Orange Brilliance

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PartyLite candles and candleholders made for some orange brilliance at my table last night.

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The tradition of elves at Christmas has now been modified to elves at Harvest:

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Donnie getting an introduction to Beyblades:-)

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Dancing in the Light

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Let today be the day we say that the weatherman was right:-)  We've cooled down to an almost chilly 59 today after hovering around 90 this past week.  The true feel of fall is here.  It's a bit gusty, and the leaves on the trees have their classic falltime rustle.  The air smells cleaner.  A change is most definitely on the way.

As I took pics in 'the field' yesterday morning, I could already feel a change as the morning glories swayed in the breeze that would push through the cold front.  It took lots of extra 'takes' to try to get each each 'shot'.  

I didn't start out to take more pics of the yellow wildflower growing in the ditch, but when I caught this Buckeye on the flowers, I was hooked on following him trying to get a nice shot.  Besides the one for my daily, I really liked this one too:

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I walked away with a few things that I like...

Another solitary morning glory floating high above the tobacco field:

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Do you know what this is?  It's the flower of a tobacco plant.  They come in and top off the plants as soon as they flower so that the plants can focus on more leaf production, but if you look closely in the fields, you can find a few flowers.  They were out in the field yesterday picking all the leaves off the tobacco.  Today when I go past I expect to see just the stalks of the plants left sticking up.  It will be a big change to the landscape until they plow them under.  

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This is just another shot in the field on the opposite side of the road where the crazy backlight and bokeh keep catching my eye.

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I've signed up for another year of Project Feederwatch with Cornell University, and I continue to track the birds at my deck rail feeder.  About a week ago, the doves started to come near dinnertime.  Such beautiful birds/feathers.  Each year I put in a plug for participation in the Project Feederwatch program.  Consider this this year's plug:-)  

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I'm going to miss my walk in the field this AM.  Clouds, sprinkles, and wind just don't make for a good photoshoot.

The Beauty of a Rose

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My daily was taken here:

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I don't know these neighbors very well, and am thankful I didn't get run off:-)  I don't think I look too threatening with my camera in my hand and a smile on my face...

Two other rose shots that I liked:

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I had a really 'cool' spider experience yesterday too.  I hope papamugger will understand why I whimped out and put the spider shots just on my blog and not as my daily..

The rose shots were taken in the same neighbor's yard as the spider shots. As a matter of fact, I was taking the rose shots when I saw this large 'thing' moving in mid-air in my peripheral vision. That thing turned out to be the spider and dragonfly on the web. At first I thought the dragonfly was alive and struggling to free itself and I was trying to decide if it was the right thing to do to help or not (probably not and leave nature alone). But it was just the bounce of the spider itself moving over his prey.  The dragonfly was already a goner.

I hope you can appreciate the true nature of the following series of spider/dragonfly shots:

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There are two more images from different angles that are a bit more graphic.  I didn't want to post them inline, but I'll provide you the links if you're interested.

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We do have provisions in Wake County for disposing of old electronic equipment.  I can't understand the selfishness of a person that would dump these old monitors in the ditch...sad.

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Joey goes a good job helping Johnny with his reading too:-)

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Coexist

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I didn't get to spend any time with the flowers or bees yesterday morning, but I did stop on the way in from picking the kids up from school.  Of course, all the morning glories were long since done for the day, but the yellow wildflowers looked lovely anyway.  I was looking for insects and noticed this, um, beetle.  Maybe papamugger knows what it is:-)  I thought it's 'feet' were really interesting!  I tracked a few bees again too.  I guess I'm in a bee mood:-)  Besides the shot I uploaded for my daily, here are two other insect/bee shots that I liked:

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and:

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Earlier in the day yesterday, I stopped to try to capture a few flower pictures in a doctor's parking lot.  I was a bit disappointed with what I came away with.  To me, the clarity is lacking and the colors are just too vivid.  The one I liked the most of the group is:

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and maybe this one too:

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A big thanks to Madi for staying for dinner Monday night and then helping Johnny with his homework.  Something about kids and books and reading that always gives me a smile.

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Pink Beauty and the Bee

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I'm addicted to driving down Barber Bridge Road right now.  What can I say?!?  The chance of finding just the right light on just the right flower is just too compelling.  It's a peaceful, quiet few minutes of calm with my camera each morning that I love, and it's fun back at the computer later to see if I like anything I took.

I was so excited yesterday morning to be taking a picture of this pink morning glory right when a bee went by!  What luck!  Although there were several other pics that I took on that photo shoot that I like, I just couldn't go with anything else for my daily but the bee and the pink beauty.

Even though I much prefer the blues, purples, and pinks of the morning glories to the yellow flowers growing along the road right now, I stop to see if there are insects on them or if the light is better in those locations anyway.  I enjoyed the backlight on these yellow flowers yesterday morning and followed a bee on them for a few minutes catching him going flower to flower.   I liked this one right away in the view finder:

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With the extra bright light and fast shutter speed I thought that might be the best inflight bee shot I might ever get!  Then later I got the pink flower/bee daily:-)

I thought this bee shot was kindof neat too:

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Other worthwhile, to me, morning glory shots yesterday were:

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Nothing like a little ragweed to add some golden beauty to a shot;-)

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I am going to take a picture of that corn stalk and the morning glories on it every day until I get one where the flowers are spread out and facing just right; one I can share as a daily!

I commute today, so I probably won't get a chance to  take pictures of the morning glories...bummer.

Photoshoot with a Swallowtail

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It got to be after 5PM yesterday, and I hadn't taken any shots all day.  I asked the boys if we could go for a quick ride down the dirt road and over to Porters for ice cream, and that wasn't a hard sell:-)  I did take a few interesting pics down the dirt road, but when I spied this Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on the butterfly bush at Porters, I knew I'd probably use a butterfly shot for my daily.  This lone Swallowtail provided me with 10 minutes of poses as I happily followed him around the bush.  I hope you enjoy the shot I chose for my daily as well as some of the other shots/poses.

Because of the very late day light, 6pm by the time I was at Porters, I adjusted the color on this shot as well as doing some cropping to 8X10.

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Remembering...

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This is a shot I took just after Memorial Day this year.  I always intended to share it, but somehow I never got around to it.  I think it's a fitting shot for today as we remember those whose lives were lost on 9/11.

Well, it's the last pool weekend of the year at Madi's house.  Most pools in our area close on Labor Day, and now that Madi is tracking back into school and our nights are down in the 60's, it's time to close up the Kidd Family Pool for the season too.  A big thanks to them for all the fun we had this year playing volleyball, cooking out, and talking with friends.

Here, Donnie and Madi are getting ready for the next volleyball game:

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Madi adopted two black kittens fro the SPCA of Wake County this past week.  They were named Evan and Andrew after her old brothers' middle names:-)  They are not brothers, but they are both blackish and about 3 months old.  Evan is the snuggler, and Andrew is Mr. Mischievous.

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Snack time!  I'll let you think about what Teen and I were enjoying in those cups;-)

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