Day 409

Today, after Alex's running club meeting, I took a few minutes to photograph the buttercups and clovers on the field.

Day 398

Today, we went to Maymont with friends.

Day 371

During our first full day, we did a lot of visiting. We went to breakfast with my grandmother. In the afternoon, we went to my aunt and uncle's cattle farm to visit them and let Alex see the cows. In the evening, we meet up with my other aunt, my other uncle, their daughter (my cousin), and my parents (who had just arrived in TN) for dinner. After dinner, we went to my aunt, uncle and cousin's house for dessert.

The car windows were frosted over. My husband was defrosting them. As the frost was melting, I took photos, to the amusement of my grandmother, who after all these years is used to me having a camera in my hands and taking "weird" photos.

My uncle took Alex and I out on his Kubota (like a golf cart, but more sturdy and for farms), to see the herd and the farm. I never realized how large the farm was. The dark horizon line under the tree line is a river. To the left is a bit of flooding in the lower field. The cattle were all on the upper field...which you will see in a moment.

There were several calves in the herd. This one was having a snack.

This is part of the upper field, where the cattle were.

As we were headed back inside the house, I noticed how lovely the sun was through the trees and the long tree shadow it was casting.

This is the full moon at my other aunt, other uncle and cousin's house.

Day 248

Today, we went to the nature preserve on Chincoteague Island. Instead of the beach part, we walked on one of the nature trails through the marsh.

Wild hibiscus

There were many butterflies fluttering around on the flowers and across the path.

If you look closely, you can see a resident.

This crane was hiding in the tall grass along a marsh water.

Female tiger swallowtail on a wild hibiscus

This deer was alone on the marsh eating grass and flowers.

Grasshopper

The marsh was teeming with them.

I love the spots on the back of this butterfly. Reminds me of a monster drawing.

Cattails

The white ones are about to drop their seeds. The brown ones are what most of them look like.

Day 243

Today Alex and I went to Colonial Williamsburg, VA to test out a history game they put together for families. It's a beautiful place, so while wondering around the grounds I took some photos.

Moss growing on a stone wall

Mushroom growing in one of the backyard gardens.

Crape myrtle

Ivy growing through a grate of a house

Yellow Tiger Swallowtail butterfly on a marigold

This is male, because it's yellow. The females are almost black, but have the same details.

The sun was high above us all day with a heat index of about 108.

Day 198

Today I went to the house of two close friends, to celebrate the birthday of one of them. Before starting to drink the Lambic that my husband bought for the lady of the house and I to share, I took some photos of a tree.

Day 157

Today, we ventured to Outback for lunch and then came back to the house, because John had to work later.

This little insect was on a leaf of our azalea bush.

At Outback, there was one rose on this bush. It was hidden, nestled among the thorny branches.

They had large clumps of tall beach type grass. This is an upshot of that.

When we returned, John noticed this little inch worm. He was holding it by it's string, but because that's hard for my camera to focus on, he placed it on a porch wall.

One of our bushes started growing buds. This one has unusual flowers later, which of course you all will see when that happens.

While venturing into our front yard that we share with one neighbor, I noticed how nice the dogwood trees looked backlit by the evening sun.

These bushes line one side of the front yard.

Day 43 - Christmas Eve

I spent most of the day making a painting for my mom. By the time I was done, the sun had set. However, we headed over to my parents' house for Christmas Eve activities, so I knew I could get nice shots there.

For dinner, we have steak. This is dad rescuing steaks from the grill that flamed up. I figured fire fit in nice to the nature theme of this blog. It's rare if I can take photos of that. This one was so large, it went down and caught part of the deck on fire. Thankfully, dad fixed that fast.

Using flash in the dark, when you're not sure if your camera is really focused, is a difficult thing to do. This is the best photo of the plants in one of the deck rail baskets.

Leaves had fallen in one of the bird bath. The cold temperature, had frozen the water, so the leaves were encased in ice.

They have this tray on their deck table that has grass in it. Snow from earlier in the week was still sitting in, but part of it had melted, revealing the plants below.