My daughter had a friend over, and she brought a small container full of these tiny little swirled paper people. They’re not more than 1-1/2″ tall, and don’t even fit onto my pinki finger. I looked at each one in amazement – little tiny details on so many – a hundred maybe? Some dressed as clowns, some with curly hair (tiny paper, curled and glued) – I don’t know who made them, but I just adore them!

Orange house finches are an oddity around here, I see maybe one a year. According to Cornell, the color variation is due to diet – so he must be eating more beta-carotine. I promised Taba a pic, so here it is!

The elusive Killdeer – they are everywhere, but I can’t manage to get a nice, crisp closeup shot of him! They are so fast.

Surely, you know better than to try passing them on the left.
A well protected gosling.

Gosling siblings.

Male Red Winged Blackbird, on top of a sign located next to the river. How, pray tell, do you park in the rear on a river?

My ideal Red Winged Blackbird shot.
Mama mallard and her babies. Awww.

Another mama and her babies.

I hope you, too, stop to look around. There’s so much to appreciate and enjoy all around us! Yesterday afternoon, I watched a hummingbird flit around my delphinium, saw a shrew hustle into his little hole alongside my garage, and watched a young bunny sit underneath my bird feeders and munch on dinner. A storm blew in and the fresh, clean air swept across my face as a few light raindrops trickled down from the sky. I trimmed my roses while warm rain fell on my back.

If you stop to appreciate these things, you’ll find all of your worries just slip from your mind. It’s hard to be troubled when you’re taking in all that is good around you.

Don’t forget to enter to win a custom portrait in my weekly giveaway!

 

I had to share this – Hubby captured a Praying Mantis for Catybug’s collection, so I had a photo session with him this morning. What an incredible little creature!

I have to tell you a secret, though. I wore my gardening gloves when I was handling him – and when he started heading toward my bare arm, I squealed and got the heebie jeebies. You would have too, man. Those things eat meat. :shudders:

It’s been several days since I’ve updated – I’m still working on the new site and it’s coming along so nicely. I do have a portrait I’ve started too and I’m trying to hold off on posting until I’ve got everything complete and switched over. I hope to launch by Wednesday (or sooner), so keep your eyes peeled this week for a major change!!

I’m behind on my blog visiting, too! Hope you’re doing well, do leave a note and let me know what you’re up to!

If you’re looking for a plant that will attract bumblebees, honey bees and butterflies – this one does it all. My favorite aunt gave me a bit of Sedum from her landscape in the Spring of 2007, and it has quadrupled since I brought it home and put it in the yard. I was surprised last fall to see so many honey bees working on this plant, and this fall it’s gotten even busier! I’ll be splitting this in a couple of weeks and spreading them out more with my Bee Balm.

I am not sure if my butterfly bush has brought the Monarchs to my yard and the Sedum has kept them coming back, but it sure is a beautiful sight to see three of them sitting atop the Sedum. I loved this shot, the dense blushing pink blooms bordering that gorgeous butterfly.

Usually, when Monarchs have landed, they keep their wings tightly closed, and they open and close like a trap door. I managed to capture this one with its wings open, so this is a rare shot for me and I’m loving the paper thin dimension!

It has been a really busy week, to say the least. I’m waiting for a cake to cool right now because this afternoon I’ll be decorating this Monkey cake for my Chickeymonkey’s 7th birthday party tomorrow. I’ve driven hundreds of miles, going to Catybug’s volleyball game (an away game, 150 miles round trip), spent a day with a dear old friend from High School that I haven’t seen in –ummm– several years (here we are), mowed the lawn, went to another Volleyball game lastnight (we won!) and finished up a blog design for EW. All since my last post on Tuesday!

The sunset was beautiful on Tuesday night, I snapped the farm silhouette on the way home, driving on the freeway. When we got to our exit, the sun had completely set and the moon popped up on the horizon, big, bold, and this really wild yellow-orange color. I left the cars & headlights in the photo so you could get a perspective on how low it was and how bright and oddly colored! Is this our harvest moon? I recall it being much more orange. Anyone else catch a glimpse of the moon this week?

The timer just went off, so it’s time for me to whip up a batch of frosting!

Sheep says: Mmmmeh.

 

Barn Owl says: Look eento my eyeeees. You are getting verrrry verrrry sleepy.

 

Gibbon Monkey says: unh. yeah, looking… *yawn*stretch*flops down*

 

Barred Owl says: ZzzzZZZ wootWOOOOooooo ZzzzzZZZZ

 
TGIF!

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This weekend brought me a couple of unique photo ops, for sure. I wanted to try my hand at photographing goldfish, since I was “goldfish sitting”, and the goldfish I sat on (heh!) was actually gold. He’s a squirmy little sucker, and it took a while to figure out exposure settings. While I was scanning through the photos I managed to get that weren’t an orange blur, this one stuck out.

I asked Chickeymonkey this morning how many fish are in the photo. She said “one” – and upon prodding, finally counted three. Did you see them all when you first looked?

We spent our Labor Day at the zoo. It was SO hot, and the critters were really lazing around. The Giraffe’s seemed to be in their element, though, these three struck a pose for me that I couldn’t resist. The tallest did the splits and grabbed up a nice big chunk of grass, and the other two saw an opportunity for a free meal they didn’t have to work for so they stuck their necks out to eat off of the grasses that were trailing down into their reach.

It was a three day weekend, for sure.

How was yours?

This is a black swallowtail, he visited my butterfly bush yesterday afternoon.

What’s more perfect than a perfect Butterfly
fluttering around a Butterfly Bush on a sunny afternoon?
I couldn’t pick just one photo, so here’s a bunch. Enjoy.
(this is a Western Tiger Swallowtail.)

**Photographer’s Favorite**

Catybug planted our sunflowers this year, this is one from a variety blend of seeds. When I looked up at it (it’s about 10 foot tall) it was just glowing from the sun behind it.

I planted Lantana again this year because last year it grew into nice sized bushes that the swallowtails really loved. It’s a little measly thing this year, but still has pretty blooms that are definitely worth a view through the lens.

A friend of ours brought over a bird yesterday not knowing what it was, just that it seemed pretty friendly and that maybe it was a domestic bird. I opened up the box to find this fledgling robin. We immediately set to digging in the backyard to find some fresh worms, and Catybug enjoyed mothering this little fella until dark, when we sent him on his way (with a very full belly). Robins stay with their babies until they can fly, which he can, but he wasn’t doing so well in the hunting for food department.

Pretty calm around us, he just made himself comfortable on the concrete and demanded his dinner.

In anything other than news, I’ve been enjoying a week “off”. Off meaning I’m not working on things for other people, but I’m also not really going anywhere or doing anything spectacular. The girls and I had a nice day of shopping, another day of cleaning and organizing their room, and basically lounging, taking walks, and playing games. This is my summer “vacation”. heh! I’ll be painting next week, so you’ll see a sketch soon.

How have you been?

Okay so I lied. This hand is related. To me, that is.
It’s the hand of someone I love, and it is hurting her.
Anyone know what this is? A fungus? Eczema?

Grooooovy.

Copper, the Little Prince.
Time for tea. He does lift his pinki when he drinks, too.

Our giant sunflowers are blooming.
That bumblebee is the size of a quarter. Okay maybe a nickel.
(Can’t a girl embellish for effect?)

He looks like a scaredy squirrel, doesn’t he?