Sunday, May 31, 2020

5/31/20

We made it to the last day of the month.  May seemed both long and short at the same time.  This year, along with not being able to do things as we are used to, we had a bad cold snap which damaged the blooming on my Lilacs.  I wasn't able to get a photo like this, this year.  Sigh.  This is my Live Steam Shay locomotive in front of my miniature Lilac on my layout.


Saturday, May 30, 2020

5/30/20

I have had a lot of chances to get some interesting bird images this year.  At the large pond near where I live I have been able to observe ducks and Redwing Blackbirds.  This is one I was able to capture as it took off from a reed when it thought I was too close.It really showed off it's wing accents and why it is named as it is.


Friday, May 29, 2020

5/29/20

The Peonies are in bloom in my area as well.  We have been pretty warm and rainy lately.  The flowers seem to be blooming a bit earlier than normal.  This one had some lovely bokeh behind it so I of course had to share it today because Fridays Are Bokehlicious!


Thursday, May 28, 2020

5/28/20

The Damselflies have been out at my pond lately.  I captured my first one last Friday.  This is a Blue Damsel on a Cattail reed.


Wednesday, May 27, 2020

5/27/20

It's Wildflower Wednesday on the Blog once again.  The week seems to go by quickly these days.  Today's flower is another new one for the Wildflower Pages but a common one in Kansas.  This is Red Clover.
It has been added to the Pink and Red Page on the Blog of Kansas Wildflowers.  



Tuesday, May 26, 2020

5/26/20

This is an Eastern Phoebe that I captured in the Walnut tree in the backyard.  It has built a nest above one of the windows in the back of the house.  Their call sounds like the name "Phoebe" which is how they got their name.  I loved the bokeh in this image.  It would have made a great Friday image but bokeh is good any day too!  :-)


Monday, May 25, 2020

5/25/20

Today is Memorial Day.  I thought this image was appropriate for today as these flowers are used on Remembrance Day in England for WWI veterans.  My Poppy is in bloom right now.  I love the details of their centers.  Hope you all have a good day as you remember those who have passed.


Sunday, May 24, 2020

5/24/20

So if things were normal, this weekend I would be over at a friend's house running live steam trains with a great group of people.  Unfortunately things are not normal and we can't.  Really the first time this has all kind of hit home for me.  I guess it could be worse but still...... Sigh.
This is my Accucraft Mimi on the High Line of my friend's railway from last year.


Saturday, May 23, 2020

5/23/20

It's been great to see the butterflies around again.  I saw 5 Monarchs today while on a bike ride near here.  This is the second butterfly I was able to capture this year.  Unfortunately it wouldn't land on a flower so I had to capture it on the ground.  This is a Pearl Crescent.  They are quite small, only about 1 1/2 inches across on the wings but rather lovely.


Friday, May 22, 2020

5/22/20

The Iris are in bloom all over the area right now.  These are some beautiful yellow ones that are by the big pond on my land.  They are quite large and beautiful this year.  Because Friday's Are Bokehlicious I thought I would share this image for today.  The sunlight on the leaves was creating some nice bubbly bokeh.




Thursday, May 21, 2020

5/21/20

I thought these were pretty when I saw them last week.  My Golden Rain Tree is leafing out and the way the sunlight highlighted the details made them look rather interesting I thought.


Wednesday, May 20, 2020

5/20/20

It's Wildflower Wednesday on the Blog once again and I have another new one.  I had seen this plant before and had always pulled it as weed.  This year just this past weekend I saw it had these lovely little flowers on it.  I searched for what it is and it is called Small Geranium.  It blooms from May to September and is becoming more common in Kansas.  I know I will think twice about pulling it from now on.
I have also added it to the Kansas Wildflowers Pink and Red Page of the Blog.


Tuesday, May 19, 2020

5/19/20

We had a fair amount of moisture and then some cool humid days.  These are mushrooms that were growing in among some bark and wood from a tree that had died.  Several large groups of them popped up.  I found these rather photogenic.


Monday, May 18, 2020

5/18/20

I have Carolina Wrens nesting in the Turnip birdhouse again.  They nested there a couple of years ago and then didn't last year for some reason but are back in it.  I caught mom looking out of it the other day. 


Sunday, May 17, 2020

5/17/20

Today's Steamy Sunday is a bit different.  I usually don't post steam traction engines because I am not that interested in them like steam trains.  LOL  This is the one the hubster works with though and I thought I might try out the new technique I have been playing with and I liked the result. This a 20 Minneapolis.


Saturday, May 16, 2020

5/16/20

We are having a very dreary week.  Rain forecasted every day and no sign of the sun.  I needed a nice sunset sky for today to remember when we saw such things.  This is from April 13, a rather fiery shy that evening. 


Friday, May 15, 2020

5/15/20

Before they got beaten down by the hard rain and possibly the hail we had 2 Mondays ago, my late blooming Tulips were in full color.  They start out almost pale pink and as they get older turn into this rich magenta color.  Because Friday's Are Bokehlicious I chose this picture of them with the Daffodil leaves behind creating a nice soft backdrop.


Thursday, May 14, 2020

5/14/20

I was able to get this image last week while out walking and was rather pleased with it.  It is a new bird to me but is a common Kansas one.  This is a Western King Bird.  When I was looking up what it was in my Birds of Kansas book it said they are normally seen sitting on wires or fences so I was pretty pleased to capture it in a tree.


Wednesday, May 13, 2020

5/13/20

It's Wildflower Wednesday on the Blog once again.  Today's flower is another new one that is currently blooming around my area.  This one is called Oxalis or is more commonly known as Grey Green Wood Sorrel.  The leaves remind me of a large clover.  
I updated the Page on Yellow Wildflowers of Kansas with this one as well.  I hope you check the Wildflower Pages on this Blog out and find them useful for IDing the flowers you see growing around your area.


Tuesday, May 12, 2020

5/12/20

Something a bit different for today.  I took these photos at the same focal length and on the same evening only about 2 mins apart but unfortunately did not capture the helicopters with the moon all at once.  It took a ridiculous amount of time for 2 images, shot so close together, to get this image to look like I wanted but I finally managed it.  2 Fort Riley helicopters in flight along with the rising moon.


Monday, May 11, 2020

5/11/20

My Coreopsis plant is starting to bloom.  I captured it against the limestone rocks that surround the garden.  Creopsis is a wildflower that grows in Kansas but I purposely planted this one.




Sunday, May 10, 2020

5/10/20

I am still having an enjoyable time playing with this new technique.  Hope you are enjoying seeing it.  Steam trains are a great subject for it in my opinion.  This is one from my trip to the Strasburg Railroad in Pennsylvania to the Norfolk & Western 611 this past September.

 

Saturday, May 9, 2020

5/9/20

Something a bit different for today.  The images today are from Monday after the severe storm with large hail that damaged my car and the others at work.  The first image is looking to the west, looks like a front coming.  The second image is the clouds moving on to the east and north.  It was quite the ominous sky but the severe weather was over.  I got lucky too.  My car is already in the shop having the hail damage repaired!  Yay.  Hope they do a good job. 






Friday, May 8, 2020

5/8/20

We made it to Friday again and Friday's Are Bokehlicious!  I chose this image of some beautiful blossoms from the Crabapple tree by the large pond for the bokeh it had.  I wish Crabapples bloomed longer, they are so lovely.  The rain we had knocked the delicate blossoms mostly off so I only was able to enjoy it for a very few days.




Thursday, May 7, 2020

5/7/20

It's Spring, the Salvia is in bloom and the bees are visiting it.  Here is a rather large Bumblebee I captured that was thoroughly enjoying the blooms.


Wednesday, May 6, 2020

5/6/20

It's Wildflower Wednesday once again!  Today is a brand new one.  I had never seen this one before and when I searched for what it is, doesn't usually grow around here either.  This is called Yellow Rocket or Winter Cress.  It usually grows in the eastern 2/5 of the state such as around Lawrence.  I did find it in a patch that was redone after some highway work so I am wondering if some stray seeds were in the water runoff control that they put down.  It's part of the Mustard family and blooms from April to June.
It is a quite lovely flower and I have added it to my Wildflowers of Kansas by color pages, yellow of course.  


Tuesday, May 5, 2020

5/5/20

Well, if this year wasn't already crap.  We had the worst storm yesterday morning that I have seen in quite some time.  Unfortunately, it contained some big hail which damaged my only 9 month old car.  😞  Sigh  Guess I will see how good my insurance is.  What a pain.  It was about ping pong ball size, not quite but close.  Anyway, on to the pic.
Something a bit different for today.  Another interesting railroad crossing sign that I saw in a museum for the Monon Railroad in Indiana back in March before everything went weird.  It had an interesting shape I thought.  It was a bit wordy too so I am sure that's why you don't see ones like this anymore.  They are more to the point now in as few words as possible.



Monday, May 4, 2020

5/4/20

The Baltimore Orioles are back.  I had sugar water out for them at first for about 3 days.  One evening they were looking in the window as if to say, "Hey, we have been here for 3 days now, where's the good stuff".  I put out the grape jelly and they haven't been doing that since so I think I was right.  😄  I was able to capture this image of both a male and female on the feeder at the same time.


Sunday, May 3, 2020

5/3/20

It's Steamy Sunday once again.  I am having fun with playing with old photos and trying new things.  Here is another oldie from the Durango & Silverton Railway in Colorado from my first visit there.  I enhanced the out of frame look a bit more with some B&W work as well.


Saturday, May 2, 2020

5/2/20

Taking a break from the sunsets I have been sharing on Saturdays to share another bird image i was able to get recently.  The Red-wing Blackbirds were by the large pond I walk to at times and they were calling to each other.  I had never noticed before but when they make their distinctive call, they puff their feathers out so you can see the red patches more clearly.  I was able to capture that moment here.



Friday, May 1, 2020

5/1/20

Happy May Day!  April seemed like a long month.  I have shared a close up of this flower earlier this spring.  This is more of what the plant looks like and several flowers in bloom.  These are Anemone and they really open up when it gets fairly warm out.  The bokeh was great in this image so it had to be a Friday photo because Fridays Are Bokehlicious!