Monday, January 31, 2011

Macro Monday





MM3

I love the color green. In the winter, when mostly all I see is brown, tan, and the white of snow, I especially love green. Anything green catches my eye. The following is my entry in Macro Monday.

It's some lovely algae that I found near Honker Lake at Land Between the Lakes.

Algae

More algae


Moss, up close and personal.

Moss and grass

Who doesn't love a moss covered log?

More moss. Ahhh, green!

Yep, more moss!


This is a closer look at the gravel road that led to Honker Lake. This is quite a way from Central Furnace, but there is still abundant slag on the road. While not true green, color is always welcome.


Have a great Monday, and don't forget to stop by Lisa's Chaos.

-Susan

Friday, January 28, 2011

Macro Friday






This week, I had an up-close and personal experience with a male Northern Cardinal. He, like many other birds, was under the impression that he could fly through my living room and into my back yard. Instead, he became acquainted with my window glass. Fortunately, he recovered nicely. Also fortunately, I had the forethought to place him in my left hand leaving my camera hand free.

The following photo is my entry for Macro Friday.

Yes, that's my house and camera reflected in his eye.


His feathers were amazing!








You can where he is still ruffled from his accident.

This is the first one I took.
As you can see from his beak being open, he was still a little shock-y.




Yes, I need to clean the glass when the weather is warmer.
As you can see, I'm not the only birdwatcher in the family.
Katrina is very excited to watch birds.

Now, if I had a camera as cool as my friend, M's, I wouldn't have to wait until birds crashed into the glass to get photographs like this!
As always, click any of the photos for a closer look!
Don't forget to
stop by
blogging from bolivia
to link up your own Macro Friday post!

-Susan

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Birdy Thursday





When I was a kid, my great-grandmother and great-grandfather used to call Slate-Colored Juncos snowbirds. It's a much prettier name, even if it isn't the correct one, ornithologically speaking. They certainly aren't the most spectacular birds to grace my front deck, but they are pretty in their own way.
Yesterday, I caught one in flight with my camera.


Recently, I have had one of my favorite birds visit my deck: Rufus-Sided Towhees. They are much more nervous than most my feeder friends. I finally got a photograph of Mr. Rufus-Sided Towhee yesterday.
His Mrs. was on the deck, too, but I never did get a decent shot.


"Thanks for the seed! See ya!"


Lately, I have had an abundance of White-Throated Sparrows. Yesterday, I traipsed through the woods and saw several of these little guys. I think they are adorable. They have the same method of finding seeds that the towhees and chickens do. They all scratch. In the case of the sparrow and the towhee, they do a sort of
scratch-hop-back thing that's cute.


I realize that these aren't the most amazing photos ever,
but I enjoyed taking them and thought you might enjoy looking.

Have a great rest of your week.

-Susan




Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Snow Day



We got about five inches of snow last night.
As you know, I am not a fan of snow, but a big snow is different. We're snowed in, and there is enough snow to sled and maybe even build a snowman.
Better yet, it's not even super cold. Right now, it's 30 degrees.
Stinkerbaby's very excited about getting to go outside to play.


I snapped this one of my cat, Katrina, watching the birds.

Hope you all are enjoying whatever weather you may have!

-Susan


Monday, January 17, 2011

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.

MM3

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

-Susan




Friday, January 14, 2011

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

Monday, January 10, 2011

Macro Monday



Yes, I really am still alive. I haven't taken any pictures this year. Crazy, right? Well, it's been crazy around here lately, but a good crazy. I've been baking, cooking, having fun with the kids, but not taking any pictures.
So, I had to resort to the archives for this one.



Yep, my hand has dry skin. No doubt about it with this photo.
This was taken on a beautiful, but cold day in November.

Stop by Macro Monday at Lisa's Chaos to see what others have to offer this Monday.


-Susan