husband's family. It was a wonderful, relaxing weekend. As you might have already guessed, I took a few pictures. Despite the number of bug photos I have posted on this blog, my favorite thing to photograph are birds.

With every click of the camera, I wished for a digital SLR. Perhaps someday. . .

The Great Blue Heron is one of my favorite birds.

I had never seen a Black-crowned Night-heron before, so I had to include this. Here is an immature night-heron with a Great Blue Heron flying behind. The photo is grainy because it was about 6:15 a.m. on a cloudy morning.

a Herring Gull

This small flock of Canadian Geese was enjoying this quiet cove almost as much as we were.

Having been a birdwatcher as long as I can remember, I'm fairly familiar with the common birds in our area. The same cannot be said for my knowledge of insects. For insect identification, I rely on eNature.

And now for the requisite bug pictures:

This is a Great Blue Skimmer. It is the biggest dragonfly I have ever seen. He was posing on the cottage as we were packing the car to leave.

After the dragonfly left, this butterfly landed right by the car. Despite it not looking like its name sounds, I believe this to be a Red-spotted Purple.

Here you can see the "red" spots on the undersides of the wings. I'd call them orange though.

Here are a few miscellaneous lake pictures.

I just love pretty rocks. I wish I had paid more attention in geology.


Beautiful sunset. Sailboats are so picturesque.

I hope you've enjoyed my lake pictures. I'm already planning another trip soon.

-Susan

Thinking of music

I've been thinking of music a lot lately. Music has always been a huge part of my life, but like many other things, that changed when I had kids. Some of the music I wanted to listen to was, um, not appropriate for children. Sometimes, after all the fussing in the car, I just wanted quiet and didn't want to run the risk of waking my dear child /children. I haven't had a decent audio player for home in many years. And if all that weren't enough, the radio in my car (which already had a broken cd player) stopped working last year. My MP3 player was given to my husband a couple of years ago when his stopped working. I'm not intending to whine, but I miss my music!

I borrowed my mom's car yesterday and got to listen to the radio! It was quite a treat! I do listen to music some on my computer, but many times, Stinkerbaby complains until I turn it off. I know, I'm letting her have her way, but music loses something when there is whining and crying in the background. She can usually get Bonus crying, too. He's so attached to his big sister that he can hardly see her cry without crying, too. Oh, joy!

So, now I'm looking for another MP3 player. I object to iPods due to the proprietary nature of Apple products. But, I have two friends who have ipod Touches who say they are the best thing since sliced bread. One of the main appeals to a Touch is the ability to read one handed in the dark. This would be especially nice since I'm still frequently sitting and nursing for relatively long periods of time. Some of the software available for the iPod sounds good, too. I really like the idea of being able to quickly and easily track my grocery spending.

To further complicate matters, I run Linux Mint, so some players may not work properly. I'm half a mind to forget the reader aspect and get a "straight" MP3 player, like my hubby's Sansa clip which I know will work with Linux.

What kind of player do you have? Do you love it? What about applications for reading books? Or home organization? What other great apps do you have?
What do you think I should get?

All this talk about music has me humming this song. This also a nice tie-in to my bumblebee moth pictures, too. The song is Bee of the Bird of the Moth by They Might Be Giants. It's a favorite of mine and the kids.

For future reference, I will not ever force you to listen to music by having it load when my page loads. Since I find that irritating, I won't subject you, my guests, to that. Even if you happen to like the same music I do, which is pretty unlikely, I don't know if you're at work or nursing a baby to sleep when you visit.

The Fourth of July

I hope everyone had a good Independence Day weekend. We sure did. My little sister came to visit. We visited, watched fireworks, burned a few sparklers and the like, swam, ate, and generally had a good time. Here are some assorted pictures from the weekend.
The beautiful cars and pool belong to a family friend.
Have I mentioned how I love summer?!

Big, pretty red car

Little pretty, red car

Yet another pretty, red car or rather a part thereof

Bonus "swimming"

Another picture courtesy of my sister's underwater camera

The beautiful pool

Our little fireworks display


My yard has been full of butterflies and dragonflies. They are really quick!

Our kitty, Katrina