Blanco, Part V: Family Portrait

Happy 5th Anniversary to Us!

It was yesterday, actually. According to the Chicago Public Library, the traditional 5th is the wood anniversary. I got Hugh a Chinese dragon kite (hm, only just realized it is otherwise symbolic in that I was born in the year of the dragon).

How To Tell You're In Texas

Blanco, Part IV: The Turkey Who Thought She Was a Goose

Strangely, this turkey was hanging around in the river with the geese. We are certain that she was abandoned at birth by her own parents, or more likely orphaned at an early age, and raised by a kindly mother goose with her own brood. Now she knows no life but that on the river.

The more I look at it, though, the less sure I am that it is indeed a turkey. In any case, it's not a goose or duck.

Blanco, Part III: Kingfisher!

These are terrible, terrible photos but I'm so pleased to have gotten them at all. Standing there beside the Blanco River, looking at ducks, I suddenly heard this unearthly screech as something swooped out of the trees on the opposite bank, down the river, and then back again. I aimed and snapped and somehow was somewhat successful! It was not until I viewed the photos onscreen that I was able to see that the bird was a kingfisher. I will never forget its cry; very prehistoric.

Blanco, Part II: Muscovy II

Blanco, Part I: The Muscovy Duck

It was so beautiful on Sunday that Hugh and I decided to drive to Blanco. The river was gorgeous and peaceful and full of activity, people- and otherwise. I had to look up this bird and his kin when we got home to identify them as Muscovy ducks; I'd never seen one before. They are rather bizarre, with their facelining red bumpiness.

At the Rosemary, Part VII: Even Smaller

Above the butterfly is yet a tinier winged creature. This is what I love about being out there looking at nature, with my camera or without it: once you begin to look, once you just take the time to be quiet and still and just THERE for a while, you begin to see how much more there is than you ever thought or saw to begin with.

At the Rosemary, Part VI: A Tiny Butterfly

At the Rosemary, Part V: Other Bug Eats—Bee?

So here was this other bug on the day of all the activity at the rosemary out back. I couldn't identify its prey until I saw the photos, and I believe that my suspicions that the prey is a bee are correct.

But did the predator kill the bee, or is he dining on an already-dead bee? It looks fairly dessicated, but who knows at what point of the process I appeared with my camera? Is the Other Bug an innocent carillon eater, or did it, in fact, kill the bee itself?

At the Rosemary, Part IV: The Cucumber Beetle

Is anyone else fascinated by the fact that the cucumber beetle seems to be encased in green goo?

Moths, Part V

At the Rosemary, Part III: A New Butterfly

Lampshade

At the Rosemary, Part II: The Bee That Flew Into My Ear

Okay, well, chances are that this is not, actually, THE bee that flew into my ear on Saturday; but he is representative of his group.

Moths, Part IV

I can't get better photos than these—it's night, the moths are on reflective glass and plastic, and I am not proficient enough with my alternate camera settings. Ah well. It's early yet, as Moth Season goes...

At the Rosemary, Part I

Moths, Part III

Rescued from the kitchen sink this morning; now ensconced on the paper towel holder, with tiny crest and feather-like wing

Moths, Part II

Flower and Wood

Moths, Part I

Saturday Sky and Radio Tower

Late Mistletoe; Early Bluebonnet

With berries and sans flowers, respectively

The Weathering of the Misshapen Cat

I hadn't gone near the Misshapen Cat (aka The Legal Assistant) in its field for a while until this weekend, and when I did, I noticed that the shellac has worn through and the paint is fading, making a gorgeous effect where one can see the undercoat of yellow (covered up because it was ghastly and wrong) through the red. The accidental so often comes out more interesting than the planned!