The Japanese Maple as You Have Not Seen it Before

As I was going down the driveway for a walk the other day, it was rather late in the afternoon.  I saw the Japanese maple from this angle, and was taken by the light on the trunk and branches.  I had never quite seen the tree from this direction before.  I mean, I have, I guess but I never NOTICED it.  It's always about the light!  The original photograph is in color and there were what I thought were distracting off color tints on the branches so I thought I would convert the photo to black & white. (Sound of gears in Ken's head grinding...)  Then I thought again about it, and thought that perhaps the color photograph was better.  So here is the color version as well, and you get to pick your favorite!

Practice

Kathy has been doing a lot of sewing lately, making beautiful small cloth purses for Liz and Amy and some friends.  They are really small, beautiful works of art.  Now she wants to add some quilting to some new projects.  There is the regular pattern of quilting that we are all familiar with, then there is this style which is called "free motion quilting."  So Kathy is practicing on some scrap material and learning how to do these patterns, pretty much without stopping.  There are two styles here that she is trying.  I can't wait to see how much better she gets at this.

Eastern Cicada Killers

Every summer, about this time, little piles of dirt appear in the lawn along one side of the driveway.  The other morning when I went out to get the newspaper, I saw what must have been 50 really large insects chasing each other around in circles, about one foot above the lawn.  They are large brown insects, with black and yellow abdomens and they are killer wasps.  I looked them up.  They are called Eastern Cicada Killers, and they go around and sting Cicadas, which paralyzes them. After paralyzing a cicada, the female wasp holds it upside down beneath her and takes off toward her burrow; this return flight to the burrow is difficult for the wasp because the cicada is often more than twice her weight. A wasp will often lug its prey up into the nearest tree, to gain altitude for the flight to the burrow. After putting one or more cicadas in her nest cell, the female deposits an egg on a cicada and closes the cell with dirt.  Whew!

I have no idea of the population that lives under our lawn.  The good thing is, that the Cicada Killers will not sting humans, unless the insect is handled roughly.  I am sorry I was unable to get a photograph of one of the wasps.  They never stopped and rested anywhere.

No Dunkin' Donuts - Week 20

So I thought I would show you something completely different for my No Dunkin' Donuts Day.  I was standing in line at our Dunkin, and I happened to look down and saw this orange circle which shows the proper distance to keep between customers.  I had seen these circles for weeks, but today I really "saw" it,  and I thought it would make a different kind of picture for our donut day.

What is WRONG with Me?

Sometimes I think I need to have my head examined!  We didn't get ice cream last night, so we got it tonight.  On the way home, we came by the harbor and I saw these fishermen.  I thought "I probably should stop and take a shot" but we were headed home, and I thought "Well, I could come back tomorrow and get the same shot if the fishermen were there."  Then I remembered the cloud in the distance and just knew it wouldn't be there.  So I turned around, parked the car and shot this.  When will I learn that when you see the shot, stop and take it?  It will not be there "on the way back" if I am on a bagel run or something.  "The shot needs to be taken NOW!!  The First Rule!

Ordering at MacDonalds

One of our little rituals is, on a Sunday night, after pasta for dinner, we go to MacDonalds for an ice cream cone.  Sorta' like a donut for breakfast on Tuesday mornings.  I was sitting in the line waiting to order and happened to notice the occupants of the car ahead were placing their orders, one by one.  What caught my eye was the overlapping faces of two of the people in the car.  Not sure why, but I thought it would make an interesting shot.  So here it is!

Great Egret

Usually when I see Egrets, they are a short distance out in the water away from the shoreline.  I was on a walk down near the old power plant, and there is a little inlet that is surrounded by old wood bulkheading.  The tide was out and this egret was walking in shallow water.  But instead of the usual sky and sunshine reflecting off the water, as a background the reflection was the dark bulkhead, and it made a dramatic background for the white Egret.