The winds of change . . .

"You can avoid having ulcers adapting to the situation;

If you fall in a mud puddle, check your pockets for fish."

-Unknown Author

It's hard to believe that its been three weeks since I've been in this space.

sigh . . .

I've spent the last few days on my front porch, from sun up to sun down...being still

and thinking, and observing.

and you know the one thing, that one reoccurring theme I see in nature more than

anything else is . . . change.

Flower buds open to reveal their inside beauty.

Wind, water and sand erode rocks to reveal colors 

and interesting patterns within those rocks.

Our Seasons change, the clouds are ever-changing.

Rivers, streams and shorelines are constantly carving

new boundaries, new paths.

And so is life.

{newly born polydamas swallowtail caterpillars}

Change can be hard, but it's also inevitable.

Nothing. Stays. The. Same.

Sometimes the changes are subtle, 

{the same caterpillar, nearly three weeks later}

and sometimes they are big,

and swift,

and sometimes they are just difficult.

"It is not necessary to change.

Survival is not mandatory."

- W. Edwards Deming

{KK Oh My}

But change can give us new eyes, new perspective.

Change can put us in circumstances that makes us more compassionate

and can give us the ability to have more empathy towards others.

...if we allow it

Change, just like the light,

is the reality that nothing stays the same,

but is always evolving. 

{KK 1101}

I'm thankful I'm not a spider . . . his reality? He has to change his residence daily.

Change is to become something different, to become something else.

We embrace change through our lens, we even welcome it. 

In nature things are constantly changing, proving 

 that change is growth, and growth . . . is evidence of life.

For me change can be an awakening to what "now" looks like

when I'm not fighting it. To try to embrace where I'm at because it

won't happen the same exact way again.

 The hardest change though is perhaps that which we do not choose for ourselves,

but just maybe it's the place of biggest growth . . . when we learn to accept it. 

Right about now, I'm double checking my pockets for fish!!

{I did get back last week but my son ended up in the hospital with a staff infection.

He had to have an abscess drained by a plastic surgeon and was on IV antibiotics.

We fell into a bit of a mud puddle.}

So, If I'm not back at the end of the week it's because we have follow up doctor visits

and his infusion.

Until next time,

Love, Kim

sharing with Texture Tuesday, Sweet Shot Tuesday

Five feet from my front door . . .

. . . there is a magical place.

It may not be a national treasure, but it's my treasure none the less.

 And I am so grateful for it.

"Nature is man's teacher. She unfolds her treasures

to his search, unseals his eye, illumes his mind,

and purifies his heart; an influence breathes from

all the sights and sounds of her existence."

- Alfred Billings Street

Sometimes it's hard to get anything done . . . because of the five feet out my front door.

When it comes to critters I seem to have an eagle eye, and you know when I was younger, I could

see caterpillars crawling across the road . . . while I was driving. Yep, that was hazardous. 

We did some tidying of the garden about a week ago and then a few days later I went out to tidy up

all the mess on the sidewalk. But, the only thing I ended up accomplishing was with my camera. This little guy

hopped across my path and started it all. Believe it or not this toad is only about an inch. Do you have any idea how hard it is to pose a toad in a small puddle and ask it not to move? And he was already feeling so defeated by our photo session that I decided I would keep to myself the fact that his nose looked like that of a cat.

I have had lots of spider webs lately too, or more like spider condos, one built on top of another and another. This web was only about 3 inches wide and the spider couldn't have been more than 1/4". Yep, I had to get within an inch of my life to get this. Did I mention it was a little windy...whew!

Oh, and these jumping spiders . . . are just the most curious spiders ever, seriously. When ever I'm outside

sitting on the front porch there they are, they just show up and always end up checking out my books, my coffee, AND, they seem to love my camera! This one, was no exception. It was so hard to get this because he/she/it kept getting closer and closer and would raise up it's front legs like they do before they jump and I would have to back off. But, at one point it was just a little quicker than I was. Yep, through my lens I watched it jump out of my frame and towards me. They usually just end up on my lens, but I couldn't find this one. He either missed entirely or ended up in my hair? All I know is that they have the cutest eyes with so much personality. You can beg to differ, that's okay I still like you! ;)

It was a total critter smorgasbord. I found this little green tree frog just chillin' between two stacked pots. I think he was enjoying the 90 % humidity that day, me not so much!

This is the ever elusive Tersa Sphinx Moth that comes out at dusk. You know, when there just isn't any viable light to take a photo. I had to bump my ISO into oblivion just to get this one. I'm still waiting on those three pupa to make an appearance into the world.

UPDATE: Right before I went upstairs to post this, I checked on those pupa like I do everyday, AND

guess what? One pupa is empty. I found it hanging on the stripped milkweed plant in the Monarch enclosure!! Whoo Hoo

And, I'm still seeing butterflies in the garden. Thank goodness for purple lantana as it has a very long growing season here. This is a Gulf Fritilary and a little hard to capture as they are always flittering. Have had some Long Tailed Skippers too but they have been hard to get as well. Still seeing a few Monarchs, and have one more chrysalis. I'm hoping it will hold out until my in-laws get here this weekend so that they can watch it emerge. Two more (the last ones) from that batch I found in my back yard are now j-hanging.

Hope you all have a great weekend. I will be getting ready for my in-laws who will be joining us for Thanksgiving. In fact this will be the first time any family has joined us at our home for turkey day. I don't dare go anywhere with my camera in the next two days, too much to do, so little time.

Until next time...

Love, Kim

sharing with Little Things Thursday, Thursdays Favorite Things, Friday Photo Journal

Friday Finds, Photo Story Friday

If you kill a spider . . .

(KK traverse in overlay)

"Our egos tell us we're the only ones that have an kind of feelings. We're the only ones with a

relationship. We're the only ones with family. You know, I think that if you kill a spider, there is a

relationship that you're ruining. There's a conversation going on outside with the other spiders. 

'Did you hear about Chris?....Killed yeah....Sneaker. And now Stephanie has nine hundred babies

to raise all alone. Well, she's got her legs full I'll tell you that right now. Chris was so kind, wouldn't

hurt a fly. It's just been tough for them lately. They just lost their web last week. Those humans think

they're so smart. Let them try shooting silk out of their butt and see what they can make.'"

You know, I never know for sure what I'm going to share with you here, and especially lately.

Not because I'm not out with my camera, but because I AM out with my camera.

I am so behind in sharing some of my happenings and things I find, that when I go to my hard drive

it is so overwhelming. I'm still trying to catch up editing ALL these images as it seems I take them faster

that I can edit.

I might have an obsession....

It could be worse, right . . I could be charging my card at a department store rather than on my camera, at the nursery, the sunrise, the beach, my garden . . . 

(You are welcome honey)

Gosh, I sure hope he is keeping track and that my points are adding up.

Anyway, I was looking for a quote and came across this one that had me laughing out loud,

and well, I sure do have me some spidy web photos.

I can only imagine the things they are saying about me and my spray bottle!

Have yourself a wonderful day!

Love, Kim

linking with Texture Tuesday, Tuesday Muse, Tuesday Around the World, Sweet Shot Tuesday

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

I'm back this week in the hunt....but a little on the quiet side today, so onward to the prompts!

{ monochromatic }

I took a little field trip to my favorite nursery, Maas, and they still had roses and they were

still in bloom.

{ starts with the letter . . .    }

"D" is for dessert, or aka creme brulee . . . yum-my!!

{ upside down }

Oh I had to blow up my ISO to get this one as it was in really low light. He is definitely upside down, and well so was I for a while trying to get a shot of him under the web, but I couldn't keep steady enough.

{ hair }

 This was our third football game but the first one at our district stadium, and the drill team coach had

just given them a lipstick and hair check! ; )

{ soft }

Another  one from my trip to the nursery today . . . looks, feels, and smells soft!

{ Your Sunday Best }

Hope your Sunday is a good one!

Love, Kim

XO



 

Foto Friday - Changing Perspective

Frustration, after having a minor temper tantrum can go from the potential prevention of a satisfying
activity to the realization of a beautiful thing.
My frustration came from not being able to capture the detail in the close-ups I desired in the low light
of the setting sun without creating a blurry photo.
So, I diverted to my 50 mm lens which allows me to create images in low light because of its large aperture (lens opening), which also gives a narrow depth of field creating a lot of bokeh love or intentional background blur. The more wide open the lens, the more
bokeh there will be creating a dreamy and somewhat dramatic abstract photo and in some cases almost completely dissolving your subject and replacing it with colors and shapes.

My goal, especially for the first set of images is to share with you a recognizable subject in a way that you may not have viewed it before.
Something we may think of as ordinary can suddenly be seen as extraordinary just by changing our perspective.

So, you know you weren't going to get away without some interesting facts, right?

Spiders can create a variety of different silks that have different purposes and functions.

(Which is why they don't stick to their own webs)

They release their silk from spinnerets in their abdomen, and oddly enough it is actually liquid in form until it's released and it immediately takes a solid form as soon as it is exposed to air!

This happens to be an orchard spider, which is an orb weaver.

An example of how just slightly changing my position can change the affect of the image.

This one reminds me of Christmas lights. . .

With the increase of rain, I have started to see a slight increase in dragonflies but I'm sure as the mosquito

population increases so will they.

When using the 50 mm lens wide open there will usually be a sweet spot of focus as everything else blurs.

This photo made the top five for fabulous friday!

In the one below, you can see that the focus was on the dragonflies head . . .

And then in the same position, the focus was moved to its tail . . .

So what I discovered was that my frustration became an instrument in the creating of something entirely different than I had originally envisioned.

I love that I can use my camera as a tool for my

personal expression of the way I view the world - as if by chance a painting were to meet a photograph

in the middle.

And so it goes, I now have a renewed fondness for my 50 mm/f1.8 lens.

My hope is that you felt at least a little bit of the essence of what I was trying to capture

(even though insects may not be your thing)!

 I would love to hear what you see, if you change your perspective . . .

Have a great weekend everyone!

Love, Kim

XO

P.S. for more Photo Friday fun check out the hollie rogue

and here:

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli