Photo Quest(s)

It has been a personal quest of mine to capture some of the birds of prey in my area. You know, like an eagle, or a turkey vulture, or a hawk. It never ceases to amaze me how oblivious these animals seem to be. They can be sitting on the side of the road, watching dozens of cars drive by, but the moment you turn around and try to photograph them, they fly away.

see what I mean?

Regardless, I love these photo quests I go on. My daughter usually passes out in the car  gently falls asleep, giving mommy some much needed alone time. And if she doesn’t, it gives us a chance to go out and explore our surroundings. Whether it is…

the geese gathering in the fields, the black birds swarming around us like schools of fish, or collecting rocks on the side of the road (her favorite).

Our time, on Sunday, was not in complete vain. I was completely taken by surprise when this Great Blue Heron decided to land twenty feet in front of my car. I fumbled with my lens, almost landed in the ditch, and got a few fuzzy shots of him flying away. Luckily, he didn’t fly very far. And so I crept, very slowly, to get this:

Not the prey animal I had in mind, but definitely a very satisfying experience nonetheless.

via Photo Challenge: Quest

Harmony

I spend a lot of my spare time just watching the animals here. Most of the time, it is just for pure entertainment.Here is a goat playing King of the Castle…

She did that for a good hour, jumping on the back of any ewe that was lying down and challenging any lamb that came up to her.Or how about the ducks…

…that bravely linger by the dogs, stretching out their necks, hoping to sneak a piece of dog food. They use their beaks to nuzzle through the wool of resting ewes to find bits of grain in the winter; in the summer, they gingerly pick  flies off of their legs. The one in the picture was just poked in the eye.

Or those precious first moments, like this curious lamb that snuck up onto a sleeping Simmie. Note the little goat that was about to lay down with her.

Kuma and Indie like to play together, each of them will chew on the other`s foot or hoof until Kuma becomes too excited, elicits a play-bow and runs off. Indie chases after her, running and bucking down the driveway. Indie is special like that, she plays with everything.

It never ceases to amaze me or amuse me, how well everything gets along here.

For The Weekly Photo Challenge: Harmony

 

 

Fridge Art

In an effort to teach my daughter letter recognition, I have been writing out her name in block letters and getting her to paint them. It isn’t too long before her attention span wanes. She begins to paint her belly and arms and chases me throughout the house with her blue fingers.
Since the Weekly Photo Challenge is Alphabet, I will share her current rendition:

A…B…C…D…E…M…O…P…in the potty…W…U… my sunshine
😊

Viking Plate 43

I found these silver plates while I was decluttering…

Nine of them in total, with various patterns and intricate designs

I couldn’t part with them

and am still unsure what to do with them…

suggestions welcomed 🙂

For The Weekly Photo Challenge: Ornate

The Candy Stash

I kept wondering where she was getting the candy from….

…her candy stash.

For the Weekly Photo Challenge: Treat

Be Careful

There isn’t a lot of traffic on my way to work, but there is a lot of wildlife. Last year, I counted nine moose along the commute, just in one morning. I once had to sit and wait for a herd of elk to pass by me. I counted their shadows as they sped by my windshield -twenty-three in the first batch, twenty-four in the second. Last week, I am sure I narrowly missed a bear. (It could have been a miniature pony with extremely large shoulders…)

This picture was taken off of my front deck in 2014. This young calf (moose) had decided to call our yard her home for about two weeks. I love wildlife, but they can be… unpredictable. Her presence made me fearful to be out in the yard with my daughter. Even my dogs (there are three of them) kept a respectable distance from her; and their barking did not seem to faze her, at all. 

This purposed a little bit of a dilemma. I did not want to phone the conservation officers because I feared they would just shoot her. I also did not want her around. The boys, of course, dreamt of ways of keeping her contained, raising her and riding her around like a horse. They tried to feed her grain out of pails and came within petting distance of her hind end. It was amazing to see, and an amazing experience to be a part of.

One morning, I woke up early to water the garden. As I turned on the hose, the dogs began barking behind me. When I turned around, she was less than five feet away! This was the one time where the dogs did not keep their distance. They became aggressive, barking and nipping at her heels, effectively driving her away from me, and my yard.

For the Weekly Photo Challenge: Careful

*She returned this spring, for a quick visit, but it was still nice to see how much she had grown*

Spoons

For the Weekly Photo Challenge: (Extra)ordinary

Cheri Lucas Rowlands was right when she wrote:

I expect wildly different and very personal takes on this theme, (Extra)ordinary, because our own ideas and experiences will shape our interpretations. What’s mundane yet meaningful to you? What’s a beautiful everyday thing?

Whenever I look at this picture, I hear laughter. Loud, rambunctious, joyful laughter.

I see smiles and feel a connection to my family.

Taken during the Thanksgiving weekend, the “kids” playing a game of spoons.

Sunset Drive

Weekly Photo Challenge: Happy Place. Where do you go to get your groove back?

I jump in my vehicle, crank up the tunes and drive. I scream sing along to the music and take pictures out of my window…

Make a Wish

…because your dreams should not have any boundaries.

For the Weekly Photo Challenge: Boundaries

Vintage Designs

For The Weekly Photo Challenge: Change

This was actually quite hard to photograph – it’s so busy! So I hope I have done this one some justice. Pulled out of my mother in law’s basement last week, this dress is forty-seven years old! And yes, I will be wearing it for Halloween and possibly even after that – as long as the threads hold 🙂

According to the lovely internet, this newfangled Pringle’s can is from 1968! What interests me the most is not the front, but the ingredients on the back.How simple! It really makes me wonder when they started to expand the ingredient list to include things like disodium guanylate and disodium inosinate.