Bad Picture of a Butterfly (201/366)

TIME: 11:37 am

PLACE: Front yard
SUBJECT: Eastern Tiger Swallowtails- Papilio glaucus (I think)

*~*~*

I finally saw a butterfly on my $4.99 Aldi butterfly bush I planted last year.

It was very flighty. I had a hard time grabbing a shot.  

This is what I got - it's blurry - but what are you going to do? 

Stormy (179/365)

TIME: 6:14 PM
PLACE: Home
SUBJECT: Rain

Tornado and flash flood warnings.

We had a deluge of rain and high winds.

Dad’s wooden fence didn’t make it through the storm.

Sappy (168/365)

TIME: 8:10 PM
PLACE: Front yard
SUBJECT: Sap

It’s been a bit hot here this week.

The Purple Sand Cherry is leaking sap.

It’s catching the last rays of the sun.

Droopy (140/365)

TIME: 7:58 PM
PLACE: Front yard
SUBJECT: Peonies

This was not a good year for the peonies.

They barely got blooming and it rained.

They look how I feel.

~*~*~*
Happy birthday to Dad!

76 years young!

Puffy Overlord (114/365)

TIME: 7:26 PM
PLACE: Front yard
SUBJECT: Dandelion in seed

Do you think dandelions foresaw how we humans instinctively have a desire to blow on them and in the process, contribute to the reproduction of their species?

Dandelions are our overlords.

Finally Blossoming (113/365)

TIME: 7:24 PM
PLACE: Front yard
SUBJECT: Purple Sand Cherry flower

Spring just might be here.

Finally.

Volunteer (201/365)

Many things grow in the garden that were never sown there.
~Thomas Fuller,Gnomologia, 1732

TIME:  7:26 PM
PLACE: Front yard
SUBJECT: Tomato

We have yet to dismantle the planter that surrounded the Capital Pear tree we had to remove last August.
Now, we have a volunteer tomato plant growing quite nicely there.
Probably the result of a squirrel who stole tomatoes from last year’s garden.

Blades of Grass (125/365)

A blade of grass is always a blade of grass, whether in one country or another.
        Samuel Johnson—Mrs. Piozzi’s Anecdotes of Johnson. P. 100.

TIME: 6:10 PM
PLACE:  Front yard
SUBJECT:  Ornamental grass

We’ve had some warmer weather lately, which has caused my ornamental grasses to really take off.

Flower (173/365)

TIME:  8:02 PM
PLACE:  Front yard
SUBJECT:  Heliopsis “Ballerina”

Deep cleaned the carpet in my Miata and napped today.  This is all I got.

Slender Man (300/366)

TIME:  5:51 PM
PLACE:  Front yard
SUBJECT:  DramaQueen, friends and Slender Man
 
MonkeyBoy had a Halloween dance and decided to go as Slender Man.  Here he is “stalking” DQ and her friends in the front yard.  Creepy.

Withered (201/366)

"Flowers are wilting
My enthusiasm, too
Only weeds survive."

- Gaia Garden

TIME:  6:55 PM
PLACE:  Front yard
SUBJECT:  Black-Eyed Susan

Another picture of a victim of this summer’s excessive heat.  I had planted new perennials under the maple tree this spring – I’m thinking they are not going to make it this year.

The Dry Grass of July (200/366)

Down goeth the grass, soon wrought to withered hay; Ay me alas, ay me alas, that beauty needs must yield And princes pass, as grass doth fade away.

Thomas Proctor (fl. C. 1578), British poet. A Proper Sonnet, How Time Consumeth All Earthly Things (attributed to Proctor) (l. 2-4). . . Oxford Book of Sixteenth Century Verse, The. E. K. Chambers, comp. (1932) Oxford University Press.

TIME:  6:52 PM
PLACE:  Front yard
SUBJECT:  Our lawn

The bad news…the heat and drought conditions have really taken a toll on our (and everybody else’s) lawn.
The good news…HH doesn’t have to mow in this weather.

The Way The Bee Bumbles (193/366)

“Kangaroo and chipmunk
Chipmunk and kangaroo
Ballyhoo and bedbugs
bedbugs and ballyhoo
that's the way the bee bumbles
that's the way the bee bumbles
that's the way the bee bumbles
that's the way the bee bumbles
Bumbles...”

Bedbugs and Ballyhoo. Echo and the Bunnymen perf. “Echo and the Bunnymen” WEA, Sire. London. 1987

TIME:  8:02 PM
PLACE:  Front yard
SUBJECT: Bombus bimaculatus or the twospotted bumblebee

He was on the sedum gathering pollen.  He looks so soft and fuzzy.  I want to hug him and pet him and name him George.  I won’t, because I do believe that he would sting me in a heartbeat.

Night-Light (087/366)

“Dear night-lights, protect my sleeping babes. Burn clear and steadfast tonight.”

Wendy Darling, Hook, Steven Spielberg dir., Amblin Entertainment, TriStar Pictures, 1991.

TIME:  10:41 PM
PLACE:  Front yard
SUBJECT:  Solar yard light

I ran this evening.  5 minutes of running, followed by 3 minutes of walking x 3.  According to my phone, I went 2.11 miles in 27:13 minutes with an average speed of 4.66 mph.  That made a pace of 12:52 minutes/mile and I burned 260 calories.  Yay me. 
~*~*~
Tonight, I decided to try some quick experimenting with some night-time photography.  I like the patterns that our solar lights produce around the flowerbeds.

Cocoon Covering (080/366)

"Seems the caterpillar has emerged from its cocoon as a shark, a shark with a gun for a mouth. Touché."

Mr. Burns, C.E. D’oh, The Simpsons, Season 14, Episode 15, air date: 16 Mar 2003.

TIME:  10:29 PM
PLACE:  Front porch
SUBJECT:  Cocoon

I was trying to take a photo of the moths that were flitting around our front porch light.  I’ve never seen so many, so early in the spring – I guess they are all out due to the unseasonably warm weather we are having.  I was not successful, however.  So, instead, I went with this cocoon hanging on the Purple Sand Cherry.  Don’t know what will be emerging from it…more than likely a moth like the ones I was trying to photograph.

Curlicue (006/366)

“Comedy has to be based on truth. You take the truth and you put a little curlicue at the end.”

Sid Caesar (American, Actor, comedian, writer, musician, b 1922)

TIME: 4:47 PM
PLACE:  Front yard
SUBJECT:  Ornamental grass

We reached a high of 68 degrees here today.  It was beautiful.  I managed to make it outside this afternoon and play around a little bit with my new lens.  Looking at my endeavors, I can see that I need a lot more playing time.  The grass stem was difficult to capture with the warm winds we had.  But I’m not complaining – I can live with the wind if it means having this warm weather during the month of January.

Bourgeois Buffoon or Early Morning Snowman (361/365)

Calvin: “This is my snow sculpture, “Bourgeois Buffoon.” Can you believe my mom rejected my grant application to continue making these?”

Calvin and Hobbes syndicated daily comic strip (1985-1995), by Bill Watterson.

TIME:  8:09 AM
PLACE:  Front yard
SUBJECT:  StellaDella & a very leafy snowman

At 6:30 am, I was awakened by a loud, breathy whisper in my ear of “Mom!!! It snowed!!!!!  Can I go outside and make a snowman?”  Sure, SD, knock yourself out, just use what little snow there is in the front yard as opposed to the fenced in area where the dog does her business, m’kay?  And with that permission given, she went out and created her masterpiece.

Capital Pear In November (326/365)

"November's sky is chill and drear,
November's leaf is red and sear."

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832), “Ettrick Forest in November.”

TIME: 3:49 PM
PLACE:  Front yard
SUBJECT:  Capital Pear tree

Rainy Gray Day
Home. Car. Grade School (2nd grade play). Car. Home. Car. Junior High School (pick up MB for appt). Car. Doctor’s Office. Car. Home. Picture!. Car. Junior High School (basketball games). Car. Home.
Rainy Gray Day

Impressive Wingspan (301/365)

Rex: Mr. Lightyear, now I'm curious... what does a space ranger actually do?
Woody: He's not a space ran-*ger*! He doesn't fight evil or, or... shoot lasers or fly.
Buzz: Excuse me. [Deploys his wings; all exclaim in excitement]
Hamm: Wow. Impressive wingspan. Very good.

Wallace Shawn, Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, & Don Rickles, perf. Toy Story. Dir. John Lasseter. 1995. Pixar Animation Studios.

TIME:  4:59 PM
PLACE:  Front yard
SUBJECT:  StellaDella as a Dragon

Here it is.  My goal was to spend as little as possible on her Halloween costume this year.  Cause in the past I’ve gone way overboard. 

Here is the breakdown:
Cardboard box – free from grocery store
Duct Tape/Spray Paint/felt – on hand
Google eyes – $1.00
Flashlight – $1.00
Cellophane paper – $3.00
Belt for tail – free from thrift store
Umbrella for wings – on hand (it was broken)
Elastic & bias tape for wings – $3.76
Black turtleneck & leggings – $7.00
Total – $15.76

I succeeded.  And I think it turned out pretty awesome-sauce.
(Oh, and way to go Cards - 2011 World Series Champs!)

Crime Scene (271/365

Detective Stella Bonasera: [about the weirdness of the crime] Is it me or is there something really strange about this crime scene?

"The Triangle." CSI: NY. CBS. 10 Dec. 2008. Television

TIME:  6:55 PM
PLACE: Front yard
SUBJECT:  Bird carnage

StellaDella pointed this bunch of feathers out to me.  I’m not exactly sure what kind of bird this is or for that matter, even what part of a bird this is.  In any case, I bet the bird that experienced this little mishap was none too pleased about it.