Backyard Trees

Trees ... they're amazing, no matter what time of the year:

Mineral Mine

On the way back from the Inn north of us, we stopped to visit a mineral mine. From the late 1800's to the mid 1900's, feldspar was mined here and is the main ingredient in Bon Ami, a non-scratching cleanser. Today the mine is flooded and not accessible and i was disappointed that i wasn't able to actually enter a mine shaft. Except for the first view below which is just inside what use to be the mine entrance -but now all blocked off- there's not much sense of a mine having been here except the grounds are filled with old mining equipment of which i didn't take any photos.

It was very sunny and the light reflecting on the water inside the overhang gave it a very bright look.

From the outside it looked like this:

They did have a 'company store' that was interested. Set up as they use to be in the 1880's, etc., it was a walk thru much like a museum - actually, exactly like a museum which was what it was.

Colorful Hills

That's interesting, sorta. Am using two monitors side-by-side and the image above (the one you'll see) is nowhere near as bright nor colorful as the one on the monitor on which i work on the photos. Humm ... would love to read some feedback from you about how these are for you to look at. However, if you are looking at this on a smart phone, feedback is not so useful as the image will be much too small for any kind of detail which doesn't mean you can't enjoy them-please do.

Basil Blooms

When basil begins to bolt, it grows cute little blooms at the top of the stem. While for regular basil and purple for purple basil. I had want to so some macro work with the purple blooms this year but waited a bit too long and the blooms began to brown - sorry.

Colors

Spent the last couple of days in the mountains 'tween Boone and Blowing Rock, about twice the altitude of Asheville which is 2211' where we live. The colors were pretty good but there had been a very big storm as we drove there and i'm guessing that half the leaves were blown off the trees, maybe more. So the colors, though beautiful, were somewhat sparsely distributed across the hills and mountains. Still, it was worth the trip.

Looking east from BR Parkway

Blowing Rock mini-park

Colors in them-there hills

and on the farm

Baby Preying Mantis

Yesterday morning, as i went to put the grill cover on from having used the grill the night before, i saw at the last moment before i pull the cover down that there was a struggling greenish insect on the side top. So i stopped and looked closer at the insect -it was really really small, maybe 1/2 an inch in length- which was struggling to move. I decided this was a good opportunity to photograph a close shot. Racing upstairs i gather the equipment i'd need and returned to find the insect had move about 3-4 inches but hadn't left. Upon viewing the insect thru the lens i saw it was a baby preying mantis. At first i thought it was struggling 'cause it had grease on it from the not-yet-cleaned surface of the grill but watching it a bit longer i saw that it was newly hatched and just learning how to move. It kept wiping it head with the front legs while it dragged itself across the top. In the meantime i'm trying to take photographs that are in focus and knowing that there was no way to get anything other then a very minimum of its body in focus as i didn't have any flash equipment with me so only had natural light to shoot with. At one point i saw that its left eye, the one closes to me, was possible to photograph relatively sharply and so i took a picture. As i watched she clearly was struggling to fly away so i put my finger down and it climbed on and i put the finger in front of the camera with the idea of taking a photograph but when i finally got my finger into focus, she was gone.

For a few minutes i think i was in love.

For a few minutes she left me a bit breathless ... then she left!

Bugatti Royale

Love 'em:

Coin from Mulhause, FR

for auto museum

Bugatti Royale