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 163

Today's photos are by the stairs and path to our house.

This ant and inchworm where co-existing and occasionally swatting at each other.

This is a strand of oak tree pollen, which is actually tiny flowers.

Inchworm on a twig, with more oak tree pollen.

The rhododendron buds started opening.

On the railing of the steps, were lots of little creatures. 

There were several tiny green insects moving swiftly.

There were about 6 inchworms inching along the rail. I took photos of a few of them.

These were going in opposite direction. When they inched into each other, they had a bit of a fight. I love how the ant is looking at them, as if it's a wrestling match and it's a referee.

Day 162

Today, I took photos through my rainy living room windows, as the night got darker.

Holly tree

High window

Crape myrtle

Holly tree

Holly tree

Crape myrtle

I thought this silhouette of the holly tree, looked like a dog.

Holly tree

I tried to zoom in on the rain drops, at night. Instead of clear rain drops, I got blurry dots.

Day 161

Today's photos were taken looking out through some windows in my house.

I woke up to foggy bedroom windows. Since the dogwood and other trees have new growth, I though this fog would make a nice natural defuser. 

I looked down on the bedroom window sill, to see this little ant. I took it's photo before smooshing it. We have an ant problem every Spring and Summer. Sadly, I have to smoosh all of the ants I find, so less come in.

This is a Common Redpole chirping in Crape Myrtle tree. 

This colorful insect was on the living room window.

Later in the evening, a large moth graced Pippi and I with it's presence. I wasn't able to take a clear photo of it, because it was moving quickly and taking clear insect photos at night is hard work. I like the moth shadow this photo shows with the moth.

This is my fuzzy moth hunting assistant Pippi with her "prey".

This insect was clinging to the window. It stayed still for a while, until I started taking photos. Flash bothers insects, but it's the only way I can take clear insect photos at night.

Day 160

Today, I went out at dusk to see how much light my camera would pick up without the full moon showing.

These are trees above our path. I love the painterly quality of these photos.

These are trees at the end of the culdesac. If you look closely in the full size photo (click on this photo to see the bigger one), you can see a star.

Better photo with said star.

The Rhododendron is lit by the path light. I like the contrast and shadows of this.

Day 159

Today is about what I found while looking through my living room windows.

I was looking at a bee, but noticed this inchworm crawling in a holly leaf. I like that it's able to hang on and stretch out so well.

Alex noticed this inchworm climbing up a strand. My camera wouldn't focus well on the tiny subject, in the air. I patiently waited for it to reach the tree.

This egg shaped web is perfect for Easter.

Later in the evening, there were several insects on the window.

This is a ladybug. I confirmed it had spots and wings, but I wasn't able to take a nice photo of those features.

This is another flying bug.