It's Friday, TGIF! We have been having some cold days and I miss summer very much already and actual winter isn't even here yet. This is an image that makes me feel warm. I captured this Gulf Fritillary visiting the Zinnias on my deck on Halloween which seemed quite late. I thought it had interesting bokeh so sharing today because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!
MPG Photo Creations
A Photo a Day Blog with Guides to Wildflowers and Butterflies in Kansas
Friday, December 6, 2024
Thursday, December 5, 2024
Wednesday, December 4, 2024
12/04/24
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! Today's image is of a Daisy Fleabane that was quite confused. Fleabanes usually bloom from May to September but I found this one just a week and a half ago. A lot of flowers were confused this year with the long drought we had and then a freeze and then nights in the 50s again. Very weird weather. Fleabanes are very drought resistant.
Tuesday, December 3, 2024
12/03/24
Today's image is one that I was able to capture on the last bike ride of the season, last week most likely. This is a Red Tail Hawk that was flying above a pond that had a large number of ducks and geese on it. I am not sure if it was thinking it could get dinner or not. Red Tails are found in our area all year but become more prevalent as others come back from further north.
Monday, December 2, 2024
12/02/24
Happy Monday and happy new week! Our fairly warm weather lasted until last week when, at the time of this writing, we will have hit overnight lows in the low teens. Yikes. I brought my Fuchsia plant inside to try to over winter it and it still had one bloom on it. I hung it in a doorway and took a photo of it from below to show off the folds that the blooms have. Reminds of an old style fancy dress.
Sunday, December 1, 2024
12/01/24
Happy 1st day of December! Only 23 more shopping days till Christmas! 😁 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog as well. Today's image is another of when the Union Pacific Big Boy 4014 locomotive came through our area on it's way home to Cheyenne Wyoming. The Big Boy is the largest currently operating steam locomotive in the US with a wheel arrangement of 4-8-8-4. It's frame is articulated to allow it to navigate curves since it is so long. The train was running quite late so by the time it made it to where I was the sun was getting pretty low in the sky so in this picture it was heading into the sun as it passed by me. This image shows the 2nd water tender that it has with it because in current times water isn't as available as back in the days of steam. The crew usually has to make arrangements with towns and/or fire departments to fill up with water during it's travels.
Saturday, November 30, 2024
11/30/24
Wow, it's the last day of November already. This autumn we did end up having some color in the area for a little while before the high winds blew all the leaves off the trees. This is an image of the Kansas River that I took while on the way back from Manhattan KS.