Spying

I couldn't help myself, lol.

Rosey Macro Monday

City Park was very lively in February but I did find a few pretty roses. They looked even brighter against the winter dull.

Macro Monday is easy to play, snap a macro (or any close-up) photo, post it on your blog and come back here and sign MckLinky. :) MM started on Sept 29, 2008 - THANX to all of you for helping make it such a fun start to the week!

Not sure what these are, some sort of cocoons?

New Orleans City Park

When we visited City Park in February there wasn't much greenery yet but there were plenty of birds. :0) Above you can see an Egret (or Ditch Chicken, lol) and some Ibis.



I think this is a Grebe.



A coot.



Some sort of Louisiana ducks.



A wood duck and some other fellows.







A warbler?







A bluebird.



This fellow tried to hide. :0)





A wonderful fountain!

Big brothers are great!

Playing at the park with the grandkids!

Photos were taken with the cell phone and are straight from the camera.  Post was written on the phone too. Love that app!  Did you know wordpress has an app? :)

Have a seat

Maybe my sense of humor is whacked, but shortly before discovering the turtle (yesterday's post), I came upon this bench.  I found it rather humorous that the path I was walking was mowed, yet the bench was waist high in weeds.

Pretty Poppies

How about a picnic?

Khristiaan Gage

I have been wanting to write about our kids, but with six kids that could be a long post. So, I decided that every Sunday for the next few weeks I will update about one of our kids and where they are and such. It's a new year after all.

Meet Khristiaan Gage, he's our 19 year old, pretty much the middle child. He just left our nest about 8 months ago. He kinda has hat hair in this photo but he reminded us a lot of a young Keanu Reeves. The girl with him is his girlfriend, Ashley and you'll be seeing more of her in a macro Monday soon.

Khris is doing good, he'll still always be my 'Gator'. But he's finding his way out on his own fairly well. He's still working for a temp agency and unfortunately this means his work is sporadic. It seems he works about three weeks a month and he'd really like to find something more permanent but it hasn't happened yet. So far he has worked at a recycling plant, potato processor, and making headlights.  Fingers crossed that he finds something more stable soon. Other than that, you may remember he got cut in July and had 18 stitches, that has healed very well and no more troubles there. He got a tattoo, it's rather large for my taste but he likes it and I guess that's what's important. It goes from his elbow to his wrist and is a version of the statue of liberty that he saw on some band's cover. Overall he's doing good.

While we were shooting the couple in the park we found a love letter. So I placed the note in the foreground for a couple of shots. You can actually read the last paragraph.

When I think of you, your sweet rosy lips and big beautiful smile flash in my mind's eye! I want to hold you in my arms & feel the tenderness of your sensuous lips on mine! I miss your kind voice & touch of your caring hand, Sweet Baby Love! ~ Yours Always ♥ ♥

When we got home from the park I discovered a ladybug on my mums.

This post shows you my four biological children in September 2007, you can see how much they have changed in this short time and Khris' hair was longer then. We took Khris and Ashley to a different area of the same park for the photos this day.

A nice day for a walk

Just a short walk down a path on a nice autumn day. This same path is now being used for cross-country skiing.

First I saw a white-throated sparrow perched on a branch.

A white-breasted nuthatch hiding food in an old woodpecker hole.

I almost stepped on a butterfly, but right before my foot crunched down I noticed him and of course 'snap, snap, snap'. But I was clueless what kind this little flutterer is. Finally, I dug out my butterfly book. I bought the Kaufman Field Guide to Butterflies of North America when I drove to Oshkosh in July to meet Marilyn, but I think of her every time I see it and I hadn't been able to look at it without thinking about the fact that she is no longer here. Damn cancer! I had a hard time making cards for a while too but have pushed through it and decided it was time to open up this book.

So, I have it narrowed down and am pretty sure that it's a Comma. I think it's a Green Comma, but it could be a Hoary or a Gray – I'm no expert, obviously.

When I got home I was happy to find my little shrew out and about. In fact, we have two living here now, one is darker than the other.

And the dark-eyed juncos came back!

Snowy Wisconsin

A few days into October we had a really heavy frost and I snapped a couple of macros.

And although we had some flurries, we didn't get our first real snow – the kind that covers the ground in white and will last until spring thaw – until two months later, December 3rd.

In fact, this is the first year I can remember, since living in Wisconsin, that there wasn't snow covering the ground or falling all around when we went to get our Christmas tree.

Can you tell Brodi is very happy to see the snow?

And Mr Downy doesn't seem to mind the snow either.

Sunday morning, with temperatures warming up to -4 F (yes, negative four degrees!) we bundled ourselves, threw the cameras into the car and set off for the Eau Claire Dells Marathon County Park.

I'm sure you're not surprised to learn that we were the only people at the park.

We walked down the path to the water's edge.

Crossed the bridge.

And Dennis was brave enough to go out on the rocks.

I waited by this bench, I was not brave enough to walk the snow covered rocks.

See Dennis down there? Towards the center. Not sure if he's brave or foolish.

I'm standing up on the path that leads to the rocks. In the summer the place is packed with people and people dive into the water from the rocks. (Dennis is still there)

We walked a portion of the path by water's edge. I was glad for the railing along the stairs. There's lots of leaves under the snow and leaves on top of rock makes for slippery footing.

Believe it or not, I really wasn't cold. I had on a tank top, a long sleeved shirt, a fleece jacket and a lightweight wind breaker. Two pair of the stretchy $1 knit gloves that look like they're for a baby but actually stretch to huge. And pair of thermal bottoms and sweat pants. If I tuck the thermals into my socks and boots then the sweats on the outside of my boots, my feet stay warm and dry. If you think about it that's really not much for a negative temperature day. The only thing that ever got cold at all was my nose and I would breathe into my hand for a bit to warm back up then all was well.

Monday we got close to a foot of new snow. :) It is beautiful!