Turtle Wrestling

More Rain

We've had continuous soaking rainfall and kabooming thunderstorms, one after the other after the other for more than a week now. So when the skies went dark yesterday afternoon I thought, "oh good, just what we need, more rain..." But when the storm moved out it left a nice foggy, mist behind which was kind of nice.

Snap!

Matt and I stopped to chat with a photographer at Heinz yesterday. We're chatting away while this guy sneaks up behind us. I think he was intending to cross the road to the impoundment but our attention stopped his progress. These creatures are amazing. Look at that tail! And LOOK at those claws!! They appeared to be the same length as my fingers. Ouch.

More from Rose Tree

A weed in the corn and another shot of a goldfinch in the sunflowers.

Hummingbirds at Rose Tree Park

Nature is Amazing

Remnants

Yesterday was all about sound. I wish I could capture that in a photo, frogs croaking, cicada's whirring, and sonic boom thunder claps. Darby Creek was back down, tide was out, and the only remnants of Sunday's flood hung in the trees.

Rainy Day

It RAINED yesterday. Pretty much the whole day. We timed a break in the rain (between movies) to get outside and take a (very short) hike. Darby Creek was spilling over it's banks and moving very quickly. The fish were tucked in against the new "bank" staying out of the rapids.

Drawing in the Garden

Lesser Yellow Legs

A Touch of Fall...or Spring

I thought we could sneak in a drawing trip to Longwood Gardens yesterday morning before the storms moved in at 2pm. Only...weather.com let me down. We had to dash through the thunder and lightening to make it back to the car at 11am. We did manage a small walk and Olivia did two drawings. And as you'll see in the photo below, that was about all she had in her.

Waves

Yesterday we drove into New Jersey to check out a new beach. Island Beach State Park turned out to be a great location. I think we can thank trop-icane Emily (not sure the actual status) for some great waves!


They kept rolling in!


The kids were all out to play.


We were a little surprised to discover the water was pretty cold. Somewhere I'd seen that the water temps at the shore were in the 80's. Nope.


But that didn't stop Matt and Olivia from doing their thing. The smudge to the left of Matt is Olivia body surfing.

Out for a walk

Olivia and I spent a few hours at Tyler Arboretum yesterday. She bagged 14 butterflies and I photographed some birds. These are generally compatible activities although...there are also conflict of interest scenarios. For example, I'd been chasing this towhee all over the place trying to get a closer photo only to have Olivia scare him off chasing after a butterfly.

So this is my best shot.


On the other hand, if this little wren had come any closer I would have had to step back to get the shot. I first saw him fly into a pine tree across the path from me. Little did I know that he wanted in to the bird house right behind me. Glad I didn't scare him off his task.


And finally, a colorful shot from the butterfly house. One of Olivia's contributions!

August Days

Alexis Granwell

I spent the afternoon with Alexis Granwell the other day. I got some helpful feedback on my newest piece and then stopped over at her studio. I love her work!! This photo is pulled from her website and shows her two huge paper screens. She's using those to make paper for large prints she'll be making soon. I got to see the plates and I can't wait to see the prints!!

Killdeer

How to Eat Sunflower Seeds

Willow Flycatcher

Cute little willow flycatcher from our hot, sweaty walk around Heinz NWR the other day. We saw several varieties of flycatcher. All seemed to be very active and loving the heat.