It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! Today's flower is one that is hard to get, a Venice Mallow. It only blooms for a short time in the morning and I forget to look. This example is not even fully open. It usually is found blooming July through September. It is also known as "Flower of an Hour" due to it's brief bloom time.
I was on a walk recently near a pond where I have been lucky to see a Heron every now and then and have been able to get fairly decent photos too which is rather rare. It had flown from the opposite end but I was able to catch here before it flew off.
Happy Monday and happy new week! Today's image is of the other Clematis that I was gifted by some friends. It's rather unique looking I think and I look forward to spring and seeing more blooms on it.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! This is one f the full size locomotives that I get to fire on at the Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion. It is an ex Soo Line Switch engine and is over 100 years old and still running. It's great fun and challenging to fire on and I enjoy my 2 hour shifts per day for 4 days of getting to do it. In this photo it is just pulling into the station to off and on load passengers and change out shifts.
While in Minnesota recently, there were some interesting skies due to storms around the area. One evening I was out on my bike to possibly get a nice sunset photo and was rewarded with this exceptionally vibrant sky with neat cloud formations.
It's Friday, TGIF! Today's image is of one of my Morning Glory flowers. It's a lovely purple and the light was hitting it in a way to make it look like it was lit up inside. I also love the bits of bubbly bokeh behind which is perfect for today because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!
It was hot and dry for a while and I was watering my flowers and discovered this. This is a female Praying Mantis that was on the leaves of one of my Coneflower plants. Females have the larger abdomen than males which tend to be rather skinny. They also are of a paler color usually.
