Did I sleep through February?

It sure felt like I must have today.  As the dogs and I went for our walk today, I’d swear it was late March.  The sun shined in a cloudless sky

that reflected in large puddles

and patches of melting ice

At 45°F in glorious sunshine, I thought I must be taking an early-spring rather than mid-winter walk.  We meandered our favorite path through mud and muck without complaint.

Teddy thought it a fine day for a stroll through the freely flowing stream, while I enjoyed taking this handsome collie profile with sun-sparkly water in the background:

The calendar did indeed say January 28, not March 28 when we arrived home.  If this is Mama Nature’s way of perhaps righting some wrongs of last year, I will take it! Thanks, Mama, for a lovely day!

Back to the Woods

Summer is slipping through our fingers, I’m sad to say.  Although autumn doesn’t officially begin until September 23rd this year, today, Labor Day, often feels like the end of the season.  It didn’t feel like summer was over to Daphne when I took this picture though!  Let me back up a little.

Saturday morning seemed like it was to be one of those delightful days – a nice one for either summer or fall – with wispy clouds, gentle breezes and a high of 80°.  I hadn’t taken the dogs for a walk in the woods for weeks, mostly because the last time we did so,  they came back covered in ticks or the days had started out just too humidly for me to want to make the trek.  I decided we would avoid the tall grasses and hope for the best this time out.

I was rewarded with beautiful sights along our path, looking so different from when Becky and I went out together back in the spring, or even from some of our early summer walks.

The old tractor path we follow was lush and green, forming almost tunnel-like feeling

This field of tall grasses developed a purply-pink color that I don’t remember seeing before – I think it is just this particular type of grass gone to seed.

Wild black-eyed susans,

milkweed,

and goldenrod were in full bloom

Giant dragonflies hovered above the fields, though I struggled to capture them in a photo:

And just for you, Kathy, I even found a mushroom I could consider a little bit beautiful in its pink color:

The dogs and I happily ambled along the paths, a few times turned around by impasses likely created by Irene, but had a thoroughly enjoyable walk.  A small swamp with a running stream across part of our path was a bit larger at this time of the year, after the significant rain we’ve had recently, which gets me back to the picture at the beginning of my post.  The last time I showed this part of our walk, it looked like this:

It was the end of March, and warm for that time of year, but probably at least 20 degrees cooler than this past Saturday.  I didn’t think it was overly warm out, but then I wasn’t wearing a fur coat!

Hope you enjoyed your Labor Day weekend!  Have a wonderful week.

Portrait of a Summer Evening

I don’t have to tell you it is hot.  Seems most of the country has been experiencing a heat wave over the last few days.  Thankfully, at least around here, it seems to be breaking today.  Highs should only be in the upper 80′s and we have a chance for showers throughout the day.  Due to the heat of the day, evening has been the more pleasant time to head outside, and it is a nice time for taking pictures.

The girls came outside for a swim and hand-stand practice:

The day lillies glow in the evening:

One of my dahlias showed a deep red that I have difficulty capturing in the daytime:

The sky was painted with swirly clouds:

And some of my favorite summer creatures came around for a photo session:

Tiger Swallowtail butterfly

Hummingbird moth

and my hummingbird took his evening post.

Daphne says, “I don’t care what you think, Mom, it is still too hot!”

My dog, the cat…

Found in the sunbeam coming through the sliding glass door this morning:

 

 

Picture Winter Day 27

“Give Yourself a Hand”

I’ve had this song stuck in my head while I contemplated today’s photo prompt:

Anyone out there who was a teen of the 80′s like me, might enjoy this little flashback to Jon’s big hair days!

As you may have guessed by now, the topic of today’s prompt is hands: “They can express, gesture, emphasize, communicate. Hands can do and say almost anything. Today, use a hand or hands as the subject of your shot; yours or someone else’s (or both).”

We are home for yet another snow day today, so I took advantage of mid-day sun streaming through my sliding glass door (gee, the light from that door has helped me out quite a bit this month!) to get this picture:

50mm lens, 1/4000 sec, f1.8

Daphne closed her eyes in happiness, enjoying the attention she received.

Connections – Picture Fall, day 20

Observe relationships and capture a connection that makes you happy was the theme of today’s prompt.  This wasn’t a difficult decision for me to make concerning my subject.  Luckily, they complied with a shot that I thought fit today’s prompt perfectly:

Reminds you a little bit of that famous scene from Lady and the Tramp, doesn’t it?

I took about 30 shots in process of finding one to share for today’s prompt.  Not all were well focused, but I thought enough of them were amusing enough to share a little slideshow, especially for dog-loving readers:

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Dog Days

Like everything else this summer, the dog days seem to be early too.  Usually, at least here in New England, the humid, sultry days of  summer show up around the last week of July to the first weeks of August.  For the last few weeks around here, the average temperature  has been human body temperature and the humidity level has been pea soup.

Daphne here shows the average activity level that anyone has been feeling up to performing.  I took advantage of the opportunity to practice focusing on a sedentary object at different zoom levels.

Doesn’t she look soft and fluffy?  I think I’m seeing new levels of clarity with my Rebel buddy.

“It’s getting a little too hot out here, Mom.  Let’s go back inside so I can lay on an air conditioning vent.”

Okay, Daph.  Whatever you think is best.