Dragonfly du jour

I've had these photos for almost a month now so I thought I'd finally post them. And I'd like to thank Eve from Sunny Side Up for the identification on three of them!

Band-winged Meadowhawk in repose with wings forward

It seems like a fairly common dragonfly. I see them all the time and it's not very exciting looking. Still, it's a thrill to get so close and not have it fly away!

Blue Dasher

I don't know about you but I could swear Dragonflies smile!

Halloween Pennant



Love 'em! The colors are so cool!

Twelve Spotted Skimmer

Quite the handsome devil with the black and white outfit.

All of these were taken at a local Blueberry farm. They have a pond in which the dragonflies to reproduce in so they were swarming all over the place. I know there were more varieties than what I have here but it was a warm day and I'd hung around long enough. Aren't they awesome though!

Want to see more? Head on over to Steve's blog, Shooting My Universe. He has a much better variety than I do!

6:15 AM: See what you missed?

In all honesty, I've been sleeping in myself lately ... until almost 7! All that will be changing soon with the return of school.

My daughters car is being repaired so I've been taking her to and from work this week. One particular morning this week, when she had to be there at 6, I realized I had forgotten my camera after we walked out the door. Something you definitely don't want to do when the sun is about to come up!

Sure enough, the sun was a hot, brilliant orange, and I was thinking about what I sort of magic I could perform with my iphone! LOL! Anyway, I stopped at home, grabbed the camera, and found this wonderful field of Queen Annes Lace with the sun coming up in the background. Just as I was about to leave a Monarch flew down amongst the flowers.

Thank you Monarch for making my day : )

Lupines, soldiers, a dragon, and a snapper!

Yesterday I stopped in at the local Blueberry farm to grab a couple quick shots of the once regal garden before the flowers are gone for good. Better late then never!

The Lupines have pretty much gone to seed here in the NH seacoast

In the garden was this beautiful Dragonfly, though I have no idea what kind. Can anyone ID it for me?

*Steve informs me this is a female Widow Skimmer. He left a link to the male in the comments section. Thanks Steve! She's pretty cool with her double wings!

This was supposed to be in yesterdays post since it was taken at the base of that awesome tree, but somehow it was left out. When I was a kid we called this particular kind of moss, Red Soldiers. I could have sworn my mom told me that but she says no. Did anyone else call them Red Soldiers?

On my way home from work (or lack thereof) yesterday morning I found this huge Snapping Turtle crossing the road. Holy cow girl, you're gonna get run over!

What's another mother to do? Why jump out and help her of course!

Judging by the way she kept hissing at me I don't think she wanted my help. What's her problem anyway? I pushed her backside with my foot to try to get her off the road, then used a stick which she immediately tried to bite. She might be a turtle but her reflexes are like lightening! Yikes! Seriously, yikes!

School is almost out. The girls last day is on Friday and they couldn't be more excited! Such a bittersweet time. Next year they'll be in the high school together: Freshman and Senior. Jeesh, it seems like they just 'graduated' from Kindergarten!

Happy Hump Day!

Historic yard

Here are a few shots of the yard at the house I've been working in. This old tree has been growing on top of the ledge that juts up out of the ground for many years. When you get up close to the tree you can really see the age on it. Many of the limbs are rotting with old, peeling, dead bark.

I can't begin to tell you how quiet it was sitting out on the porch. It reminded me of when I was a kid and cars would only go by once in a great while. Not anymore. Where I live now the traffic never stops!

Small wild Strawberries growing at the base of the rock ledge

In the middle of the yard sits an old cemetery from the 1800's. The perimeters of the yard are filled with wonderful vegetable and flower gardens.

Only 3 headstones in the cemetery are visible (one is behind the tree trunk), however the woman who lives in the house, and was born and raised in the house next door, says she's counted 10 markers altogether. Most are just small stones under the grass.

The one that is the most visible is of a small girl. She died on January 4, 1849, at the age of 2 years, 4 months, and 3 days. I'm not quite sure what her name was due to age and moss on the upper part of the stone.

Today I'm off to work someplace else ... in a development. Not much history there. LOL!

Wildfire

These photos were shot last June while the Daisy's were plentiful

There were many more horses which I hope to show you sometime soon. I just thought this young white horse looked beautiful amongst the flowers.

It was a warm, muggy day here today. This afternoon we even had a tornado watch but it has been lifted. It seems to me a vanilla ice cream cone is in order! I don't know why, it just is.

Although horses aren't my usual New England subject, they are a beautiful subject and I hope you enjoyed them. When I see this group of photos it makes me think of the old Michael Martin Murphy song, Wildfire.

I'm also trying out a new watermark. Not sure if I'm diggin' it yet. On the final photo I forgot to make it a little more transparent. Although I like the starfish, the font has me pondering. And maybe the whole thing is just a bit too much. What do you think?

Common Ringlet Butterfly ... without the ring

Although I'm not very good at shooting butterflies, moths, dragonflies, etc., just for fun I give it a shot every now and then. Sometimes I get lucky with a decent image.

This is a tiny thing. About 1" long. It's also the kind of butterfly that flies around in circles with another butterfly of the same kind.

We have an old, cheap Butterfly/Moth book but can't find this little gem. So tell me . . .

What is it?

*Thanks to Eve who was the first to ID my little Butterfly! She told me it's a Common Ringlet without the ring, and somewhat of a poor flier. She's right about that, they don't fly to long before landing again. Thanks again, Eve!

American Lady Butterfly

Originally I thought this was a Painted Lady Butterfly, however, Eve has corrected me. It's actually an American Lady. That Eve, she's a smart cookie.

It sure was frustrating me. I kept shooting and shooting in hopes it would open it's wings. Finally it turned, opens it's wings, and flew off. Nice. Real nice.

* Btw, has anyone else noticed a lack of Hummingbirds this Spring at feeders? My dad thinks it may be weather related so I did a little research. Turns out the same thing happened in 2005, very few Hummers returned in 2004 due to what is believed to be weather related storms in the Gulf. Any thoughts?

O Christmas Tree

Taken the morning after a small snow storm. Actually it was the same day I took the previous photo of the barn since they are just up the road from one another.

If you look closely you'll see a gentleman walking among the tree's. He was in the process of shaking off the snow from the night before. I think they look good just the way they are. He gave me a smile and a wave and went back to what he was doing.

* I'd like to apologize for having to implement word verification lately. I've also put comment moderation into use for posts over 7 days old. I dislike using either one of these as I think they are nothing but a pain, however lately my blog is being spammed like no tomorrow and it's driving me a little nuts. Asian porn must be big during the holidays or something.

Hanging by a thread

Two Saturday's I dropped my younger daughter off at camp. Afterwards I took a drive up to Mt. Chocorua just to see if I could get anything good for pictures, plus it's just a beautiful area.

As I walked from one side of the dirt road to the other, at the small parking area and bridge at the base of the lake, I happened to notice this little worm hanging in the breeze over the road. It must have dropped down a good 6-8 feet from the tree above.

Clicking on any of the images to get a better look



The dirt road is very small that runs along the foot of the lake but I kept hoping the worst wouldn't happen. Sure enough within a few minutes a car came driving through. Did I dare look?



It was still swinging in the breeze when I left : )



After doing a little research it appears this is a Looper Caterpillar. When frightened by a preditor, such as a bird, they will actually bungee jump from a thread connected to their body to escape. After hanging in mid air for a minute or so the Looper will slowly climb back up the thread.

Durgin Covered Bridge

The last time we went to Durgin Covered Bridge, No. 45 in North Sandwich, NH, my husband and I were alone. Today we decided to go back but take the girls with us. Things didn't go exactly as planned. We had a late start, but that was okay. However, it was 36 degree's when we left home and 19 degree's with a blustery wind when we arrived! Andria refused to even get out of the car. Elise and my husband were a little braver but none of us stayed outside longer than a couple minutes. All photo's were shot very quickly!

Here we are on our way down the back road that brings us to our destination.

Fall

Today

And I thought we had a lot of snow! These photo's weren't taken in the same exact location, but you get the idea.

This is a new sign. It wasn't there in the Fall. Since we were legal, we crossed the bridge. The girls didn't care for that too much.

Fall



Today





Fall




Today
Looking downstream

This was a sign we saw several times posted on tree's. I've been up north a lot but I've never seen this before! What the heck are Bear Dogs? I'm assuming they hunt bears?

Fall would be my favorite, though Winter sure is pretty. Maybe I would appreciate Today's photo's more if it hadn't been so bitterly cold! Which season is your favorite?

It could be any morning

Who's that sneaking around in the distance . . .

Ahh yes, there it is, a Pileated Woodpecker! So often I hear their calls around our house, yet I sit there, drinking my coffee, and just listen. On this particular morning I decided to go outside and take a walk around to see if I could actually spot one with my camera.

Darned if my camera didn't want to cooperate!

But finally I had some success. . .

Not only was there one, but there were two PW's flying around the yard! Only once have I seen two at the same time. Their call is unmistakable and due to their size they usually aren't too tough to pick out. Getting up close and personal is another thing. For some reason they seemed to be a bit camera shy. Every time I'd sneak up on one it would fly off to another tree. Oh but to see the bird in flight is a beautiful thing.

And on that same morning I decided to take a drive just to see who else was up and around

She is just darling. Hanging out in some one's backyard, eating berries off a bush for breakfast. A few minutes later the man who lived there came out to take a few pictures of her also. He had discovered she was there when he went to take his dog for a walk.

Morning time is so peaceful and serene. It's the time of day when all the wildlife are just waking up to start a new day. The perfect time to enjoy nature. Have a nice Sunday : )