The Cormorant, the Dragonfly, and the Bee

Friday, August 26, 2022

Park Places

Here are a few selected photos from the Arnold Arboretum, Mass Audubon's Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary, and one from the park otherwise known as our front yard.

This first one is taken at Arnold Arboretum. This was a *huge* tree that had a full canopy of leaves and branches which came to the ground all around. One could "enter" between the leaves and look up, which I did for this shot.

Leaves Above

My son and I visited Mass Audubon's Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary and saw several Red-winged Blackbirds. Here's a male:

Tongue Tied

This photo below is of a female Red-winged Blackbird. They look completely different from the males; it was much easier to identify this bird after seeing all the other (male) Red-winged Blackbirds in the area.

Bird Alert

Surface Bloom

I took this next photo of a robin while sitting on our front step. We have a cherry tree in our front yard that birds totally love in June when the cherries appear. Sometimes the birds get so "drunk" on cherries they run into our windows when flying away. We're always alarmed when we hear the thud of bird against a window. Thankfully, they usually survive the encounter.

Eyeing Cherries

Tuesday, August 16, 2022

June 2022 Blooms

Here are some selected blooms from the month of June. These flowers are all in our garden.

Featured are mountain laurel, Fourth of July roses, and baptisia. Plus one bee enjoying the baptisia.

June 2022 Blooms - 1

June 2022 Blooms - 2

June 2022 Blooms - 3

June 2022 Blooms - 4

June 2022 Blooms - 5

Sunday, July 31, 2022

May 2022 Blooms

These are various May blooms, all from our garden, except for a few of the dogwoods and the violets, which were photographed in the neighborhood during one of my regular walks.

Shown are fruit trees (cherry, crab), dogwoods, Camas lily, mountain bluet, violets, and irises.

May 2022 Blooms - 01

May 2022 Blooms - 02

May 2022 Blooms - 03

May 2022 Blooms - 04

May 2022 Blooms - 05

Violets:

May 2022 Blooms - 06

These daffodils were in a vase and photographed indoors. Thanks for the indoor photo fodder, Diana!

May 2022 Blooms - 07

This is Camus lily:

May 2022 Blooms - 08

May 2022 Blooms - 09

Siberian Iris:

May 2022 Blooms - 10

May 2022 Blooms - 11

Mountain Bluet:

May 2022 Blooms - 12

May 2022 Blooms - 13

Bearded iris:

May 2022 Blooms - 14

May 2022 Blooms - 15

Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Marathon Faces

Marathon Monday, the day when the Boston Marathon is run, fell on April 18 this year. This is Patriots' Day, which is celebrated on the third Monday in April in six states. The Boston Marathon was cancelled in 2020, and run on October 11 in 2021 due to Covid concerns. Wikipedia (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriots%27_Day) says the Boston Marathon has been run every year on Patriots' Day since its inception in 1897, even during the World War years, except for 2020 and 2021.

We are fortunate to live near the race route, and I usually cheer the runners on and take some photos.

Here are a few select faces of the 2022 Boston Marathon.

2022 Boston Marathon - 01

2022 Boston Marathon - 02

2022 Boston Marathon - 03

2022 Boston Marathon - 04

2022 Boston Marathon - 05

2022 Boston Marathon - 06

2022 Boston Marathon - 07

2022 Boston Marathon - 08

For this next photo, in sticking to the "Marathon Faces" title of this post, I used the "faces" of the gauges on one of the fire trucks that is always standing by in case of an emergency.

2022 Boston Marathon - 09

Wednesday, May 18, 2022

April 2022 Blooms

Here's a collection of recent photos of blooms in our garden. Below you'll find hyacinth, fruit trees (e.g. cherry, peach), spirea, hens and chicks, bloodroot, lenten rose, crocus, tulip among other blossoming flowers.

All photos are taken with my 60mm (120mm equivalent) macro lens.