So, funny thing . . .

. . . I took a walk several weeks ago on one of our coastal birding trails.

And,

as I was walking along, up ahead on the trail I spied this....

a very exotic species of coastal bird,

CHICKENS! (who knew)

Before I could get much closer, they retreated back into the brush.

But then ahead, just slightly around the corner I could hear them so I positioned myself in a spot that I could see them if they decided to come back out. I could hear them, and had been waiting for about 15-20 minutes?  Of course, right when they walk out and start feeding on some bird seed a couple with a stroller walk by and stop and start taking quite loudly and then ask me...."Are you a photographer".....yep, I am. And off run my subjects back into the wooded area.

(Now, I know they're just chickens, but they were beautiful and it's not a usual sight for me to see them here on the trail, so yeah I was kinda bent on getting some photos.)

It was a tad warm that day and I was carrying around my 70-200 lens which is pretty heavy and so I decided I would just climb up this little hill and sit down on the bench and rest for a moment. I hadn't sat down, literally for 30 seconds, when I hear a loud rustling from behind me, and this beautiful rooster comes barreling right over to me as if we're long lost friends. 

And wouldn't ya know, someone else walking in the opposite direction takes notice of this rooster about the exact same time and stops and starts asking me if this is my pet? Ummm, I didn't really know what to say, because, who takes their chicken for a walk? lol

Of course he high-tailed it right back where he came from, and I moved on.

I did however, see some real coastal birds on the trail....

This is an Osprey. a type of hawk, a large raptor (with a wingspan of 59-71 inches) whose diet mainly consists of live fish. They have unique barbed soles on the bottom of their feet to help them grip slippery fish. And are quite fun to watch dive for food.

I don't know all my hawks, but I think this one is a Red Shouldered Hawk (anyone?) There were quite a few that morning soaring the skies.

Then a nice woman told me there were whistling ducks (Black-bellied Whistling-Duck) ahead on the right. She wasn't kidding, there were several groups just like this one and you couldn't miss them for all the noise they were making. And yes, their call sounds just like a whistle. They have the most beautiful bright pink bills.

Finally, I got some in flight....

And then on my way back to the car, I spotted this White Egret. They aren't as keen on getting their pictures taken, but this guy was concentrating pretty hard on brunch to care that much.

It was a sun up to sun down kinda day....and on my way home, I had to make one more pit stop when I spied these guys on the side of the road in a field. I need a bumper sticker - don't follow too close, I make quick stops.

I should note that right across from the street is Galveston Bay....the best of both worlds. At least this time I didn't run into any wild boar...I'm not that fast a runner anymore!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend, looks like the sun may appear here for a bit and then back to a week more of clouds and rain.

Love, Kim

Little Things Thursday, Thursday Favorite Things, Friday Finds

The good, the random . . . and a side of scary

Its been a busy week so far, what about you?

After the boy and I spent the day at the hospital for his infusion we got back

with just enough time for me to make a run to the nursery. I find on those days it's

always a good idea if I can go clear my head afterwards with the aid of my camera.

But, I got to talking to a teacher buying milkweed for herself and nearly 10 other

teachers. And then I ended up finding some black swallowtail caterpillar eggs on some fennel,

which I talked her into taking with her as well. Yeah!

So, I took my camera and decided to walk the birding trail real quick as the sun was going

to set soon. Note to self, don't go at dusk!

1. It was just going to be a short walk, down one side, over "the bridge" and back up the other side.

Of course I had to stop and take pictures of the bridge, and of course every person who went by

turned in the direction of the bridge to see what exactly I was photographing, even glancing several

times in case they missed something. Always makes me chuckle to myself.

 And while on the "other" side, I had to stop and get some pictures of the reflections in the water.

And on the other side of the tree I heard some splish splashing and at the same time I can hear rustling in the bushes on the path next to me. Squirrel, birds, maybe even the deer . . . 

2. And as I preceded to walk again I hear a very loud snorty grunt kind of sound coming from the rustling in the bushes . . . not the kind that comes from a squirrel or a deer, but the kind that comes from a very large 

wild hog. The ones that will chase you with razor sharp tusks and lightening speed. I'm not afraid of much, but friends, you have never seen me walk so fast. Yes, note to self, no more walks on the birding trail at dusk!

Of course I would have missed this had I not had to turn and go back the other way.

3. This is very random, but it's a pet peeve of mine when I see people throw their cigarette butts out of the car window. I've seen a lot of that this week....THEY ARE NOT BIODEGRADABLE. They wash down the sewers, make their way into streams and rivers and even into bird nests....they contain toxins.

4. It has officially been a week, there are now over 100 monarch eggs, and because the weather has been cooler they are taking a little longer to hatch, but it should be really soon! 

5. I had a Facebook friend post the best thing to my timeline yesterday, something related to #4. Since it's a cartoon and copyrighted I didn't feel right posting the actual picture here, so I'm sending you HERE to the picture on Facebook. I'm still laughing.... :)

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend,

Love, Kim

sharing with Little Things Thursday, Thursday Favorite Things, Random Five Friday

The trail opened back up . . .

"The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail.

Travel too fast, and you miss all you are traveling for."

- Louis L'Amour

Just follow the light, to the beginning of the trail.

The early bird fisherman catches the fish, and a beautiful sunrise at the same time.

The beginning of the trail, where your husband energizes for the day's trailblazing.

It's been some time since I've been on this trail....construction...(they say it was flood control)...

I've missed the the light here.

And these trees . . . they remind me how small I am.

I found this ONE dragonfly, where I usually see dozens and dozens. The construction consisted of tearing down very old mature trees, marsh, bushes, homes for wildlife, the very spot the dragonflies would pose for me . . . they destroyed hundreds upon hundreds of feet of pines, oaks, the home of the King Fisher's, the place I usually could find fall color. They did this in the name of money for some rich dude who needed fill dirt, and they sucked the fun right out of my trail. I cried all the way back to my car.

Order up . . . bird + bokeh = lots of happy! 

This was still here. Do you remember the red iron bridge. . . they moved it over 100 feet but . . .  the bird feeder, AND my swing are missing!

But then, sigh, I found this on the other side of that wooden foot bridge. More beautiful light and bokeh.

The small bokeh in this image is original, and then I took a photo of more (just) bokeh and

added it on top the the flowers for more dreaminess.

And now for some random . . . 

1. This morning I made my coffee with our Keurig coffee maker . . . that was free.

My daughters friend won it at graduation and didn't want it and just gave it to her.

Well, she is not a coffee drinker and although you can make hot chocolate with it too, she decided

it wasn't something she wanted to take with her to college.

2. But . . . I made coffee in the Keurig with the adaptor that allows you to use your own coffee.

I did the math. . . An average 10 cup Keurig pack for about $12 costs 1.20 per cup.

My coffee, freshly ground as I need it, is $9.99/lb. and I can get about 37 cups of coffee in the one pound.

That makes the Keurig coffee cups 4.5 times more expensive.

And then for more fun I figured out that my coffee, drinking on average 2 cups per day would last me

3.7 times longer, costs me only $3.78/week vs $16.80/week. That means I could go to Starbuck's and order 2 specialty coffee's and still have money left over.

3. Remember the Tersa Sphinx caterpillars from last week, both of those big ones have made a little magic and pupated! Now we wait.

I put some soil in the bottom of the container with some leaf litter and shredded paper towels

and they made these cute little nests, for a lack of a better word.

This one I was able to lift with out disturbing it too much. As the time gets closer

(takes about 2-3 weeks) I will remove the paper towels and most of the dirt and put a stick

inside so that they have something to dry their wings on.

4. Today, I'm going to take the plunge and order all my supplies . . . for making wearable art jewelry using my photos. And then . . . get really busy sawing, cutting, hammering, riveting . . . yep it's gonna sound like

Santa's workshop around here.

5. I went to sleep last night and when I woke up it was morning! Well, what I mean is,

that I didn't wake up in between and slept all the way through. THAT doesn't happen very often, and I seriously can't remember the last time. I feel like a new person! 

TGIF a day early my friends, have a stellar weekend!

Love, Kim

linking with Little Things Thursday, Random Five, Friday Finds, Friday Photo Journal

Something missed, something gained . . .

"In every walk with nature one receives

far more than he seeks."

- John Muir

This week, that couldn't be more true!

As I mentioned on Sunday, we had planned on going to watch the sunrise. . . but, although I set

the time on my alarm clock, I forgot to turn it on. Yep, I woke up and saw it was completely daylight

outside and looked at the clock . . . 7:20, the exact time the sun would be peering over the horizon.

Let's just say I wasn't a happy camper, although I did make it later in the week, here.  When that happens,
I wonder if there was a reason I wasn't supposed to be there. Well, at least that's what I tried to
tell myself, and since we were already up we just decided to head over that way and take one of the trails.

First stop, butterfly garden, of course! We may not get much in the way of fall around these parts

but our wildlife is around a lot longer. This Gulf Fritillary didn't seem the least bit worried about me and my lens. But I was a little disappointed though, not to find any monarch caterpillars on the milkweed.

{Photograph life - fall color}

I was definitely not seeking a grasshopper, especially not a giant 3-4" one. But there it was blending right in and I can safely say that out of everything I usually run into, snakes included, that grasshoppers are not my favorite. It does look like he escaped with his life, just minus his jumping leg . . . ever wonder where they get ideas for alien creature feature films, look no further!

And as I was walking away, I spied this leaf, pierced by a falling acorn top!

Then we hopped back into the car and went further down to hook up with another trail. And as we were crossing over a small bridge on the road (on foot) I spotted this gorgeous Tri-colored Heron. I don't see many of these along my travels, so this was a treat! Just look at his gorgeous colors!!

After a few minutes he flew down to the water looking for food.

And this yellow stuff, ragweed, it's what's making everyone miserable - and it's just everywhere you turn.

And these pretty little flowers/weeds (?) lined a part of the path . . . what is that they say . . .  a weed is a flower in the wrong place. I would say these looked to be in the right place.

This week over at Pixel Dust Photo Art, Bonnie, instead of a theme gave us a fabulous freebie texture called leafy landscape for our challenge this week. I knew right away what photo I would use with this, that I had taken just days before. And wow, I love the texture with this - it was just the right touch for this photo, and then I topped it off with her vintage vellum.  Thank you Bonnie! If you haven't participated in her weekly photo art challenge before, I encourage you to go now and hang a piece of your art in her link-up gallery. (opens at 7 tonight, you can follow the theme or enter any piece of art)

"All walking is discovery. On foot we take the time to see things whole."  - Hal Burland

So although Saturday morning I was seeking the sunrise, and despite my foul mood, and showing up anyway, I received far more than I bargained for. And with each discovery, on foot, I was able to see the bigger picture and by the end of our walk I had almost almost forgotten about the sunrise!
I'm pretty sure I learned a lesson here!!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Love Kim,
XO

Sharing with Photo Art Friday, Finding Serendipity, This and That Thursday,
Fabulous Friday, Photograph Life, Little Things Thursdays

Recorded moments . . .

"To us, the difference between the photographer as an individual eye

and the photographer as an objective recorder seems fundamental,

the difference often regarded, mistakenly, as separating photography

as art from photography as document. But both are logical extensions

of what photography means; note-taking on, potentially, everything in

the world, from every possible angle."   - Susan Sontag

I think that just about sums it up for me . . . I'm definitely a note-taker with my camera,

on everything I see, AND from every angle possible! (angles that make the people around me go, hmmmm) Just ask my camera . . . over 80,000 clicks in the last year, yikes!! And it contains the only card I know of that one can max out, costing nothing but time.

And speaking of time, I took my father-in-law who has been visiting on a little tour of some of my favorite spots, the butterfly garden and along the birding trail...it was a good day, but it's a good thing to remember that when in nature, sometimes curiosity can kill the cat.

We may not get the typical fall colors here, but when the temps cool off into the 80's nature gets happy again! Honestly, I have no idea what kind of plant/bush this is, but it's PINK and it was gorgeous.

{Flower Art Friday}

Of course there was a visit from another one of my green friends, who was trying to figure out

just HOW to jump that far back to the plant he was on.

And the dragonflies were out in full force . . . this one reminds me of a giraffe with his markings. 

But in between the dragonflies we saw, I spied this butterfly resting . . .

But then I saw some movement, thought I saw a dark colored lizard tail . . . I moved in further to investigate to find this staring back at me. He just stared and I tried to get closer, but couldn't, then I lost him.....

 . . . and more dragonflies

And ones that had wings that shimmered like gold!

One with dots, and what looks to me like a shade of red lipstick!

And oh yes, one made specially for me, in pink, holy cow!!

{foto friday}

We eventually made our way to the bay and started the trail back to the car when something caught my eye on the side of the trail . . . I looked down and said to my father-in law, it's dead right?! haha  Well, as I looked through my camera, to get a picture, I realized not only was it NOT dead, but he was in a threatening stance, and I was standing about two feet from it . . . but unlike the one I saw earlier, I knew this one was a cotton mouth, aka a water moccasin . . . poisonous!! One dead (sorry) giveaway that it is a cotton mouth rather than just a water snake is the stripe along the side of this head, well that and his wide body and boxy head.  They are known to stand their ground, but we didn't panic,  moved slowly and he turned and went the other way. 

And not to leave you with a snake embedded in your memory for the rest of the day, this is my submission to Photo Art Friday. The theme this week is figures. I thought about a statue from the archives but I took this one on our walk, a shadow of the two of us enjoying an afternoon watching the dragonflies, and the birds, and avoiding snakes!  I thought it was interesting that in our shadows is the reflection of the leaves on the trees above us.  I used Bonnie's Irish moss, and gold dust textures.

"We do not remember days; we remember moments."

- Cesare Pavese

Have a great weekend, recording as you go!

Love, Kim

XO

Sharing with, Photo Art Friday, Flower art Friday, Finding Serendipity, Foto Friday,

Fabulous Friday, This and That Thursday

Be still . . .

  

As the dawn breaks over the horizon, for which I see no beginning or end,

I sit in stillness and know that you are God. When I silence my heart and mind,
I can hear you call my name. And as my eyes take in the beauty around me,

I see all that you have written.  - Kim

I had set my alarm, but hit snooze a few times too many. I was pretty sure I wouldn't make it on time for the show, but decided to just go anyway. I'm glad I did . . .  I raced out of the car with camera and tripod in hand, and this was the very first click of the morning. And surprise, this week I do have more than just the sunrise. ; ) 

And as soon as the sun rose just behind the clouds, it turned into this . . .

If you look really closely in the photo above, far in the distance in the golden light,

is this shrimp boat that I zoomed in on.

There is just something about the stillness at the start of the day, although that doesn't mean everything else around us is still. There seemed to be a fierce game of chase going on.

And I wasn't the only one in need of a little reflection.

And then I was off, just down the street, to sit and just think about nothing. It's one of my favorite spots along the coastal birding trail, a small wooden platform off in a little alcove. This place is kind of like

an eraser for my mind, where inspiration comes in the stillness. The silence of real life. Where you can hear things you can't see rustling about, where you can hear the buzzing of a dragonflies wings.

And on my walk, I have to say that I was a bit surprised to see Wisteria blooming this late in the season. The photo art Friday theme this week is container and I'm stretching this one a bit. The heavenly scent is

contained by this beautiful vine....I know, I know, but it's all I got.

{Flower Art Friday / Photo Art Friday - textures, RHWest Script, and age it from Pixel Dust}

As I started heading back to the car I just happened to spy this Night Heron up in the trees. He wasn't at all

liking the clicking of my camera and didn't stick around long.

And then shortly after that, I had found a bench in the shade and sat down to take a break from the heat. And there it was, this Green June Beetle rustling around the ground. It was incredible, as the metallic colors seemed to glow in the shade. Oh, but I didn't have my macro lens with me (it was still in the car), so I looked around for something to carry it back on, hoping the whole while it didn't fly away and that I could actually change my lens without losing it.  

Just check out that antennae! And it was no small beetle at about almost an inch long and half an inch wide. It was pretty difficult to really capture all its shiny metallic colors, and he didn't want to play dead and roll over so I could show you his belly that was a metallic copper. He would have made a great specimen for some resin jewelry, but I wasn't about to kill it.

{Shoot.Edit.Submit}

"Not to be able to stop thinking is a dreadful affliction, but we don't realize this

because almost everyone is suffering from it, so it is considered normal. This incessant

mental noise prevents you from finding that realm of inner stillness that is inseparable from being."

-Eckhart Tolle

How do you quiet your mind, do you have a special place?

Wishing you a wonderful weekend with some stillness!

Love, Kim

XO