Best of, Part 3

First were the birds.  Second were the flowers.  Are you waiting with bated breath to see what part 3 will bring? No, I didn’t really think you were, but here’s part 3 anyway!  The critters, of course!  Furry, rather than feathered this time around.

Although they really try my patience when it comes to my bird feeders (I am currently shopping for a new one since they managed to destroy my “squirrel-proof” feeder), squirrels are really rather comical.  I found this one doing quite the acrobatic routine one morning:

For my June photo hunt, I asked for a cow picture as a bonus shot.  I’ve had a thing for cows for a while now.  It may stem back to my days as a milkmaid at Old Sturbridge Village, but that doesn’t really explain my love of Oreo cows:

Teddy and Daphne make fairly regular appearances here on the blog, so here are my favorite shots of them from this year:

Teddy’s hi-key portrait in the snow

My solar-powered golden retriever enjoying a sun beam.

And an animated shot of the two of them showing their doggy love for snow.

I could hardly leave poor Cedric out of the fun, right?  Here he is in a “serious” game of “cat and mouse”!

I still have more to come!  This was Part 3 of my submission for Scott’s assignment: Best Photos of 2011.

Best of, Part 2

You just knew this topic would have to be one of my “best of” posts, didn’t you?  You knew flowers would have to sneak in here, didn’t you?  Because I find flowers to be such an easy, beautiful photo subject, I tried very hard in my narrowing down process to choose shots that I thought were different or unusual in some way, at least for me.  Let me know if you agree.

I remember being really happy with this lilac bud photo – one of the first flower shots of the spring that I took back in April.  The light in the background, as much as I’d like to say I planned it, was a happy accident.

I chose this one because tiny lily of the valley can be a challenge to shoot.  I’ve got a small patch of them that have been growing near the foundation of this house since long before I lived here.  They aren’t showy flowers and they aren’t easy to get at, so I was pleased with how this shot came out.

“Crazy Poppy” made it into my favorites because of the interesting relationship I have with this flower.  Orange is not one of my favorite colors; at the time I bought this perennial, I thought it was red.  Imagine my surprise when it bloomed flaming orange.  I’ve tried to remove it from my garden a couple times – and every time it came back, so I let it be.  Now I look forward to seeing its funny buds (almost perverse looking – really, have a look here!) and cheerful bloom each spring.

The next three photos come from my experience at Big Summer Potluck in Pennsylvania this past July.  While we sat in a rustic barn listening to presentations, I couldn’t take my eyes off the lovely arrangements placed in the windows and the beautiful filtered light coming through.

I also had the chance to photograph perhaps the most unusual flower I’ve ever seen, the lotus:

My daughter Sarah received a bouquet of sunflowers for her birthday this year.  The flowers remind me of her sunny personality.  In the light of a sunny window and reflected in a mirror, this is one of my best flower photos:

This is part 2 of my contribution to Scott’s photo assignment #16.