Macro Friday

Well, once again it's Friday, and, once again, I'm going to play with the big girls and boys. So here's my entry for Macro Friday. Yes, it's another bug.
I'm beginning to see a pattern here.



If you saw yesterday's post, you'll recognize this little guy. He's the Great Blue Skimmer who adorned our cottage at the lake.

Everyone, feel free to link up by clicking above. If I can manage it, I know you can. And check out blogging from bolivia, too.
It's a very cool blog.

Happy Friday, everyone!

-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.

Macro Friday

Well, I had such a good time linking up last week, I thought I'd give it a try again. So, here's my try for this week:


As I was wandering around the yard yesterday, I came across this little guy on my rose bush. I'd never seen a bug like him before, and he was much cooler looking than my picture captures. Very crickety. The leaf he was on was about an inch and a half long. The green on his body was so bright it looked electric!

More bee moth

I thought I'd share the rest of the pictures of the bumblebee moth. I have always liked watching the bumblebee moths in the yard enjoying the bluebells. They are my signal that it's time to put out my hummingbird feeders because when the bee moths are around, so are the hummers.

You can really see how damaged the little guy's wing was in this one.

The cocoon really looked like some sort of stinger, which I'm sure was the point. (Pun intended)


I especially like the detail on his antenna in this one.

I don't know much about editing color or brightness, so these, as with all my photos thus far, are just as they were shot. I have a little Canon PowerShot A570, so I don't have a "real" macro lens, just a macro mode on my point and shoot.
I use GIMP 2.6.8 for my minimal editing.

I hope you enjoy these. I'm enjoying taking them.
I am open to constructive criticism!

Thanks for stopping by!

-Susan

Macro Friday

This is something I have wanted to do for a while. I have been enjoying Courtney's photographs over here at One Mom's Perfect Imperfections, especially her macro shots for Macro Friday. And while I feel inadequate in such company, I thought I'd give it a try, too. So here's my entry for Macro Friday:



It's a bumblebee moth emerging from it's cocoon back in April. It's not supposed to take long for these guys to get out, but this one had a hard time so I had plenty of time to photograph him. Unfortunately, he didn't make it due to a deformed wing, but don't tell my daughter.

Miscellany Monday

This is a first for me. I'm trying to link my random Monday thoughts with others. We'll see how it goes.

(1) I have a lot to learn about blogging. I mean a LOT. This Miscellany Monday is a first step in learning more.

(2) Why is it that baby fingernails feel like puppy claws unless they are trimmed practically daily? Sweet baby, sharp nails.

(3) I have "discovered" a new cloth diaper that I just love! It's like a better made version of my current favorite. I'm dying to order more and talk about it.

(4) Nursing my sweet baby is one of my favorite parts of my day, even when he scratches me.

(5) We have a new dog in our house these days. She's my mom and dad's elderly lab. Even my dogs are second hand.

(6) My dentist is the best. He really is. I just got a reminder call for an appointment. Everyone in his office is great. That's why I am willing to drive an hour and a half to go see him.

Hope you have a happy Monday!

-Susan

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