Flutterby

...during last weekend's scorching heat wave, this amazing--and huge--Monarch butterfly perched on a leaf near where Nick and I were sitting in his backyard.  The markings are just beautiful in their intricacy and design. What wonders there are in our world, peeps...

Wilderness

...I've badly neglected my photo blog of late--it's been a tough few months--but now, with Summer here, there will be more to photograph and I'll have more time to take the shots...at least in theory.

In the early evening last night whilst out on the front deck, I watched this handsome blue jay land in a tree next to my driveway and survey his domain.  The mountains in the distance look smoky in the heat haze...

Irresistable

...if I was a bee, this beautiful flower would draw me like a hot fudge sundae with extra whipped cream and a big fat cherry on top.  Luscious and mouth-watering and totally alluring: wild Iris growing on the hillside across the road from my house...

First Flower

...it's been over two months since I've posted anything.  The weather has been foggy for most of that time which, for the most part, makes for a very blank canvas.  This morning, however, I found a bright spot of color just emerging from the drab...

Visions

...in the woods next to my house, there's a swing.  It's been hanging in one of the huge oak trees for so long the rope tying the swing to the limb has become one with the tree. In the fog of a dreary Sunday, I saw several things in this shot: a scary book cover; lost childhood; forgotten dreams; poignancy in the passage of time...

Dew

...one of the last roses blooming in the Veterans Rose Garden at the VA complex. The boys and I were wandering through in the early morning yesterday, dew still heavy on the grass, and sprinkled like tiny diamonds across this beautiful rose...

'Shrooms

...while out watering the backyard today, I found a family of mushrooms have begun to sprout under the shade of a large fern.  It made me smile, they looked so much like a family on an adventure, the large one leading while the little ones tag along behind...