The Creek

This is a little creek close to my house. I don't know why it caught my eye this morning but it did. I just had to pull over and take a few shots. I think it's the autumn leaves. I love all that color. On one side of the road, the water was running (as in this photo) and on the other side of the road, it was still. This is my favorite season. It's a shame it doesn't last longer.

Tweaking

After church today, I spent the afternoon tweaking photographs. I love to do it but you can sink a LOT of time into this activity by playing around! I get lost in it.

The above is just an amazing look at nature. I was up early one morning photographing spider webs and came up with so many different designs. Some of them look like jewelry to me!

I love to stop and take a close look at the little things.

I Need to Pay Attention More!

I went for kind of a meandering walk today around 10:30 to 11:00 just looking around to see what I could find interesting in our yard. This was the most amazing thing I found, I think. These "pods" were all over the ground underneath our small magnolia tree that is right next to the house.

I was just looking over the magnolia tree and then looked down on the ground and these were everywhere. I've noticed them when they're green and on the tree right before they bloom but never knew they turned like this and fell to the ground. Then I noticed the beautiful red seeds (and some white) in them. I never knew this existed! How interesting and how beautiful!

I'm so happy life is still full of surprises and things to learn. I will start paying attention more!

Amazing Lessons From Nature!

I got so lucky and got this photo of Canada geese flying over our backyard this week because they fly so fast! I notice that they always fly in a V shape and I heard in a sermon, I think, why and had forgotten. So I googled it and this is what I found. What a lesson!!!

Go to theleadership.wordpress.com and type in flying geese v in the search box and be amazed!! One of the most interesting things I've read in a long time. Nature is awesome! God is awesome!

The Beauty of the Rain

It has been raining here for at least two days very heavily. It was much needed rain. Paige and I have been discussing rain. She told me she didn't like rain. I told her I loved rain and she gave me this confused look. I told her that when it rains, I love to go sit on my screened-in porch in the swing and listen to the rain, look at the rain, and smell the rain. I explained to her how all the animals that live outside all the time really need the rain. We talked about how the little birds take baths in the rain, either in a puddle or a bird bath someone has put in their yard. I think her attitude about rain has changed after that. It was fun to talk about it with her and watch her little expressions and eyes and listen to her questions and comments. When I was talking about the little birds taking a bath, I could just see her imagination churning. She was picturing that in her mind. I know it! :)

Anyway, when I went to do something in my laundry room this morning, I caught a view of these raindrops on a shrub just outside the door window and, of course, went and grabbed my camera. I just thought it was beautiful - all that greenery with those beautiful raindrops hanging there. Beauty is everywhere if we'll just take time to look.

Our Beautiful Sunsets!

We enjoy the most beautiful sunsets here. A couple of nights ago, I was in the kitchen working and looked out the back window and saw this. I grabbed my camera with no tripod and took a chance that it would show up in the camera the way it really looked. Sometimes it just turns out too dark but I got lucky this time!

Gosh, this is beautiful!

A Unique Birthday Gift!

This was a unique 60th birthday gift from my husband. After I spotted the two bluebirds in our backyard a while back, he overheard me talking about a bluebird house I bought at a craft show or somewhere many, many years ago and I thought it was stuck up in our garage attic or in the garage somewhere. On the morning of my birthday, he got up before me and put the house on a post and in the ground as a gift to me. Pretty cool gift, don't you think?

In less than 24 hrs. after he did this, those little birds had a nest inside! We were just amazed! We're trying not to touch or disturb it at all but my husband told me today he found a little blue egg on the ground below the house today:( I hope nothing has happened to all of them but I didn't peep in to see.

I love the way the light was shining on the birdhouse late this afternoon. It accentuates the old worn wood in a beautiful way. We'll be keeping an eye on this for a while. I read that they have two to four broods a year!

Instant Bluebirds!!

One of the best gifts I received for my birthday from my husband was labor. He's a very hard worker in general and sometimes I think I take for granted how much he does around here. On the morning of my birthday party, he put a bluebird house we've had in our garage for a long, long time on a post in the area where I spotted the two bluebirds and photographed them. That was yesterday about mid-morning. By noon today, he opened the door and a nest had already been built inside the house!!!

I went to church today and then from there to the hospital to visit my mother without coming home. When I got home this afternoon, he showed me the nest. I just couldn't believe it! What fast little workers they are!

This will be so much fun to watch but at the same time, I think we'll both be nervous about the predators. We don't want a cat or sparrow or anything else to get our little bluebirds. I would love to watch little baby birds, especially baby bluebirds, playing around here!

My Version of The Mad Bluebird!

Today was my lucky day. I rode my bike this morning and when I was putting my bike back in the garage, I noticed a couple of what I thought were bluebirds flying around in our backyard. So I ran inside and got binoculars to check it out. I was fairly sure that's what they were and when I told my husband, he said, yes, he had been seeing them back there, too, lately. So then I ran back in and got my camera, put the telephoto lens on and went outside and just sat and waited on the back of my husband's tractor. I waited and waited and finally here they came just flying around and playing. It was almost as if they were teasing me.

Finally, one of the birds kept landing in different locations and I got 20+ "poses" from him/her. There were two of them and I wonder if they were a couple. I say poses because he/she acted like he/she was posing for me when I got my camera out. It was very comical and delightful! In fact, it was the highlight of my day today (besides getting to see my daughter and granddaughter:)

If you haven't heard of the famous photograph The Mad Bluebird, go here to read all about the story behind it and see the very cute photograph. I think it's my favorite photo of all time and a great story! **Make sure you keep scrolling down on the mad bluebird website to read the story behind the photograph. It's very interesting!**

You Can Always Spot A Lady!

Just a shot I got today of a ladybug. Don't you just LOVE ladybugs? They are so pretty! Had to get on my tummy to get this shot. My hubby asked me if I checked myself for ticks! ha!

Interesting Find

Today was a golfing day with Paw Paw and Paige. We came to one area of the golf course where they had cut down a huge dead tree and had not carried off the tree yet. Paige wanted to go climb on the tree and I went with her. When we got there, we found this huge piece of bark from the tree that had these ferns growing in the bark along with moss. I just thought it was beautiful and decided to bring it home and place it in our little flower garden, surround it with some rich soil and see if it will take hold and grow. Just an experiment. I love ferns.

Playing in Puddles!

About mid-morning today, I headed outside in my pjs and waterproof shoes and a rain jacket to play in the puddles with my camera!

All this reminded me of when I was a kid and took the time to really look at things like this. Remember seeing reflections of different things in rain puddles or seeing a rainbow in oil on concrete?

The two photos above are reflections of trees in a big puddle on our sidewalk (yes, we do have a sidewalk even though we live in the country! ha!).

I kept splashing around looking for something different and found this reflection of a tire on my husband's tractor reflected in a puddle on the concrete in our carport.

As I walked up to our mailbox, I saw these two cows trying to cross in the flooded waters across the road from our house. They were trying to get to dry land where all the other cows were. It sounded as if the other cows were calling them to come over to dry land!

Also, as I was walking to the mailbox, I came across this cute little fellow, a nice surprise!

I know turtles are supposed to be slow but he was moving pretty fast. Only once did he stand still for my camera. He was going as fast as he could to get away from me. I just love his colors and had to get a photo of him. I wonder where he went and where he is now.

I had a great morning playing in the rain and hope you enjoy my photos!