Following the ducks is a bit of “macro madness” — I found various interesting critters in the iris and roses. While I was out moving hoses to hook up drip systems, this female mallard hopped up on the neighbor’s wall. Then she hopped back down, and I could hear her making little quacking noises. When I looked over the wall, she was marching off with four ducklings in a row behind her.
We had several thunderstorms move through yesterday, including a heavy hailstorm. When I got home, Laurie told me the pink peony had bloomed and ask me to go out and see if the flowers survived the hailstorm. Many of the blooms were a little beaten down, but they survived the storm. I couldn’t resist photographing the wet roses while I was out, and I ended up pretty wet myself.
Laurie called me out to photograph this very large jumping spider that was hanging out on a deckchair’s cushion. We suspect she’s pregnant. She was difficult to photograph in the low light because she didn’t want to hold still. Although she did stop and stare into the lens a couple of times with a questioning look on her face.
Nothing like a few drive-by’s at the end of a busy day.
Our roses are starting to bloom and the ladybug larvae are working on the aphids.
I took Guildenstern in for a checkup last week because he had become anxious, clingy, talkative and seemed to continuously move from one spot to another. It turns out he has hyperthyroid, so now I have to give him medicine twice a day. We just started the medicine on Friday, but he seems calmer already. When I give him his medicine, I open his mouth and quickly stick the tiny pill down his throat. It happens so fast, that he purrs and looks confused because he’s not sure about what happened. Guildenstern is only 13 years old, but that makes him an old man in kitty age. He was enjoying the afternoon sun from under the garden table, that made a nice grid pattern on him.
After a week of lectures on Medieval Mystics and Masters that kept us out late every night, I ended the week photographing the Urban Olympics put on by a downtown charter school. Various professional offices and other businesses put teams together to compete in silly events, such as mop javalin throwing, toilet plunger toss, a rely race that included a mad dash in high heels — tag the rider for the tricycle slalom — tag the backward skateboard racer — tag the office chair drag racer — and lastly, tag the tricyclist for the final speed run. There was waterboarding, a 100 yard dash, urban bowling with orange barrels and shopping carts, water fights, and other events. Cherry/See/Reames Architects, who shares office space with ARC, and one of our staff members participated in the event.
Pastel scaffolding and a couple of interesting outcomes form drive-by and chance shots.
Off Center & Not Even 