More Macro: 07/04/11

These were shot with the 20 mm extenstion tube and a Sigma 17 - 70mm lens and manual focus. It's really hard to get a sharp focus - between hand holding and the breeze, it's amazing anything is sharp.

New strawberry with the fading petals still visible.

This is another syrphid fly, a drone fly. The big, googly eyes are the "not a bee" giveaway. If you didn't look closely, though, at first you'd think it was a bee. I did.

Nemesis - and on Grandma's peonies! Did you know these rats are scarab beetles? They are pretty, but if they go after the sweet gum again, they may be doomed.

Spotted lady beetle - they like pollen in addition to garden pests, and the daylilies are full of pollen (I was kind of annoyed, thinking it was chewing holes in the lilies, but BugGuide.net said it's a good bug).

Here's the link to BugGuide, have fun: http://bugguide.net/node/view/15740

And yesterday's P365 shots, the cherries Chuck brought home for today's cookout with my family.

They were really good!

Fireworks, Kent Heritage Festival, July 2, 2011

And, they got the show in before the thunderstorm.

June 30 & July 1: P365

Happy July - Summer is going way too fast!

Worked on the lamppost bed last night. This morning, I finished the planting and more mulching, but ran out of newpaper and mulch. The newspaper is to keep the weed and grass down. The plants include a 'Miss Kim' lilac that's been on the deck for two years, a Japanese maple and honeysuckle which wintered on the front porch and a pale yellow rose, a pastel daisy, and 3 bright yellow coreopsis - all bargain plants. Wonder if I need a 12-step program for plant addiction??

Lisa gave me some cute plant markers for my birthday - this one's guarding the tomato plants on the upper deck.

Sunset tonight, from the upper deck.

Project 365 (a photo each day for a year) always seems easier in the summer. More flowers, bugs, festivals, and get togethers.

A Good Day

The view from my room this morning: horses being worked on the track.

Dinner at Olive Garden with friends:

Then Borders with Chuck.

And beautiful weather all day long.

West Virginia

Traveling with one of the sales guys today. After dinner with the customer (great Italian!!), we went to Harper's Ferry. Here are some shots with the Nikon point & shoot.

 The view out my hotel window - race track with barns in the background. Hoping the horses are working early tomorrow.

Railroad tracks and the Harper's Ferry railroad station - the commuter train runs into Washington, DC. Heck of a ways to travel for work.

The Shenandoah river. It joins the Potomac just a little bit down river from Harper's Ferry.

One of the many deer we saw around Harper's Ferry and Charles Town. The photos of the very cute mama and fawn were too blurry to post.

Today starts P365 Redux. I'm doing to do it from one day before my birthday this year to my birthday next year. Wish me luck - a photo every day for a year is a damn lot of photos!

Syrphid Fly

Took a little research, but BugGuide.net help key out this guy, a Syrphid Fly. He/She was on one of the shrubs in the backyard this evening. Love the metallic back.

Miniature Rose

I planted this miniture rose late last year. It was a scraggly little thing, so I didn't expect it would survive the winter. It's about a foot high, 18 inches across and lush. The little roses are just starting to pop, maybe an inch and a half across fully open.
I thought these buds were just lovely.

Used a bleach bypass filter and added a vignette to this one.