Ephemeral & birds

I was going to try to pick a favorite spring Ephemeral and I can't. 

They all are.

The Meadow Anenome is a delightful little white flower and in Tainter Land, they are abundant on the DNR land next to Tainter Creek.

In 'Tainter Land' there are 4 roads which are all in this crazy narrow valley. Tainter East, Tainter West, Tainter Hollow, and Tainter Road.

Tainter Land is infamous for its steep valley walls and narrow valleys, it floods often. It is wild and it is ruled by Tainter Creek which is sought after by Trout Fisherman.

I like it because I can find all the spring flowers within 500 yards of parking my car on the DNR land.

All Ephemeral flowers make their appearance and then fade away. I like to try and photograph them each year.

It's a very short drive from my house, so I can get there and back quickly. I know where the flowers come up from years of exploring the public land. I have yet to ever run into another soul while walking there.

The bees were enjoying the flowers with me.

Most of these flowers are almost 4 or 5 inches fall. I thought it would be fun to try a 'shoot through' shot. Shoot Through is a method of shooting through other plants to soften the look of your flower. It took a bit of positioning to do it.

I was so pleased to find Dutchman's Breeches near the parking entrance. Just a few feet from these flowers Trout Lilies were pushing up. I was really excited to see them.

Here is a Trout Lily from the spring of 2020 in Tainter Land --> hiding in the Meadow Anenomes. 

Last year I found them on a hike at the Reserve. 

I had some toys in my bag. I never leave home without some ...

Ned-B is such a thoughtful Droid. He gives Peazy --- PC 4C0, a flower.

While I was out checking the fence line in the meadow, I heard a racket. I used the Merlin app to ID the bird. I was surprised by the beautiful songs of the Brown Thrasher.

The lighting was really quite poor for this, but I took the shots anyway. At one point there were 4 of these birds in this birch tree.

This one flew to the nearby Hickory tree right above me.

This is the third year that I've heard these birds here [they probably have been visiting all the years I've lived here, but three years ago is the first time I paid attention to bird song]. 

I walked down into the woods to look at the fencing I had to put back up this week. I thought I saw a little bird hopping around in the brush and brambles.

And...

so...

I got a shot of it. 

It was pretty camouflaged so I circled it. Still, it is very hard to see!

I think it is a Palm Warbler.

The things you can observe when you sit quietly in the forest!

I found another plant that I'd never noticed before too. Another reason to just sit still and look around. 

Pennsylvania Sedge. Obviously a little grass I've never noticed. It blossoms also!

One more grass to add to my collection of grasses!

More rain is in store for us so that means the fungi and mushrooms may decide to make an appearance this year also.

I hope to find some Hepatica soon too. I saw a couple of Blood Roots emerging and the Virginia Beauties are anxious to show off their beauty too! 

Hello Spring, it is nice to see you.

A little more fun with Droids

Play on the cheap. A week or so ago I made another diorama out of some CPAP trash and used it for my Legos which are tiny. I have a 4" droid made by Kenner that I thought would be fun to make a diorama for also.

What better time to do it when it is 100+ degrees out? 

I gathered a chunk of cardboard that wrapped around some meds in a box and spray painted it slightly, then I glued a hose washer, bottle cap, hair tie, and bit and pieces of random things together. I made a box of of cardboard and pipes out of straws. The mesh in front is from a potato bag that was destined for the trash.

The base was the top of a cardboard box and then I just ripped pieces to make them ragged looking.

As it is presented here on the table, it really doesn't look like much. So I closed the curtains in a way to let in light as I wanted it ....

and took some shots...

this was the result.

I think the process of 'creating' the scene was most of the fun. I just went at it, adding bits and pieces and shading it with colors. I wanted a textured background but not so textured as to take away what was happening in the photo.

One of the things I like about this method is that fact that it is simple and it doesn't have to be Perfect to give one a sense of mood. The other thing that tickled me is that it cost nothing as I had all the items on hand in the trash pile. 

What is also very important here is paying attention to the depth of focus. The items behind the droid and slightly in front shouldn't be in clear focus unless the intent is on highlighting those items.

I lucked out with good light simply by moving curtains. No magic there! The photo was shot for highlight drama. That means it was exposed to bring out the lighter areas and leave the other areas a bit dark.

Of course Peazy can't do all of her work alone. She needs to have her deliveries....

NED-B apparently has volunteered to help.

And there is generally some time during the day for tea...

Even Droids get a break. 

Now if I can get a Droid to do my cooking. 

The weather is finally breaking so I leave my droids and toys and head outside to chase insects and find hiking adventures.

Thank goodness! Oh wait, the Droids will probably come along....

Not Weather

I intended to complain about the heat and humidity again, but decided that we all know what was going on and how nasty it was. I was entertained by the posts on FB regarding the temperatures. 

How many people took photos of the temperature reading in their cars??? Lots! Others took photos of their weather station thingies. One even posted a photo of herself with an outdoor thermometer on a tree. Hmmm.

Well.

Me? I got up early and went to CrossFit. I know. Nuts, right? But it was the coolest part of the second day of the heat dome. It was a rowing and burpee work out. Who doesn't love burpees? 

When I got home I decided to put together my fun little 'story'. 

These are the Kenner toy versions which are not very posable but very suitable for kids [or in my case??? Big kids.] 

They came from another second hand shop a good find for a couple of dollars....

I have taken an instant liking to them. Last week I carried them around on my hikes and adventures so I could look for spontaneous fun with them.

This blue one is called PZ-C4O or Peazy. I looked up what this droid was supposed to be and found out that it was a 'she' droid and she handled communications and other difficult tasks. She seems charming in a way.

I thought she should meet the other Droid I had called NED-B. Or NED for short. Apparently he worked moving shipments and off loading and loading things to ships. He also like to Bonk bad guys on the head. 
What a great Droid!

NED meets Peazy in the forest and hands her an Oak Gall. A romance ensues. I mean come on! Who saw that coming?

I'm going to explain something here. I have a very vivid imagination which I suppose one day will get me into a lot of trouble. At my age, should I have such an imagination? I don't really know.

Imagine me telling my caregiver that I want to play with my Legos or that my stuffed animals on the bed are talking to me. Right? That is when they carry me off to another ward.

~~~

The toys develop their own stories, I rarely have to think up the next progression. It just seemed natural ... that they would become good friends.

And they'd go on hikes...

And spend time quietly together talking about being droids and other droid things like ... well, who knows?

And then this happened...

Hmmm, they seem to be making a story of their own and I just am along for the ride.

Regarding 'play'.

and creativity in older adults---

I see those who are creative with cooking, sewing, knitting, crocheting, baking, drawing, singing, gardening...., just to name a few things. Anything in my mind is better than sitting and channel surfing on the couch. [These activities along with being sociable seem to keep a person younger at heart perhaps??]

I find strange joy in using my imagination in what may be called Childish Play. But my love of photography always leads me to make a story even if it is very short story.

--- It started with Morris and his toys years ago. 

The stories were written for my Grandkids. When they visited, they usually took a walk in the woods with me. On the walks they'd name parts of the forest. The Big Woods, The Big Creek, and so forth. So I revisited our walks with Morris and his toys and let an adventure happen.

The kids loved it and I wrote a few short books about what happened on their walks. The joy of making up the stories stuck with me. I used photos of Morris with his toys. Sometimes it was impossible to get a shot I wanted and sometimes more interesting things happened when Morris did his own thing and didn't follow the script.

In other words, we just let things happen and had a LOT of fun.

When Morris died, I couldn't bring myself to try anything like that again. His toys were dormant, they wouldn't 'speak' to me. 

Give me cast off toys and things seem to happen.

I go with the flow and don't think too hard about it. 
It just happens.

Our adventures were always fun and we never knew what was going to happen!

Enjoy the next few days if the heat has passed!