Arboretum

Yesterday, i spent sometime at the NC Arboretum which turned out to be a rainy overcast day - my favorite. Still, that didn't deter the butterflies:

I did not read the name of this display but liked it ... seems a good introduction to the variety of plants and art works spread over the arboretum.

And the range of mushrooms was amazing:

And butterflies:

I believe this one and the one below are the same kinda of butterfly but one is female and the other male

There is an exhibit of photographs  there: "A Year in the Life of a Mountain Bog" by Michael Oppenheim. I liked the exhibit and the only criticism, which isn't really a criticism, is that i'd like to have seen less very large images and more images of the mundaneness of the bog. I recommend viewing if you are in the area.

Returning

It has been a busy few weeks starting back with a Lipscomb Reunion hosted by my cousin in Culpepper, VA about 400 miles north of where i live.

I think this'll be the only people part of the reunion i'll post as i'm in this and feel its fine to post; all others i'd want their permission 'fore i made a public posting. There are almost as many missing from the reunion as there are people in the image. It was wonderful to have such a reunion and my great thanks goes out to all those who had a hand in putting -and holding- it together.

On the way back it rained for 3/4 quarters of the drive sometimes hard enough that i was thinking of pulling over until i could see where i was going. By the time we were a short distance outside of Asheville, the mountains had wonderful wisps of clouds at tree levels. This is Rt #26 coming into Asheville and we are only 12 miles from our house.

Initially, i didn't like this photograph -it is a six image panoramic- 'cause the road was in it. But those that have seen it say the road gives it a sense of size and place and i'm coming to agree with that view.

I have continue to photograph the plants on the back porch as i love seeing the dew on the plants each morning and always want to capture them in a way that gives me a feeling of joining them with a cup of tea.

Insects

This morning, after photographing the rabbit, i put on the macro twin-flash attachment designed by Canon to go with their macro lenses. My friend bought this attachment for me three or four years ago and i've used it almost exclusively for table-top macro work. And it has worked very well (thank you Steve!).

I've seen it in videos being used to shoot bugs/insects in the wild -well, around the neighborhood. I was totally amazed at the colors that showed up when using the flash. Oh, i've been doing macro photos of outdoor bugs for years, but, until now, never noticed how poor their color is.

I was, i am, delighted to see and capture such color:

I don't know what this bug is - do you?

Moth ?

Moth, for sure

Roach, i think

See the blue the roach and questionable moth is on? That is the dew on the car that i was about to wipe off when this whole insect-photographing started. I too a few shots of the dew which was pretty trippy:

I love the blueness -the car body is sky blue- and how it comes thru the dew drops

The top shot is at an angle and the middle sharpness is the field of focus. 

This bottom image is shot from directly above the drops and its all pretty much in focus; however, the reddish hue that is running along the bottom i don't know the source of. It is in the original shot, a band of reddish hue running diagonally thru the image. No, there is no red anywhere on the car.

Want to investigate both all those little hair like white thinggies that are sticking up in the top photo and where-in-the-world did that red hue come from?

Clover blooms and a rabbit

I continue to see and photograph the rabbits in the yard in the mornings. Once the sun warms it up it tends to eat the clover blooms that our neighbor has growing in his yard.

 Sniffing the clover bloom to learn if it smells fresh

Ya, it taste pretty good

All gone, yum!

Porch Sights

Turtle Shell Patterns

Two other images showing the shell markings:

In this image it appear that the one turtle is not covered with mud or algae, rather it has a completely different shell design - again, i've no idea what that different shell means; perhaps the difference is just like humans-there are many different possibilities.

Two Turtles

Last week i learned about Beaver Dam Bird Sanctuary but, so far, i've only seen one bird and it flew into a tree never to be seen again. However, there are many many turtles there and i'm fascinated with the color of both the turtle and water.

In the above photo of two turtles -these are Red Eared Slider turtles- the top turtle has a different colored shell. It seemed to be covered with mud or algae ... it only appeared for a minute or two and left 'fore i could get a good shot of it - perhaps it was an older turtle.