Flower Hopping

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A shot from earlier in the month that I pp'ed yesterday.  I cropped and applied a reduced opacity lomo filter.  By the time I got around to going outside to take some pics yesterday, the clouds and rain had settled in and I'd lost my chance:-(

The boys and I are off to Bubble Blitz at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham today. I am hoping for some really good bubble pics as well as spending some time in the outdoor butterfly garden which has tons of great flowers in bloom right now.

Common Buckeye

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I had the opportunity to take a few pics in Donnie's yard yesterday.  His purple and white butterfly bushes are blooming nicely, and I chased several varieties of butterflies and bees.  My daily is a Common Buckeye although it looks far from common to me.  I must confess that I have fixed the butterflies' lower left wing injury in the photo I posted as my daily.  See below for a cropped but unfixed image.

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To make this fix, I saved a copy of the original photo.  I brought up both the copy and original in PSE7.  I did a horizontal flip on the copy and then used the quick select tool to select the corresponding undamaged area on the the wing and copy it to a new layer.  I slid the wing layer over to the original butterfly and fit it into place like a puzzle piece rotating it a bit and stretching it a tad.  I had to clone out a small section of the torn wing with the green background.  I merged the piece layer and the original layer and did a tad more clone work to blend any seams.  

Here's a dragonfly shot from Donnie's yard too.  Love the green body color!

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Two yellow Eastern Tiger Swallowtails were also on the butterfly bushes, but both had torn wings with more damage than I could repair.

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Orange Coneflower

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My daily today was taken in Ms. Jeanne's front yard.  It's an orange coneflower, and I've obviously pp'ed it a bit for better or worse. 

Here's another more regular coneflower and a bleeding heart combo.  I just couldn't frame it up with the coneflowers and bleeding heart closer together.  It's a bit too vertical but I liked it. 

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The goldfinch were in her fountain.  I didn't get any splash shots, though.

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I thought this hanging basket was beautiful!  I love petunias!

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I snuck around behind the produce stand at Ball's Berries and Produce and took this red barn shot.  I admore this barn every day.  I am sure Mr. Ball will let me take some more pics and walk around back there if I ask.  Just waiting for the right day.  There are sheds and lots of wood grains and I think and hope quite a few photo ops.

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I loved the bokeh behind this hummingbird feeder...just wish I'd managed to catch the hummer.  He was in and out too quick for me, and I ran out of time to wait him out.  Thankfully I was in the shade.  It was midday and 90 when I was there but I had a nice spot on the front porch to shoot from.

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Johnny and his teacher invited me and all the parents to the school yesterday afternoon for a student led parent conference.  Johnny showed me examples of his writing and math from the start of the year to the end so I could see how much he'd improved.  I was very proud and so was he.  Love that cheery disposition and smile he has!

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Gold Beauty

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I still have goldfinch coming to my feeders:-)  I liked the sharpness and color contrast of this lucky shot through my kitchen window.  Sorry I chopped off his foot a bit.

The yummy meatballs below were made by substituting crushed pork rinds for the bread crumbs.  Yum!

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We saw a rainbow on the way home from Johnny's baseball game:-)  One minute it was there and I snatched this quick picture, and the next minute it was gone.

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Love this gorgeous yellow lily in the Kidd Family Garden with the blue hydrangea providing such a pretty back-drop.

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This butterfly is a red-spotted purple.  Odd name considering he's black with orange spots, but when his wings are open there is a lovely teal color.

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Johnny's team lost their tournament game.  No more Little League until it kicks back up again in August for the fall season.  Johnny did get a hit and get on first and then was forced out at second.  I loved his face when he knew he had a hit and was running to first.

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Perched Dragon

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A dragon shot I took last week and pp'ed this morning.

I had a follow-up doctor's appt. yesterday, and everything is going OK.  I only took a few pics inbetween doctor, work, and errands, and most of them were more painted lady butterflies on coneflower.  I'm sure none them were better than my shot from a few days ago.

Meadow Beauty

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Today's daily is a picture of a Maryland (or Virginia) Meadow Beauty.  I usually post a shot or two of this very unique looking flower (check out the center!).  My neighbor has some of this wildflower growing alongside her natural front yard pond.  I liked the light and bokeh and thought this backlit shot was pretty.  Most years I shoot it with the sun highlighting the flower center, so I tried to change things up a bit.

Donnie and I were back at the Kidd Family Pool yesterday for some water volleyball.  We're going to start calling Danny, Madi's dad, the intimidater;-)  Here Danny is getting ready to serve.  We use an 18" - 24" beach ball for the volleyball.  Fun!

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Madi and Salvo were enjoying the game poolside.  Aren't they sweet?

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Had a butterfly stop by my butterfly bush late in the day.  Kindof like the dreamy feel.and pose.

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Have a Sunshiny Day!

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A Happy Father's Day to all the dad's out there! This is my first year without my dad. Trying not to focus on it too hard...

Back in my front garden taking pics of the gloriosa daisies again....

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Donnie and I enjoyed an interesting breakfast yesterday!  When I bought a dozen free range eggs at Balls Berries & Produce on Friday, the owner gave me a Chinese Goose egg to try.  Look at the size of that yolk!  Cooked up like a normal egg and tasted like a normal egg.  Yum!

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I took this scary bug picture at Donnie's house yesterday.  I used BugGuide to ID this insect as a Robber Fly.  Scary!

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BugGuide also ID'ed this butterfly as a Southern Cloudywing.  Picture also taken at Donnie's house.  His sister, Gale, planted this lovely butterfly bush in the yard, and I'm enjoying the bugs and butterflies on it.

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I cooked fish again last night.  Such a rare thing for me but becoming common now.  Grouper cooked in the  cast iron skillet on the grill with lime juice, parsley, butter, coconut oil, pepper, garlic salt, pepper, and paprika.  Green beans steamed but tossed in bacon grease.  Fresh beets cooked  in foil on the grill with olive oil and basil.  Yum!

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A kingsnake visitor in my yard yesterday.

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A doe Donnie and I saw on our evening walk with Blaze.

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