Prickly One

The only thing soft on this, are the sprays of purple coming off the head of this beast. It is nothing but menacing.

If everything on God's green earth has a purpose, could someone tell me the purpose of the thistle? To be 6' tall and covered in needles? Yikes. While it is visually pleasing, I don't understand the value of thistle. (other than giving me the ability to understand why there are other plants/flowers I like much better.) Does any good come from such a prickly beast?

Canon EOS-10D, iso 1600, lens 105mm, shutter 1/125 sec, aperture f/4.5.

Bumble Bees

My sunflowers are all a buzz right now with Bumble Bees. I pull in nightly and stop to see how many of them are hanging out on the flowers. Tonight I decided I needed a few more photos. They are really quite amazing because they had no care in the world that I was even there. All they wanted was the pollen. I was nothing to them. That's OK since I am not into getting stung. But it was pretty cool to be so close and not be bothered by them.

Flow - RobertHackneyJr

My friend Sam gave me a CD for my birthday by Robert Hackney Jr. Robert was a good friend when I was living in Raleigh, NC. Anyway, I had not talked to him in a few years and did not know that he had ventured off into the musical world. I must say that I am MOST impressed with his first release, FLOW. Very soulful and eclectic. It is the best music that I have heard in quite awhile.
I let a couple friends listen to it and they were also impressed. My electrician even wanted to know how he could order a CD after listening to it while putting in some new lighting.
Roberto, your fans await you! I can't wait till you are playing in a place near me. Kisses...

seeing spots

This morning while getting dressed, I noticed spots in my mirror. When I turned around, I noticed two fawns and the mom munching in my yard. Since they are rather skiddish, I had to photograph thru the window/screen. Had I opened a door or window they would have been GONE. Oh well, they are still enjoyable to see. Only part of the wildlife found around Honey Creek.

Crop Circle

Having to mow approximately 1.5 acres of my 3 acre parcel, I must say, at times I get bored with it.

When I first bought the house and the new mower [3 years ago], I mowed on Turbo Speed thinking it would get done faster. I went thru 3 sets of blades in 3 mowings since I was not familiar with the terrain. My neighbors got a good laugh at me Galloping around the yard on my new Sears Craftsman tractor. I said, why would they put "Full Speed Ahead" on the mower if I was not allowed to use it? At any rate, I now mow at the fastest "safe mowing speed" and get it done in about 2.5 hours. No new blades now. : )
So, this year I decided to cut in a crop circle that planes could see from above. The area I cut the cirlce in is a field of goldenrod which means that in the coming weeks it will be filled with yellow tufts of pollen sure to please. I am thinking about getting a reddish mum plant to place smack dab in the middle of the spiral so it looks like a bullseye. Not that I really want planes shooting at my target in the front "40" [instead of back forty] but visually it would look cool. Now if I can just find a plane that can fly over so I can photograph it from the air. Surely there must be someone offering airplane rides in the greater Grand Rapids area.

Can you recommend a good lens for shooting? 300mm?

oh cana, you're so fine

Ah, my first cana lilly (from the death and dying rack at home depot). It was a good buy and is Oh, so beautiful.
There is just something about the red. Too bad they won't make it thru the Michigan winters.

A Perennial Cana Lilly would be great. : )

Mushroom from Hell?

Ok, last Sunday morning I woke up to see what I thought was a cat sitting in the backyard. That is not too odd as there are a number of cats that wander into my yard to eat the wildlife around the house. However, I noticed that this one was not moving, so I decided to go out and investigate. What I found was a GIANT mushroom that had formed over night. Check out the pics at flicker.

Aug 6 and the Coast Guard Festival

I started out my day with a stop to a friend's garage sale (where he is always selling something). I found a couple nice end tables and a cast iron frying pan. Then I was off to the Fulton Street Farmers Market and Meijer Gardens to photograph some flowers. After all that, I decided it was a perfect day to drive out to Grand Haven for the end of the Coast Guard Festival. I have a few photos from that event. It was fun to people watch. Vacation photos from Burke's Falls coming soon...

The power of wind

After a day at the office and an evening out, I returned home to find my favorite crab apple tree missing a major artery. How sad it was to pull in my driveway and see the crab apple tree with a limb lopped off from the wind just laying there in the island. We had a bit of heavy rain today, but I do not remember the wind or even lightning.

I do not think the weight of the bumper crop of crab apples took it down. However, it's down. So, I wonder if my friend Mark, who likes to operate my chain saw, would be willing to clean up my poor crab apple tree? Or, would it be a job for the professional tree guys?

On a minor note, my lovely welcome flag is now showing it's age after the storm today -- getting pierced by the same pole that supports it.

Poor old welcome flag...

Trip to the zoo

On Saturday, my friend Linda and her 18 mo. old daughter came over for a visit. It was the first time that I had met her daughter & I'm 18 mo. late with the gift. Since I had never been to the John Ball Park Zoo, I thought it would be fun to go to the zoo with Linda & Em.
Em found her shadow for the first time and we saw lots of animals.

It was a nice way to spend a HOT summer day.

The Jelly Fish were mesmerizing.
It would be great to have a tank of these to relax by... A giant rodent.
A Monkey.
two words for this pic. An Afterthought?