Iris Up Close

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About a year ago, I met a lady in the Wal-Mart garden center.  She saw me taking photos, and she invited me to her house/garden to take more pics.  Unfortunately, I didn't write down her address and I didn't remember all the details on how to get to her house.  On Friday, I decided to look or her again.  And, this time, I saw a sign at the entrance of a neighborhood near where I knew she was located saying, "Plants for Sale".  I took a chance, and I'm very glad that I did.  Her name is Marsada (I hope I got that right).  She's a retired woman who loves gardening and tries to share her plants with others while making a small amount of money.  She has a lovely front and backyard filled with interesting blooming plants, and on one side of her house a potting shed and the plants she has for sale.

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She has a lovely selection of hosta.

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And roses.

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And allium.

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And as you can see by my daily irises.  She'll have hydrangea blooming in June.  She welcomed me back, and I intend to go.

Bearded Iris and Vignette

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I did it again.  I stopped to take pictures at someone's mailbox:-)  Above detail enhanced and a vignette.  Below, a similar shot with no pp'ing.  I think everyone should plant iris' at their mailbox!

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Mr. Bluebird

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Taking photos of birds can be addictive;-)  I was back at Yates Mill, yes again, today.  I watched the bluebird nest, the brown-headed nuthatch nest, a hummingbird up high, a cormorant off in the distance, and a pair of cardinals whose nest was probably nearby.  There were also goslings and mallard duck babies to enjoy.  And tons of turtles too!  However, the first thing I saw on my visit of note was the black racer snake floating down the creek and then stopping on the side.  Pretty neat.

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Peony

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 A shot taken in my yard today.  I moved this peony over from the old yard, and it's doing great:-)

Green Heron

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I was back at Yates Mill today.  I just couldn't resist the allure of seeing the brown-headed nuthatch or indigo bunting again.  This time I took my dad's Canon 40D and a Tamron 300mm lens to see if I could get a better shot.  I am so disappointed to tell you that basically none of the images I took with dad's camera were any good.  The focus with that lens is bad even when I tried to switch to manual focus.  I thought I'd give it one more go...last time it didn't perform well either.  Thankfully I did take a few pics with my usual camera.  The one I posted for my daily originally started out as:

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I used Nix Color Efex Pro to adjust the contrast and then used OnOne's Focal Point (Perfect Resize) to enlarge the shot so that I could get away with cropping it quite close.

Although  I did see the brown-headed nuthatch and indigo bunting, this green heron caugh the attention of a fellow photographer and bird enthusiasts and soon we were totally into watching him.

I got this nice bluebird shot too.  There nest was in a log just to the right of my daily shot.  They were coming and going bring worms to their  young.

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I mentioned before that the pond level at Yates Mill is down due to repair work on the forebay to the water wheel.  Here is a picture showing the work that's going on.

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One more shot to calm your day...

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Brown-Headed Nuthatch at Yates Mill

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I am trying to get at least 10K steps walking each day.  I'm using a Fitbit One to track my progress.  I am also trying to combine my love of photography and joy at seeing what's going on with the local parks along with walking the trails.  Today I went to Yates Mill, my favorite park/trail, and lucked into finding a brown-headed nuthatch nest in a tree cavity thanks to some help and discussion with other bird enthusiasts who were out on the back boardwalk.  I waited about 30 minutes in position to get the shot that I've posted as my daily.  I took the shot below early on and wanted a second chance to get a 'good' shot.  The nest was pretty far away...a stretch for my equipment, but I did the best I could onsite and pp'ing.  

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I also saw several indigo buntings, cardinals, and of course Canada Geese.  The blackberry and other white flowering shrubs are just opening up, and it looks like the tulip poplar flowers are about done for this year.

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According to the Yates Mill Facebook page, they should complete the waterwheel forebay repairs and refill the pond within a couple of weeks.  Cool, but it has created some interesting wildlife opportunities while the level has been down.

P

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A handle on a child's digging tool taken in the sandbox at The Museum of Life and Science in Durham.

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