Pick a number between one and ten . . .

. . . was it 7?

Ha ha, well not that it would make much difference now, but I was having a really hard time

deciding what to share with you today.

But before I get to that, I just want to say thank you to all of you who shared your thoughts on my 

Photo-heart connection on Tuesday, from the bottom of my heart!! It would seem that I am not alone.

I was having trouble deciding because I've taken a truck load of photos lately. I just can't help it I love the light this time of year, and the sunrises seem to be extra incredible, but I did go somewhere I haven't been with my camera earlier in the week. A park with trails, but I never made it to the trails once I found a small boardwalk overlooking a small protected wetland area. As I started walking I immediately spied several birds hunting in the water, and so I had to go into my stealth mode. You know the one where you pretend not to see them, while taking baby steps sideways...inching your way closer and closer, just praying you don't scare them away. And since I don't have"birding" lenses I was super excited that I had made it to the middle of this boardwalk with no one flying away.

I really could spend all day just watching these magnificent birds,

and their fishing prowess . . . 

and was definitely soaking in of all the incredible reflections! They kinda make my knees weak, you know what I mean?

It almost looks like I squished this photo (is there such a thing?), but he sure did spy something in the water and got lower and lower turning  his head almost level with the water.

And, I might have started singing . . . fly me to the moon . . . for real, and this guy seemed pretty interested and started walking closer . . .and closer . . .  

until apparently I hit a bad note......it ruffled his feathers a bit. Don't blame him, I'm not very musical,

that's my daughter's gift. But isn't he the cutest?

And before I was ready to leave, it started to sprinkle, and then it started to sprinkle a little harder.

If I had only had my umbrella in the car...if I had only known it was going to rain. I was quite enjoying the sprinkle, but the camera not so much. Santa forgot the camera raincoat last year, maybe now he'll bring it?

And even though our photo art Friday won't return until the first of the year, I couldn't resist.  I used one of Bonnie's textures but very lightly over a photo where I was experimenting with slow shutter speed to get a painterly effect. And there is a fine line between too much and not enough speed to get this right, but I'm practicing and having fun with it, because right now I'm all about breaking the rules! And I'll share more about this later.

"I take photographs with love, so I try to make them art objects. But I make them for myself

first and foremost - that is important."  - Jaques-Henri Lartique

Have a great weekend and until next time,

Love, Kim

XO

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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

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Fabulous Friday, Photograph Life, Little Things Thursdays