Fog!

This week gave us a lot of foggy mornings. When the dew point is high, the humidity is high, and the when the overnight temperatures cool off we get...awesome fog. 

The Super Duper Full Moon
I didn't get to photograph it 

as it came up.

This was at 4am.

 

Olive's place, they are 

building a

Log Henge next to 

their greenhouse.

Lots and lots of foggy sun rays. I guess that is one of the reasons I love living in this hilly area with deep rivers and valleys.

Meanwhile around the gardens the Swallowtails are going nuts!

This heat and humidity last week got to me. I even manage to pull muscles in my back using the scythe to clear some weeds. So I spent time reading and thinking of creative things to do.

You know me.

That means that toys were involved...

Stay tuned...

Flutterbies and bugs

Last year I planted petunias and verbenas in the annual garden by the kitchen window. It looked great, but I noticed that the butterflies and bees preferred the Zinnias further away from my house down in the veggie garden.

So this year I took seeds that I'd gathered last year and seeds from Aurora and tossed 4 O'clocks and Zinnias in my small annual garden.

You will notice some Marigolds mixed in and those were all leftover seeds from the year before. I picked up the seeds that had fallen on the ground and poked a few here and there.

What a surprise my willy nilly casting of seeds gave me this year.

I think the butterfly below is a Black Swallow Tail! I've learned patience this year. A LOT of patience!

To get a bright back lit photo of a butterfly takes a ton of patience and waiting. 

The butterflies like to hit up the flowers when it is warm and sunny, then all of the insects are going crazy in a sense.

I even planted 3 sunflowers within close proximity of the house. In years past, Rich would complain about the sunflowers blocking his view of the driveway. I made sure that he could see the driveway, but also see the sunflowers.

This year he stands at the kitchen sink window and gives me a commentary on what is happening in the flower garden.

I planted sunflowers over a few different weeks in hopes of having more blooming time. The insects and the Goldfinches have been having a hay day with those huge flowers.

And there are all sorts of secret things hiding in the Marigolds. Crab spiders love hiding between the petals of a Zinnia or Marigold to wait for an unsuspecting 'meal' to come along.

The bees, butterflies, and spiders are all having a blast in my tiny garden. 

I'm collecting seeds from the 'Wildflower' Garden I planted in another section of the yard. I recognize the Bachelor's Buttons, the Marigolds, and some of the others, but some flowers evade ID. I think they are pretty, so I am gathering their seeds to toss in another section of the yard that I mow [hubby won't mow it over then!] next year.

I'm fairly sure that I will surely miss this riot of color after the first frost this year.

The flowers have brought me a lot of joy this year, as well as practicing with my camera.

I planted Nasturtiums because my friend in Alabama says these were her absolutley MOST-est favorite flower when she resided in the North. She says they do not survive the intense heat of the far south.

They were not always my favorite flower, however, I am reconsidering them as they have added beautiful mounds of brilliant color around my porch where the ground cover was sparse.

Apparently they too, attract spiders!

The humming birds are still either here or passing through. They are all over the 4 O'clocks in the early morning and early evenings.

I'm pretty lucky to have all this activity just outside my door.

Learning new tricks

This time with the camera. Well, I have used the Sequence shooting before, but never thought to do this.

And I really wonder why. It is such a delightful way to present a photo. It involves a bit of knowledge of layers and editing, with modern programs it is much easier to do than ages ago.

I did this handheld because I happened to be walking outside with camera in hand while peering at the flowers. I wanted to see if any other butterflies showed up other than the Swallow Tail.

The result was the same butterfly in flight in two stages.

That was fun to try so I tried it a few more times. Several times I noticed a lot of activity around the Zinnias so I grabbed the camera and kept trying to catch something amazing.

Below is an example of how the shots look as I start to put them together. These were shot at 1/2000 of a second in rapid fire. The butterfly moved quickly but overlapped itself in subsequent shots. 

I thought it would be a good learning experience to try and merge 4 shots of the same butterfly.

It was work but in doing so, I understand a bit better as to how the Swallow Tails move.

A Monarch showed up later in the day by the Zinnias and I had to wait for it to settle down. I took a series of it and was disappointed in that it just fluttered and hovered over the same flower while a Swallow Tail did a Photobomb!

This one of the Clearwing Hummingbird Moth was probably the most frustrating of all. These little fellows move like lightening. Getting them in focus as they move? Almost impossible. But I tried.

My last attempt at a series was a humming bird. They are one of the most challenging birds to 'catch'.

This female did a lot of hovering and each shot had a different wing position, however they would have been piled right on top of each other. So I found two shots that I could merge like this:

There was another shot I wanted to include that had her with her wings folded forward. 

Photography is such an amazing way to observe these beautiful creatures.

I think I learn so much from observing and photographing them. 

I do the same thing with insects, flowers, trees, and fungi. If it makes me curious, I have to study it through the camera.

That said, birds are beginning to migrate. The Orioles have been gone for a few weeks, the sound of Robins has diminished, the Bluebirds headed out in mid July, the red wing blackbirds are few and far between...and the Wrens are still here, but quieter.
I will miss the Wrens more than any other bird. 

Soon enough the trees will start to show that they are tired and ready for their rest. 

Flying Things

I have only seen about 3 Monarchs so far this year, but the Swallow Tail Butterflies have been very busy!

This patch of purple bee balm has been the HOT spot.

On these hot afternoons I sit in the shade on the north stoop and watch the activity.

In May I used good old compost dirt to fill in a dip in the yard. It took a few loads of BS dirt to make a nice spot.
I then planted sunflowers and spread packets of wildflower seeds and stomped it down. 
It has produced beautiful little flowers as well as the bachelor buttons and others that I can't identify.

Below is a 'magic' shot. I use ProCapture shooting [on a tripod] to catch the butterfly on the right landing. I merged two photos to get the sequence.

I got braver and thought I'd try it with the one Swallow Trail. The result is not perfect, however it was a fun challenge to do. Edited in ON1 Photo because I won't be a slave to Photoshop's rental.

The downside of shooting like that is getting a TON of photos to sort through which include a lot of misses. 

The ProCapture feature is really cool. When you press the shutter half way down, it starts to cycle when you hold the shutter down it saves the previous 10 shots [or whatever you program it to] and then up to 70 shots [I programed mine to a mere 5] of when you release the shutter.

So you have pre shots, and after shots to go through. As well as those taken while you held down the shutter.

However, it seems to be a great way to 'shoot' unexpected action.

The downside again, is having to go through those shots. However, I can see this as fantastic for trying to catch birds, butterflies, and equine running? I can also use the other two sequential modes for fast action. 
I'm still experimenting.

The butterflies and other insects move so fast, it is nearly impossible to time it with my slow finger on the shutter.

I used low sequential for these two shots. The Clearwing Hummingbird Moth was so exciting to see! Not only that, I got it with a bumble bee on the opposite side of the flower with both in midflight.

I spent over an hour by the back step watching these incredible insects fly about. 

I'm learning to be patient and observe things. This is something that was very hard for me to do.

However the intense heat and humidity actually helped me sit tight and watch from the shade.

And finally, my patience paid off with the spotting of a Monarch.

Night sky, stars, storms, and bugs

This was one of those amazing sunsets that just goes on and on and on.

There is something beautiful about just watching amazing colors to start or end a day.

I know I once said that I didn't use tons of extra planning and preparing for taking photos. I was an off the cuff type of person.

However, just lately with the partial lunar eclipse a bit ago and then with the upcoming June 10th partial solar eclipse, I started to do some serious homework!

One bit of that homework was to learn how to use the camera I have to the best of its abilities. I have a decent lens for night work and I figured out how to get the stars in focus with both 'Focus Assist' and the Starry Sky feature on my M5.

I intended to go out to the pasture to do some practicing and I if nothing else 'shoot' some lightening bugs.

The photos above are a bit dark [duh, it is night!], but if you click on them I think you can see them larger and with a bit more detail.

I realized there was a storm cell off to the east and the lightening bugs were everywhere. So I decided to try something a bit wild. 

My first try was a mistake. I must have bumped the camera or tripod while it was shooting its LiveComp.

I wanted to show the mistake. Did I touch the camera? I don't recall, but the effect was certainly dizzing!

 So I decided to 'do' it over and I hoped that the storm would still do its magic.

The first one is a 15 minute star trail. It's okay, but dang soo much is going on!

So I tried another and then just shut it down after about 7 or 8 minutes and I liked it much better. Odd how two shots of nearly the same area just minutes from each other are differently colored. I think there was more lightening going on with this second shot.

So what was the whole point? 

I guess practice.

So that was the practice part. Scouting and planning for trying to photograph the partial solar eclipse was the next step.

So I leave you with a pretty photo I shot of a Swallow Tail I tried to chase in my flowers. It looks like the verbena is a huge attractor!

Hot Summer Afternoon, Butterflies and Bees

Hot and Humid.
Humid
Icky.
Give me winter!

Okay I don't want winter. I had yard work to do yesterday, I wanted to run the trimmer and do a bunch of trimming. But the humidity was at 100% and the air was a bit stifling.
So I passed on the trimming and push mowing.

I had town errands to do so I did those instead and then when I got back I decided to take some time to just sit on the couch in the A/C and read a book. I know what happens when I sit down to read a book.
I fall asleep.
Charlie helped with that.

He showed me the finer points of napping during the day.

Even with the heat of the day, some chores still have to get done. I went out and did the stock tanks, filling them with fresh water and checked on all the animals. They seemed fine and had found nice places under trees on the hill to relax and catch any slight breeze that came their way. They all looked sleepy with tails swishing at the pesky flies.

I checked the garden. The peas and the green beans needed picking. It wasn't going to happen in this heat. Perhaps early in the morning or late in the evening. But certainly not during the hottest part of the day.

I set up the fan on the porch and decided to finish up a project I'd started at the start of summer. I brought out my camera too. The butterflies and bees were busy with my porch flowers so I hoped to 'catch' a butterfly with the camera. They always bring a smile to my face when I look back on the photos in the dead of winter!

The butterflies must have known!

I think this is a swallowtail butterfly. For whatever reason, they really liked my marigolds. This one hovered around for a long time.

The sunflowers on the porch and east garden were humming with bees. I found that interesting as I figured bees only visited sweet smelling flowers. See? Little do I know!

This insect was on my Malva. I don't know what it is, but it was pretty!

Charlie was not impressed.

He laid in the sun until he was panting and then moved onto a rug on the porch and did his thing.

And I painted...on a skull.

The beans would wait one more day and then I'd just have to sort the overripe ones from the others. I think I have enough beans now to last through the winter and through most of next summer with quite a bit to spare.

I'll see if my neighbor would like any more and then I may just be done with them as the sweet corn is about to burst in on the scene. I will save seeds from the beans though. These plants this year really produced well.

The hummingbirds came to visit while I was daydreaming about cooler days.

There he/she is darting through the cosmos to swoop down on a Zinnia.

And I figured my lazy day was done.
I went in the house and tried to make beet pickles.
I'm not sure how they will come out.

I just did refrigerator pickles as I didn't want to process them in a boiling water bath with the A/C on.