Day 396

Today, we woke to snow. We had large chunky snowflakes for about an hour. School closed. The snow was all melted by 10am. Silliness.

Day 301

Today, this colorful cardinal perched on the holly tree for a few minutes.

Day 230

Today, I took photos from the living room window, and in the living room.

Junior Cardinal

It wasn't until I edited the photos, that I noticed the rain drops on the leaves.

Web nestled between Crape Myrtle leaves

Clouds

This large ant was sitting on an arm of my couch.

Day 176

This morning, we woke in Myrtle Beach, SC to a bright sun shine over the ocean.

We decided to go to Brookgreen Gardens, to see their beautiful landscape, butterflies and animals.

Monarch caterpillar chewing on the stalk of a milkweed plant. Only one leaf remained, of 30 plants.

Monarch caterpillar

Moss on one of the oldest oak trees

As we were about enter the first aviary with our guide, he pointed out a copperhead snake that was trying to escape us. I was surprised at how non-violent this very poisonous snake was.

In and outside of the aviary were many of these regional birds. I like the reflection this one casts on the water.

In the butterfly house, were a few butterflies. They were not very active, because by the time we got there, the rain had started.

This is a freshly emerged Monarch butterfly next to it's cocoon. If you look closely at the other two cocoons, you will see wings.

Male cardinal

Female cardinal

Storm clouds over the ocean

Day 78

Today started with a bit of disappointment. An Egret or Heron flew past our window, so I went out to take it's photo. It was snowing when I went out, so this was really a mission. I found it hiding behind some brush in the creek. I got closer to try to take a better photo, but it flew off and I couldn't find it again. This disappointment was rectified by a friend telling me that we will go to a part of the river that they are at and I can take photos there on a different day. This makes me very happy. Photos of those bird will of course be in a different post.

What did improve the photographs for today, was that pesky Cardinal. It actually stayed still long enough to photograph a lot! I'm very excited by this, as it's my favorite bird aside from Carrion birds.

This lovely Cardinal stared at me for a bit, but was also looking around at other things.

Same Cardinal

Same Cardinal, flying off.

Song Sparrows are very common here. I finally got a photo of one.

Same Song Sparrow

As I was looking for the Egret/Heron, I saw this large root ball that had moss growing on it.

Snow was falling while I was outside on my Egret/Heron search. Here is a bush with some snow on it.

Day 44 - Christmas Day

As part of our Christmas traditions, we went to my parents' house for a large breakfast. After breakfast, I went outside to take some photos.

This is a dead hydrangea. I was still alive about a month ago, but now all the blooms have died. Mom plans on cutting it back soon, which means removing the dead blooms.

This is a beachy plant. I love the fuzzy texture and appearance of it.

Gumball

Dad likes to pay Alex (as he used to pay us when we were kids) to pick up the massive amount of gumballs that cover the yard. They missed this one, but there aren't many left.

This is a dead potted plant.

After 1pm, we headed over to John's parents' house for more festivities. The sky was overcast, but not thick enough that you could not see the sun. Later, it snowed...which we will get to in a moment.

The snow was still falling as we were leaving. This is snow collected on the front passenger side window.

By the time we got home, the blanket of snow was thick. I figured I would photograph some snow covered plants just in case there is a freak thing and there is no snow in the morning...that is doubtful.

This is a Rhododendron.

This is a leaf from a bush.

This is a dead plant.

Day 35

Today it snowed again. Technically, it's still Fall/Autumn, but I feel that December 1st, is the beginning of Winter. This 4th snow should validate that. Winter Solstice/the start of Winter is December 21st.

This is the best photo of the snow falling. I took it inside, as I was finishing up work when the snow started.

As I was working, I noticed this bright red male Cardinal in the Holly tree. I would have gotten a better photo, but it kept moving higher up and farther back in the tree. The female was also in the tree, but she was hiding, so I couldn't photograph her well.

Around 2pm, Alex and I bundled up and ventured to the back yard. I took photos while Alex played.

This is a Pine tree. I'm not sure of the type, but it's not the type with needles.

These are some blue berries that were hanging on a tree. The trees I saw had many clusters of them. I had never noticed these before, but that is something I have learned to look for when photographing nature. I'm always surprised by how much I miss when I don't look closely at my surrounding.

I liked these eaten leaves against the tall trees in the back ground. Also the one with multiple holes reminds me of a skull.

The pond from the runoff has ice on this section. The bottom right flows into a creek and only the mouth of that had ice. I found this ice odd. However, it was pretty with the layers of colors due to vegetation and pond scum.