It's the last day of November, only 25 days until Christmas! For today's picture, I saw this guy about two and a half weeks ago on a bike ride. It was sitting across the road from a fairly large pond. It may have been coming from a pond a little way behind it. It was nice and bright and fairly large and kind of surprising to see at this time of year. It's a Painted Turtle.
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! In my area I usually only see Heath Asters around. While out riding one day in October, these caught my eye as I rode past due to their purple color. These are Aromatic Asters. They bloom in September and October normally. These were very short due to growing along a sidewalk and being mowed fairly often. They normally are 6 to 18 inches tall and these were only about 2 and spread out. They spread by creeping rhizomes.
Today's image is of my first Kestrel sighting for this season. I was very happy to see one back in our area. I have heard that they are having issues and could become very endangered soon.
Happy Monday and new week! I thought I would start off the week with a butterfly. This is from this past spring and is of the butterfly I usually get to see first, a Red Admiral. It was enjoying the Ornamental Pear Tree that we have on the west part of our land.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Today's image goes back to 2021 in Pennsylvania when I got to see Norfolk & Western locomotive 611 at the Strasburg Railroad. 611 is a gorgeous 4-8-4 locomotive known as the Queen of Steam. It was on loan for a fund raising trip in PA from the Virginia Museum of Transportation. It returned home in the latter half of 2023. I have a short Video of it HERE while it was at the end point of Paradise PA where the locomotive moves around the train to head back to Strasburg. Locomotives pull the train out backwards from Strasburg as s being shown in the photo for today.
About a week and a half ago now, there was a stunning sunrise that I got to se while on my way to work. It was rapidly changing colors and went from these lovely pinks to a more bright orange by the time I got to work. This is looking over the pasture at the 4H Center that I pass by every day.
Happy Friday, TGIF! Today's image is a lovely autumn one but I actually took it last year. My Mums did not flower very well this year due the drought and my lack of care. They did live so hopefully they will recover and do OK next year. Sharing this image for today due to the lovely bokeh because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!
It's a double digit day! 😄 It's also Thanksgiving here in the US. If turkey really was served during the first one, this would be more like what they would have eaten than the turkey we are used to these days. I captured this guy strutting his stuff this past summer in my front yard. The ladies are just out of sight and could have, seemingly, cared less.
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! Today's image is a little different due to the fact that it was taken past bloom. These are Asters, most likely Heath Asters which are the most common in our area, after they have bloomed and have dried out. They are shorter than normal Asters, most likely because they grew late due to the field being worked by farmers. Farmers would prefer not to have it in their fields as it lowers the quality of their hay. I think they are very photogenic flowers whether in bloom or past where they develop these puffballs to spread their seeds.
Today's image is one I took in Minnesota though I am sure if I looked, could have taken here. It was a very good example of grass in bloom that I happened to see one day while photographing dragonflies. I am not very familiar with grass types so not sure what this is. I was just interested by the tiny flowers on it.
Happy Monday and new week, the last full week of November already! Time is flying. Todays image is of a little spider that was photobombing my Cosmos photos one day so I decided to capture it a bit closer. I believe it is a Crab Spider.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Today's image is of our restored 1947 Ottaway locomotive and it's train in autumn on the C&H Railroad outside Topeka Kansas. It was a lovely warm day in November last weekend and we ran our locomotive with the newly finished cars for friends and family. The cars have been redone with wood siding to make them fit in more with the style of the locomotive. The cars are named for the Yellowstone Survey people to make it a national park, the Moran (Thomas) - painter on the survey and Hayden (Ferdinand) - Leader. Our locomotive is named the William Henry Jackson in honor of our favorite photographer who was on the survey as well. We had a great time running that day and really appreciate the C&H letting us do it that day and the friends that helped load and unload as well.
There is a short video of the locomotive running on part of the railroad HERE.
The image was taken by a lovely tree in autumn colors behind the station.
Last Thursday morning as I was heading into work, there was a really gorgeous sunrise. The colors were really vibrant and there was a beam of sunlight visible as well. I am guessing this was due to how the clouds were formed. The radio announcer I was listening to was even mentioning that people should go look at the sunrise because it was so lovely that morning.
Happy Friday, TGIF! I am really missing these flowers already. They put on a lovely show in late autumn, they were blooming like crazy. These Cosmos were very photogenic as well. I had to share this image due to the lovely bubbly bokeh, my favorite, because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!
This is an image of a male Collared Lizard I would see while riding my bike on this one road. I have seen and shared a female from this same spot as well. The male is more green looking than the female, whose upper body was a lot more tan.
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! Today's flower is one that bloomed late in the summer this year, probably due to our drought, we have now entered Extreme Drought. Sigh. Anyway, this is Ivy Leaf Morning Glory. It normally blooms July through September. Pheasants and Quails will eat it's seeds.
It's November so I'm sharing an appropriate bird, a wild Turkey. I captured this one out in my backyard walking around on my trampoline. I was hoping to see it jump but no such luck. 😋
Happy Monday and happy New Week! I am starting off the week with a butterfly, actually 2 butterflies. These are a couple of Painted Lady butterflies that were enjoying my Lantana in a pot on my deck this autumn before the big frost days came. I am trying to over winter the Lantana. I have done it before but it's not really happy about it. We shall see how it goes.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Today's image goes back to early July in Pennsylvania when I was visiting the Northern Central Railroad. They operate a gorgeous locomotive called the York which is actually a fairly newly built replica. It was a nice ride through some Pennsylvania countryside though a bit short. I would love to take a longer ride sometime. They travel along the Heritage Rail Trail, a biking/hiking trail that was being well used the day I was there.
I have shared drone video of this locomotive before but I have some newly shared ground video HERE.
It's a double digit day! I was bike riding home from going out to dinner last Friday for the last time this year, with the time change it has gotten too dark to safely ride that late. The sunset as I was almost home was pretty spectacular looking so I had to stop and take a photo of it. The lights in the distance are the continuation of the walking/biking trail in this particular area of town.
Happy Friday, TGIF! Celebrating autumn color once again, mainly because it is gone now after our hard freezes. These are some beautiful leaves from my Golden Rain Tree showing why it is named that. I am sharing this image today due to the lovely bubbly bokeh behind the leaves because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!
Horses in Autumn. A pair of beautiful horses out in their pasture with autumn colors behind them that I stopped to photograph during a recent bike ride.
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! I captured this flower last week. I was quite surprised to see it as they are usually only around in my area in spring/early summer. We had some really cold temps, down in the 20s at night but here they were. These are Dandelions which are considered weeds but I like them because they provide food for bees and butterflies early in the year when there is not much else. I find it an interesting looking flower. It's name comes from the French term meaning tooth of the lion, which is probably referring to the shape of the leaves. It usually blooms April through September but I found this one on the last day of October.
These birds have left the area now for warmer climates. They have been gone about a month now. This is a Mississippi Kite that I captured one day while out on a bike ride before they moved on. I love their masks, gives them character I think.
Happy Monday and happy new week! This gal would like to say Hi and have a good week as well. 😁 A Praying Mantis female that I captured on my Cosmos one day peeking out from beneath.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Last weekend I about froze my you know what 😅 off at the C&H railroad. We were doing the Santa Run which is the last run of the season for this private railroad which operates just a few times per year and mostly by invitation. It turned out to be a pretty good day despite the cold until it started to rain at around 12:30 in the afternoon. Wet track and steam engines do not do well together, can't get traction very well with metal wheels on metal rail. Larger locomotives have sand domes which allow sand to travel down a tube to the drive wheels to give some grip when a cord is pulled.
The image is of the owner of the C&H sitting with Santa Claus at the station.
I have a short video of this train running that morning located HERE.
An autumn memory view for today. Most of these leaves are gone now due to our very hard freezes even though it has warmed up fairly nicely. This is a country driveway I rode my bike past a couple of weeks ago.
TGIF, happy Friday! One thing I do enjoy about autumn is the colors. Most of them are gone now due to the very hard freeze we had but I captured some photos before that happened. This image is of a branch of one of my Crabapple trees with it's leaves turning and several Crabapples. It was a good year for these as the tree is full of fruit. The birds should be happy. I chose this image for today due to the lovely bubbly bokeh because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!
It's been very cold here already, down in the teens and it is only early November. Not happy. We are supposed to be warming up a bit for a while but it will probably go the opposite way and be too warm. Never seems to be a happy medium. Anyway, I will miss seeing flowers and nature around until next spring. I captured this Dragonfly early last summer and will miss seeing these and Damsels around too. I believe this may be a Common Whitetail but it's body is not white so not sure.
It's November! Yikes, less than 2 months to Christmas! It's also Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! I have a new one today. This is David's Toothed Spurge. It is named for David L Anderson, an Argentinian who collected the plant. It blooms from July to October. The leaves turn from a somewhat light green to red as the plant ages. I found this is October so it was pretty red when I spotted it. It reminds me of Poinsettia. It grows between 8 to 30 inches tall and can be found in various types of areas like grassy or along streams.
