Day 234

Today John and I went to a river overlook that is famous for the origins of naming Richmond.

Female Tiger Swallowtail butterfly

Cicada

If you look carefully on the left flower, you can see a light colored bee.

Gerber daisy bud

Overlook

Crape Myrtle

Sign explaining how the city was named.

Day 210

Today, I took photos of small things along the path.

Seed pods

Tiny tree

Nut

Day 165

Today, I took photos of new plants along the main path.

I think these are some type of rose.

These came from the pine trees.

We have lots of caterpillars and inchworms who have been busy chewing on leaves

This weed like plant has a very long stem. I'm trying to convince my neighbor not to cut it down, just in case it has beautiful flowers.

These are vivid red azaleas

Pink and white azaleas

My white azalea is already losing it's blooms. This bee was taking advantage of the pollen in this one. You can see that a petal of this one has a hole in it. That might be from caterpillars or inchworms.

This is from a tulip tree. Tulip trees are tall  like oaks and maples, so it's hard to see their blooms way up high, to see which of the trees is a tulip tree. I will try to find the tree though.

The rhododendron started opening up it's blooms. I walked around to the back of the bush and was greeted by two large bees. They were so big that the clusters shook when they entered the flowers. It was amusing to watch them from a safe distance, as they gathered and dropped pollen.

This the second bee. It looks like a weird little alien.

Day 164 - Easter

Today is Easter.

I started the morning with a blazing sunrise through the trees.

For brunch, we went to John's parents' house. While the girls were making us look for Easter eggs, I took some photos of plants around their house.

Dandelions

Silver maple tree seeds

Purple pansies

These green blooms had lots of tiny red insects on them, and for a bit, this fly.

This vine with purple flowers creeps up the light pole.

They have a huge bush beside their house. It's covered in red blooms that in various states of decay. John's mom said it's a camellia bush. It's definitely a different variety than ours.

For linner (lunch/dinner) and to celebrate my younger brother's b-day, we went to my parents' house.

This tiny purple butterfly was resting on the soil beside our car.

A healthy hibiscus plant is blooming on their back porch.

The sun was beating down on the back porch.

In the front yard, was a patch of clover.

This azalea still has healthy blooms.

The sun was so bright, that the leaves were a bright green.

Day 155

I'm overly fascinated with the different varieties of azaleas in our neighborhood. If you all get bored of them, I don't blame you. Today's azaleas all have pink spots on the different shades of flowers. If you look closely at most of the flowers, you will see pollen dust from the bees.

Purple Azaleas with pink spots

Pink Azaleas with pink spots

Light pink Azaleas with pink spots

Purple maple tree seed

Pink flower with pink veining

Dying early spring flower

Pollen

Up view of white Azaleas

Day 145

Today was rainy, like many spring days here. There are a lot of plants opening and more birds arriving daily.

I'm not sure what type of tree this is. It's not a Japanese Maple. The leaves of this one are bright green and maroon.

The Tulip at the bus stop is opening.

The plants that started at purple shoots, are spiraled with large leaves. There was a seed pod nestled in these wet leaves.

The leaves of the Japanese Maple, have finished opening.

The other day, I noticed how reflective the wet cars were. Today, I remembered to take a photo of the trees reflected on the hood of this black SUV.

These yellow flowers grow along one side of the stair way of the path to our house.

Pippi was meowing at this Common Redpole in the holly tree.

Later in the morning, I followed John to the airport to drop off his rental car. The rain started pouring again. While stopped, I took a photo of a tree through the rain streaked passenger side window.

After dropping off the car and eating breakfast, we headed back home. John drove, while I took photos of trees reflecting in the side mirror and window. In the window, you can see my hand holding the camera

A couple days ago, two mourning doves arrived. They have been trying to get in the house through a large high window that can't open. Silly birds. I love their cooing. I think this is a male and female, as the look slightly different from each other.

I think this is the female. The other one is trying to get inside, while she sits still. I hope she is pregnant. I'm looking forward to baby birds.