Light Hunting & Bugs

 

Charlie followed me on a morning walk but won't go down the road where the Naughty Dog lives. He is a smart guy and doesn't forget things easily. He is probably smarter than I am.

I have to pick him up to go any further down the road. I'd only come to the ridge to hunt down morning light, dew drops, and spider threads.

The oats offered a great place to shoot but to get the light I wanted...

...I needed to walk past the Naughty Dog House. I decided to just go back down into our valley. I'd look in the Winter Paddock. 

There are tons of interesting things to see. 

Charlie was relieved and he hurried ahead of me.

It was another dew filled morning and I wanted to find connections and threads glistening in the morning light.

I don't usually go to the winter pasture as it is a mess of weeds. I know...mow it. True enough. I need a bulldozer first to level it. At present, it is a pasture of weeds, gullies, and rocks. The Dexter Cattle used to keep it clean as a whistle. 
If I could convince my neighbors to add their goats to the pasture I would. I'd even put in extra hot wires and a goat gate.
Oh well.

This was another Long Lens experiment. I should not have been  surprised at how easily I adapted to it. My father only had a long lens on his camera. He let me frame photos with it and pretend to take pictures. He had fun asking me to figure out the exposure and fstop for different situations. One of his mantras was sunny sky--- f11 at 125. 

There I go off on a tangent again.

It took a great deal of work and maneuvering, but I finally got those gossamer threads!

It was still early so I decided to hunt around for more cool things. Our heavy wet dew fall had added just enough moisture to the ground to produce some fungi.

It turned into a great day for hunting insects.

I did this while weeding and dead heading my flowers near the house. I used the macro lens for these shots.

I have waged a little war on the Japanese Beetles. I smack them off my 4 o'clocks into soapy water and watch them drown.

I'm mean aren't I?

I wish the birds would eat these. 

Today it is raining and cooling off. What a delight. The grass will grow and the yard will need mowing.

Well, we needed the rain and the pastures needed to grow!

Charlie and I will be packing for our short adventure this weekend.

Morning in the creek

This world of late...

has left me a bit uninspired.

I turn to the easy stuff.

You know, photography and light.

Hiking and working on pastures, yard, and garden.

I always feel a bit left out of something though. As if I am missing.

Missing what?

It could be the length of time we have closed ourselves off to the outside world.

86 days. But who is counting?

Who wants to see/read the news? I want to write how I feel about it and found myself trying to explain this verbally to Rich last night.

That didn't go well. I was watching peaceful protesters from all around the United States.

I understand that there are so many factors that have bubbled up and over-spilled into our society right now that it is a cauldron of simmering emotions, feelings, and indignation. 

I tried to explain it to him.

And I found myself really not very good at it. 

I know I feel unease inside of me. Some of the same horrified unease I had in 1968 when I watched Martin Luther King, protests, riots, calls for peace and not War. I wasn't sure of what to make of it all then except to know that things were very wrong.

And all that wrong-ness has not really changed. It has just simmered under the surface to pop up here and there.

So I take a walk down to the creek. The day is going to be hot. I walk along in partial darkness looking for some light.

I walk with Charlie up and down a small stretch of the creek exploring it through the view finder.

It takes my mind off this troubled world. It is my escape.

And in turn I look for beautiful things.

There are the rocks...

...and Greens

And..
then
the light
begins to appear through 
the
forest...

And then I begin to feel better. 

Refreshed and renewed.

At least for a bit.

I whistle.

Charlie and I head home.

Morning Lights

Well first there was a pretty nice sunset last night.
It seems that it has been forever since we had sunlight!

This morning it was chilly but I walked out the the Merry Meadow to watch the sun come through the trees and shine down into our little valley.

I was pretty surprised at the amount of moisture in the air and the heavy dew.

I shouldn't have been. It was warm yesterday and the temps cooled off overnight. The morning sun quickly burned off the haze over the forest.

I love it when the trees just start to get their leaves. My husband says it is like fall in the reverse.

And the sun broke through the forest. As you can see, the undergrowth has really spurted up with all the rain we've had. Trimming along the electric fence in the Meadow will be quite the job this year.

The wild apple and cherry trees are starting to bloom. These are very old trees so instead of the wonderful blossoms we used to have years ago where the whole meadow was adorned with flowers...just a few trees have partial areas of blossoms.

The dew was quite heavy as I said and lent a wild reflection of light on all the grasses.

The Yellow Rocket seem to be doing just fine.

Update on 15. Well, she isn't as 'ready to ride' as she was presented to be, but that is no surprise and we always start a new animal out with the basics anyway.

Yesterday afternoon I took time off from other work and worked the curry comb and the shedding blade on the riding mules.

It looked as though someone had shaved a multitude of colored mules!

Today's work?
Fencing the forest pasture for the Dexters.

I do have my work cut out for me!