Dragon from Above

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I was sitting on the ground waiting for  hummer to show up on a nearby plant when I spotted this dragon up above me on the lantana.  I fired off a few shots.  Love the bright feel of this shot and how the eyes line up on the left and right of the dragon's legs.

We're cooling down here.  We've also dried out a bit.  Looking forward to more photo ops this weekend.

Hummer Watch Day 2

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I was back at Ms. Jean's house again yesterday waiting out the hummers on her pretty purple salvia bush.  I am thrilled the head is in focus on this shot!  I have been shooting ISO 100 to avoid grain that is easily introduced with my Canon SX40 HS.  That puts my shutter speed around 1/125 or 1/60 in the bright sunlight.  After this shot, I decided to try my flash, but it got too hot and late, and I had to stop for the day.  I guess I'm going to try the flash and also risk an ISO of 400 or 800 and see what I get.  It's a good thing Ms. Jean doesn't mind me coming back to practice:-)

Hummingbird on Approch

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Taken in Ms. Jean's garden yesterday.  90, sunny, and mosquito-y! At least during the 30 minutes or more I was there I finally got a hummer picture.  I'd be delighted if it was sharper/  Maybe next time.

We Remember!

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Last October when we were in Washtington, D.C., we visited the Nationl Museum of the Marine Corps.  One of the temporary exhibits there focused on 9/11.  On disply was an I-beam from the World Trade Center and Pentagon building fragment along with a timeline of events as they unfolded.  It was a very moving exhibit. 

I took my dailly shot that day with the thought that I'd share it today, on 9/11, as we pause to remember.

Goldfinch and Fountain

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I always love the bold colored yellow feathers of the summer Goldfinch male plumage.  I took  break from painting yesterday to go visit Ms. Jean's yard again.  She likes it when I visit, and I appreciation the open invitation to come with my camera.  Her daughter, Judy, did  lovely job creating  beautiful front yard garden, and butterflies and birds abound throughout.  I was hoping to get a hummingbird shot, but didn't get a one.  However, the Goldfinch were enjoying the running water of her fountain.

This female Goldfinch was also enjoying the water.

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Barn in the Countryside

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Just down the road from Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant sits this old fashioned rusty barn.  We zipped past it in Donnie's Scion xB, and I asked Donnie to turn around so I could get out and take a picture.  This location had no shoulder, so I literally got out and took some bracketed shots while Donnie went up the road a bit to turn around.  I was able to get what I wanted in a few minutes and was back in the car away from the sun and fire ants pretty quick.  It's been a long time since I saw a new barn worth taking a photo of.  Very glad to have spotted this one.  Processed with Photomatix.

I Is for Instrument Panel

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Once a year for just few hours, Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant opens its doors to the community so that folks can tour the training control room. Donnie had been before, but I hadn't. Yesterday was the day, and we had time to go over there unfortunately without the boys who were with their dad. They were giving bucket truck 'rides' to the kids, and Johnny would have loved that! I thought it was fascinating all around. I love driving past the cooling tower and taking pics from time to time, but this was the first time I really got to learn about the plant. I was struggling again to come up with an 'I' shot, and then instrument panel popped into my head. They talked about how much training is involed to to be an operator. Wow! Sounded stressful and quite ivolved. Durig the tour we got to meet several operators. Glad they are there to monitor the systems and keep us all safe. Pray they never have to handle any severe situations.

Here is a pano taken on my iPhone 5 of the whole instrument panel.

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