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

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

This happened . . .

"Don't cry because it's over.

Smile because it happened."

- Dr. Suess

Well, it's a little bittersweet.

I think the time has come . . . it's getting to be late in the season.

I think this was probably my last butterfly to emerge.

This is my almost 30 something Black Swallowtail, a female, a tiny one at that.

1. You can tell the male from the female when the wings are open. The male has

more yellow spots and the female just has more blue in general.

2. Random act of kindness . . . after having lunch with the hubby I was driving home

and spied this coral vine growing along the fence across from where I turn. I had

my camera with me, so I pulled over to get some shots and I hear this voice.

"Ma'am, that's my house and vine and you are more than welcome to take

some cuttings with you." Oh yes, I will be going back with my sissors, thank you!!

3. My find this week . . . ah more caterpillars . . . but not just any caterpillars, Tersa Sphinx

Moth caterpillars. The ones that turn into a Tersa Sphinx Hummingbird (or hawk) moths. They

are often mistaken for hummingbirds as they can hover just like them. They have been coming

to my purple trailing lantana at dusk as they are nocturnal. I decided to try my hand at raising these

guys . . . flying by the seat of my pants on this one, wish me luck (well, or them)!

4. Last nights game 42-8!

Yep, that's my boy #22 with some serious vertical and hang time. He had a really great game (they all did), considering he was just playing two weeks ago with taped wrists because of a break through in his arthritis. My photog buddy David let me borrow his 70-200mm f2.8 lens last night . . . that was a treat. Usually when I get to borrow his lens(s) it's for varsity, so it was fun getting to use it for my boys game.

 I was lucky to get some shots of him with his tackles . . . it seems he is always on the opposite side of the field when there is a big play. OR, the ref gets in my way, how rude! Someone needs to have a serious

talk with these guys, LOL!

5. Hard to believe I haven't been to the sunrise in months. They have been doing some construction, in fact my birding trail has been closed all summer. It was only supposed to be closed for like 6 weeks? So this is a new spot, and I kinda like it! Oh but when the time changes, it's gonna be real early for a while!

So this is my week in randomness. I missed my normal posting yesterday because of random item #1. The

chrysalis had turned black so I knew it would eclose but they are so hard to figure out when. So I brought the dill plant is was on upstairs with me and set it down on my desk and kept glancing back and forth. But then I heard "the sound" of the chrysalis trying to open. So I grabbed my camera and the plant and tried

to get down the stairs and outside in time . . . I almost missed it. The poor butterfly, it was so windy she was

having a hard time holding on to the plant. She had an easier time holding my finger. Let's just say I got really sidetracked and it got late and then it was the game . . . 

I hope you all had a great week of randomness too!

Love, Kim

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

A little surpirse . . .

"Legends say that hummingbirds float free of time, carrying our hopes for love,

joy and celebration. Hummingbirds open our eyes to the wonder of the world

and inspire us to open our hearts to loves ones and friends. Like a hummingbird,

we aspire to hover and to savor each moment as it passes, embrace all that life has 

to offer and to celebrate the joy of everyday. The hummingbird's delicate grace reminds

us that life is rich, beauty is everywhere, every personal connection has meaning and that

laughter is life's sweetest creation."

-PAPYRUS

{Kim Klassen warm sun}

Sometimes life throws in those little surprises . . . ya know? 

I've been trying to capture the hummingbirds at my feeder and haven't been having much luck...at all!

But then one morning as I was sitting and waiting to capture a butterfly in flight coming to the milkweed,

I had an unexpected visitor. I was able to get off two shots before he was spooked by the shutter sound of the camera.

Friends, today I'm posting over at Focusing on Life and would be thrilled for you to join me over there. Have you ever felt your gear/equipment was less than adequate to do what you want it to do? Well, come on over because I'm comparing two of my lenses that range from $150-$450 with that of two lenses I was able to borrow that range from $2,400-$6,000 . . . you just might be surprised at what you can do with what you have.

You can find that post by clicking here.

Enjoy your day!

Love, Kim

linking with Texture Tuesday, Tuesdays Around the World, Tuesday Muse