Showing posts with label macro. Show all posts
Showing posts with label macro. Show all posts



§ Around South Texas...



Reflections on a Pond


Two special critters
So near and dear to me...



Tahoe -aka Pretty Kitty ...........................................& ............................... Winston -aka Winnie the Poo



Macro Settings...


Inside my Shell Apothecary Jar - a mini Fisherman  and Shells [ID - sundial]


Blown Glass Windchime and Resin Mini Great Blue Heron



§ Reflections of Springtime in Texas!


Awwwwww, Spring! Nothing could be finer. Well, maybe Autumn. But that is a close 2nd when it comes to welcoming the newness and awakening of a new, fresh season. The deep blue skies, the new births everywhere...be they animals or crops 'springing' up in the rich, black soil around here. The cotton plants are nearly 6 inches in height already in the fields!! Or maybe some newly hatched chicks or the bird life all around busying themselves; building new homes. It's such a glorious time of year. On our short daytime excursions here and there, I am seeing all kinds of 'new' delights that refreshes and brightens my day. I went 'shopping' for photo opportunities from fences, macros, beautiful Spring skies with a threat of Spring rains or a deep indigo with happy clouds, Spring colors of yellow and green. Oh and anything newborn. I found all I was shopping for and share. Wanna come along?...

Reflection of a Snowy Egret
A beautiful sky!
A couple of NEWBORNS
"Auntie Santa Gertrudis and Nephew Calf"  Her calf is hidden behind Nephew
Mama & Baby Girl
Closeup of Redhead Ducks & a Blue Winged Teal
Pond from Rainwater
Prairie Wildflowers
Multiple Fencing
Ranch & Fencing...Pond & Northern Shoveler Ducks in Flight







...and we didn't have to leave home to find more Springtime Goodies. In fact, in our own back yard. Coming to a post soon...




JUST SOME RANDOMS:


ONE: “And the Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast
Rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.”
Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Complete Poems


TWO: If you have Windows 8 version...or later [I think there is a Windows 8.1] and you like the program but detest the "Charms Bar" when you move your mouse over to the far right side of your window monitor...I finally figured out a "fix" to rid myself of the annoyance. LOL

Here's how:

Right click on the taskbar [the active bar that is at the bottom of your window...the bar that has the date, time, volume, etc ---
Find Properties. Click on Properties. When that opens, click on the "Navigation" Tab. You'll then read "Corner Navigation". Scroll down just below 'corner navigation' and check the radio button "When I point to the upper right hand corner, show me the Charms Bar." Once that is checked, click "Apply" and then "Okay". Done. Simple. And no need to mess with the registry!!!



No more charms sliding in if you move your mouse around. Except when you WANT it...clicking on the upper right hand corner of your monitor.

THREE: My recent read is entitled Holy Fools; of which I'm about half way through. Written by Joanne Harris who also wrote a good story and made into a movie:  "Chocolat". Her words flow so easily and the storyline is light with a bit of mystery and charm of a world between a carnival act, a love affair, and a gal who bore a child out of wedlock to end up hiding out in an abbey in the 1600s. All the twist and turns in her young adulthood and the man she once adored comes to life with a longing to not put the book down so the pages keep turning. For her, and the leading man, it's a love/hate relationship that, for now, reveals much turmoil and high emotions.

FOUR: Wednesday last I had a follow-up appointment with my cardiologist. I will schedule an appointment with the ER surgeon in three months following my doctor's request/suggestion. The EKG performed this past week showed well. There have been no complications and I feel good. Exercise is still limited, travel should continue to be short trips...no flights for now. But, after the 3 month visit I should get a 'go ahead' with life as normal as possible....if all goes as well as this past month.

FIVE: Soon, the sound of the cracking!! Contact between the ball from the pitcher's mound to the home plate!! Baseball season. I love baseball.



§ Wild Pink Yonder...


1] Pink/Red Sky in the Morning...


2] Have y'all heard the WEA cell phone emergency alert? We did, again, this past week.  It is like what you hear in old movies with the air raid siren going off? Y'know what I'm talking about, right? Well, the WEA [wireless emergency alert] has been amalgamated within the cellphones of reputable companies and part of the warning signals if necessary by our governments [local and national]. It was raining cats and dogs one day here and just didn't stop. At times, the downpour was very heavy and visibility was nearly nil! Water was collecting in the gutters around our home and the force and amount was flooding the streets and moving up the sidewalks and on to our yards. The WEA rings...then, immediately followed by a text message. Got me to thinking.........ya, it hurt.....but I was wondering just what it sounded like in a big, public, place like the mall where everyone has their phones turned on. Y'know? Or where y'all work...a big company, all phones on the employees desks...and then, all of a sudden, the Alert goes off!!??  We've had an Amber Alert a little over a year ago, but I don't recall our phones 'going off' on an alert tangent like this time.  Guess since I was concerned for our home being flooded;  I paid more attention. And on one of my phone app, we had several days and nights' warnings going off with the high tide coming in and the swells out in the Gulf creating the high tide to be even MORE- flooding the beaches to the DUNES....no camping; and beach access roads closed.

3] England is expecting [more so William and Kate] another royal heir!! News states they have a girl's name picked...Elizabeth Diana Windsor. This has a beautiful ring to it! I like it. Thing is, I hope if it is a girl, they don't call her by a shortened version - Princess Di. That seems a bad thing [not being disrespectful of Diana Spencer, just a bad omen from the past tragedy.] I'm sure tho, that the 2nd heir will be beautiful...look what genes she [he] will have. That Prince George is a doll. His sister or brother will be the same without a doubt.

4] Dragonfly Porn...



5] Mentioning again....I have set up a linking party for your Holiday Home Showcase for Autumn. I will add a link after I post my first one, here, sometime this weekend. All about Spiders and Creepy. It's such a fun time of year for me. If you care to share, or check it out, look just below my blog header. Then, click on the linked graphic.

linking to: Willy Nilly Friday 5 - Skywatch Friday - Camera Critters - Saturday Critters - I ♥ Macro




§ ...click your heels together three times and...


We're back home...I've been working on a few posts including photos to ready for this upcoming week, while unpacking and doing laundry, collecting mail and sorting that out...things like that, I realized this morning, after a couple of days this past week with horrendous traffic to contend with [metro population of the McAllen-Reynosa area of birding on the last part of our trip being 1.5 million], and then the Brownsville, Harlingen area... that there really is...

...no place like home!!!

Here are some of the calming effects of yesterday I saw in our yard---



...came home to our front and back yards filled with buds & blooms!!






§ They Call Me Mellow Yellow....


WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY & NATURE NOTES:  Tho it seems like Winter is just 'round the corner for everyone in the northern parts of the states....it's still summer-like here. Ya, we've had a couple of 'cold snaps' weather-wise [lows in the high 40s], but it has warmed up quite a bit. Sunday past, in fact, it was close to 90 degrees.  I'll take the HOT any ol' time instead of icy roads, snowy landscape, shoveling...getting the snow blower out, driving with maniacs that don't have the sense to slow down on snow packed roads...you name it. Admittedly the snowy landscapes of my 'home state', Colorado, are gorgeous, I called Colorado home for over 40 years, but now it's time to enjoy some sub-tropical winters!!!  Wildflowers are still blooming in the fields and parks wherever we roam. Some flowers, hibiscus, lantana, bird of paradise, and that funny named plant [Ixora]...of which I can never remember are blooming in the back yard...along with plant nurseries bringing out the bedding plants that most people plant in Spring. The likes of pansies, impatiens, etc.   Of course poinsettias will soon be on the plant stands.

These photos I share below are some taken recently on our bird walks. Along with two birds seen - Female Baltimore Oriole and either Eastern or Western Meadowlark [they're far too similar for me to decipher which is which]. When I saw the meadowlark through the viewfinder on the camera, I thought it was a dickcissel [which is nearly identical to the meadowlark]...but when I uploaded it to the computer and saw the size and shape of the beak, I then knew it was a meadowlark. Both bird images were taken at Paradise Pond in Port Aransas, Texas....on Mustang Island.




HODGEPODGE - hosted by Joyce

1. What lesson has failure taught you? Like Scarlet O'Hara says: "Tomorrow's another day!"

2. What decision are you glad you made? To retire early. And enjoy the coastal waters in our 'golden years'.

3. I've been a little bit surprised to see fully lit and decorated Christmas trees popping up for the past several weeks in friend's Instagram feeds. So tell the truth-is your tree up and decorated, and if so when did that happen? If not, when will you be decking the halls? Our tradition for over 40 years was to put the tree up and decorate it while the Thanksgiving Turkey is roasting. But, lately, it's being decorated whenever the urge hits....and no, it's not up and decorated yet. By the way, by 'up' I mean an artificial tree.

4. Solitaire-Poker-Rummy-Hearts-Go Fish-Old Maid...which game of cards would you most like to join? My favorites are UNO, Hearts, and Pinochle.

5. This question comes to you courtesy of a Facebook friend, who once upon a time had a blog...When you're feeling stressed do you snack a lot or are you more the 'can't eat' type? Rarely do I have the urge to eat/snack when stressed. But, these days, thankfully....no stress.

6. Have you ever reviewed a product or service on line? Was your review favorable or less than favorable? I've reviewed several...not only online, but through newspaper editorial comments I've written. And magazines. Also, both negative and positive reviews, I've done.

7. What was the best conversation you had yesterday? "Just one more box, and we're done!" Meaning, we took EVERYTHING in storage from the garage, organized, tossed, swept...and rearranged. It's been a chore that I've been wanting to accomplish for a couple of years now and just never got the mojo working 'til yesterday. I was happy to have it cleaned out, and happy to BE DONE. The whole job of work took the two of us nearly 10 hours!!!

8. Insert your own random thought here. Speaking of yesterday, in the early morning hours, still dark o'thirty...we had thick fog outdoors...How I LOVE FOG:


[photo courtesy of local news]

connecting to:
Wild Bird Wednesday, Hodgepodge, Nature Notes



§ Pollywog Ponds


Everyone who follows me knows my 'infatuation' for the program seen weekly on Tuesday evening...the new season began last week, with the premiere episode entitled Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Now if you're into chat room talk, you realize when you see LOL what it means, right? Laughing Out Loud of course. Being a sibling, wife, and mother of military personnel, the phonetic alphabet is used often around here. So, part of the learning of the alphabet [used in radio/communications for clarity] Whiskey stands for the letter "W"....Tango stands for "T"...and Foxtrot stands for "F". In other words the series premiere of NCIS was WTF [chat room talk anyone?]. rofl

We watched the premiere episode of NCIS online, and tho Bud seemed to enjoy it more than I, I was left anticipating Tony in his beard searching and finding Ziva! LOL BUT!!!---who do you think Gibbs is aiming his sniper rifle at? I'm guessing Parsons. Maybe next week, I'll find out if my hunch is good. :o)


Well, we spent the entire last two days unpacking Halloween witches, and packing away all the 'normal' trinkets and pillows, etc.... away for the upcoming season. We decorated only the dining room and living room this year. That's enough. I've purchased a total of eight [I believe, I lost count] new witches. Mostly from Tuesday Morning. And I name 'em. I make small name tags and hide them underneath their dresses/costumes. Some of  the newest group I named...see if you get the theme here: Maggee [as in Maggie], Toni [Tony], Abigail, Donni [Donald], Elle Jae [L. J. Gibbs], Zeevah [alternate spelling of Ziva which means bright/shining in Hebrew], and Leona [Leon]...the eighth one, Tovia [female version of Tobias].

Since that is out of the way, I would like to share a short walk around Pollywog Ponds with you; the trees, the ponds, the river, the fisherman, the wildlife, the deep blue sky and the diamond topped lake in the warm Autumn sunshine....


Green Heron - in BOTH pictures!


One of the ponds sparkling...and a tree top laden with yellow berries


One of the ponds...and the backside; the Nueces River with a fisherman/boat


Dragonfly and two American Coots on the pond [enlarge this image and you can spot THREE more dragonflies]


Tri colored Heron preening on the bank...and a distant hawk above the treetops!




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