Seeing color in B&W.
Category: Flowers
Flowers
Macro Magic
After another “Monday! Monday! Everything breaks on Monday!” Monday, I came home, got out the macro lens, and went out to see what the small world in the garden was up to. The most cooperative critters were Bartle Bee, Evil the Boll Weevil and a tiny, curly cucumber tail.
A Monarch that Matters
Apparently someone of the royal family in England had a baby recently who at some point might be in line to be a monarch. I see bits and pieces about this on Internet news, but I don’t pay enough attention to know who is who. I don’t really understand why the American news media finds reporting on the birth of this baby to be a higher priority than reporting on all the real issues we need to address in the US. We fought and won a war of independence against Britain over 200 year ago, so why all the hubbub and distractions over a baby who will never make a difference in our lives?
Now when it comes to a Monarch butterfly (who most people do not give a flying pheromone about) showing up in the early morning hours, teasing me in various areas of the property until it found a delicious echinacea to distract it long enough for me to get some decent photos, is at least blog worthy. Monarch butterflies migrate thousands of miles and pollinate plants making them quite useful. But unless you are a weirdo like me, you have probably followed more news on the baby British Monarch, than an orange an black winged Monarch butterfly fluttering around in your yard.
What was interesting about my Monarch photo shoot is that in the photos where I had full, bright, early morning sun, the butterfly glows in the bright light. In the photos were the clouds were blocking the sun, the photos are pastel and have a more painterly look to them.
The Blog Before The Storm
I took this photo just after midnight on Friday morning. It was so windy and so much rain on Friday night, that the lightning was never clear, just bright flashes and loud crashes. Since the clouds are building up again, I thought I better get the blog posted before the storm hits and we lose power again. We got home at 4:30 pm yesterday and by the clocks that keep a memory of the time they went off, the power had been restored just an hour before we got home, which, if correct, means we were without power for 21 hours. The June bugs and roses are happy after the heavy rains, and Rosencrantz was enjoying a patch of catnip in the late afternoon light that was falling between the thunderheads building up in the western skies.
Wet and Dark
We had been without power for 15 hours when we left for Tristan’s and David’s to charge devices and get on the Internet. About 7:00 pm last night very high winds and pouring rain that took out the power. Puck was out during most of the storm and finally came in soaking wet about 8:30, bringing a good amount of the 2 inches of rain we got with him. He reluctantly posed for photos illuminated by our flashlights, but finally gave me a nice “Chat Noir” pose. The neighbor’s corrals and arena were still flooded this morning, and the horses were fed on the high spots along the edges. The morning sun was brilliant in the fresh air, and the sunflowers and bees were happy after the rains.
Sad Sunflower
Our first sunflower of the season is a little sad from residual hail damage.
Chasing Hotspots
I had another biopsy, the second this year, and this one was a real pain in the neck, since the “hot” lymph nodes they biopsied are in my neck. I suspect the hot lymph nodes are more reactive from allergies and congestion than they are cancerous; however, we can’t ignore hotspots and need to chase them down and see what they are made of. I think they may have been skimping on the lidocaine to save money, because the area they biopsied was never very numb and I could feel everything they did. On top of that, I have very good peripheral vision, so even though I had my head turned to the side and was looking at the wall, I could see as the doctor lowered the needle and then I could see the top of the syringe as the doctor moved it up and down and around to get the tissue samples. Needles to say, my neck is very sore.
The heavy rain we had was welcome, but not the hail as it pretty much ruined our vegetable garden, and stripped off a lot of leaves from other plants. The hail cut an oriental lily in half, leaving a cross section of the flower, and the last photo shows what’s left of our corn, beans and melons.
A Bee and Button
Okay it’s actually a wasp, but “A Wasp and Button” didn’t quite have the same ring to it. For the rest of the story on Button, the rattlesnake we rescued on July 1, she (we decided he is probably a she) ate and then Tristan and Laurie took her out to the mesa and let her go (the last two photos).
Monsoon
Three thirty PM the clouds let loose and we got a nice downpour. The Monsoon season is underway.
One O Seven Point Three
Laurie noticed the temperature was 106º F at 4:30 pm, so I checked the max temperature for the day on our weather station and it showed the max temp was 107.3º F which is 41.8º C — just shy of the “answer to life the universe and everything”. The temperature was 99º F when I was checking to see what the max temp was and I noticed it said the wind chill was 98.3º F — let’s hear it for the cool breeze! I thought the photo of a backlit Camisole rose was the most representative of “sunny and 107”, but a backlit trumpet vine and Tuscan Sun rose were good candidates, as well.
Off Center & Not Even 