Queen of the Setting Sun

Yesterday evening I grabbed a few minutes to waddle about the yard a bit and see what I could be creative with in my presently *confined quarters*. I have a large area at the back of the lot I have chosen not to mow; some due to fuel prices but mostly because I live in the country and enjoy seeing what comes up.
The Queen Anne's Lace was exceptional this year, and even now, dried, in seedheads, the plant is a delight.
This is another of my captured on the fly with fingers crossed, shooting into the sun, photos!
I love it.
I am guessing that maybe this is becoming my signature style; break the rules, shoot with abandon, hold your breath and hope one turns out!
I should have waited to share this with some of the other shots of the evening, but I think it deserves a post of it's own.......click gently, it should enlarge. ;-)

Pax....

Nature's Architects

Last week before the storms rolled in, I enjoyed a leisurely walk down the road with camera in hand. I actually had spotted this little marvel while I was out scything thistles, and came close to hitting the ironweed on which it is built. Seeing the nest, I backed off and left the thistles around it, to protect it.

Later that evening, the whopping storm rolled through. On the ruse that I was checking the trees and powerlines, I exited the house when the rain passed to check the nest.

And there it was, still sturdy as could be. I was pretty amazed, but when you get a good look at how intricately it is woven around the stems and leaves of the ironweed, it is not surprising it withstood the onslaught of rain and hail. I still wondered if it was new or was a *spare* as some birds build more than one before nesting.

Next day, another peek.......AH! One speckled egg! So it is inhabited! At this point I was still unsure of the species to whom it belonged, though I had some suspects.

A check back again today (with way too much sun, sorry!) and now the eggs are three and I saw a flash of dark sweep away from the nest as I aproached to get the photo.

This is in rather wet ground, soooooo............

.......When I saw Papa Redwing Blackbird, sitting on the electric wire, expressing his displeasure with my presence in a very loud voice, my suspicions were confirmed.

The bird photo was luck, pure and simple, as I was shooting blind into a sunny sky. It was not until I uploaded the pics that I noticed him in full squawk! Dad is NOT HAPPY.

I quietly walked away, leaving the prospective family to their housekeeping.

I am hoping this nest makes it as the nincompoops in this area tend to mow all the roadsides and never look at what they are cutting. Where the nest is located is a ditch that used to be full of wildflowers and beautiful grasses. Now only thistles and the ironweed survive. Oh yes. And copious quantities of poison ivy.

I'll have to keep an eye on the birds and hopefully they can raise their little ones and then I may harvest the nest, so they will go into the gulley, where living conditions are much safer.

Country life........it has it's perks!

Pax....

P.S. For some reason, I am getting comments to moderate, but they will not publish, nor am I getting them through my e-mail system. Blogger must be at it again!

If you have left a comment and it is unpublished, I apologize, but this one is way out of my hands....sorry for the inconvenience!

Life Everywhere.....

I spent a portion of yesterday roaming the yard and acres south of the house, looking for camera fodder. Everything has swung from Winter hybernation to life with one quick pass.....and we are under the scourge of some of the highest pollen levels I've encountered here. The sensible Anne would stay indoors and not venture out.
But that is not the Anne that grabs the camera and runs be it in night clothes or fully dressed!
I was surprised my redbud was doing this well. This is a native tree that has suffered from blight brought into the area by cheap trees imported from who knows where, diseased. I lost one redbud; it is on my list for this year to take down.

Under the protective branches and petals of the magnolia is my one lone Celandine Poppy. These used to be found is drifts in the woods, but with a good portion of old woodland going under the chainsaw, they are becoming sparser, harder to find. Mine was a gift from a friend who has a mass under one of her trees. I don't dig from the wild, although the occasional ditchrow gets some dirt and plants lifted. (the last time I did, I ended up digging into poison ivy roots and was at the hospital.....I am a bit more cautious now!)

The Jacob's Ladder that I purchased one plant of has multiplied and wandered throughout the front garden. Their delicate blossoms hold well when cut for bouquets, their tiny heads nod gently in the breeze. The chipmunk that is the resident *ground-mover* has not deterred this hardy plant from surviving. Perhaps it is not tasty.....which is a good thing! My poor garden is so ripped up (especially after not being able to care for it properly last year) that I am not sure what will be left until it blooms! If only I was a quick shot......which I am NOT!!! LOL!!!

After my camera adventure I succumbed to the allergy meds and promptly deposited myself into the comfy chair in front of the TV for the rest of the day and evening, and finally by nightfall the headache gone.

But who could miss the opportunity to record these beauties? My bit of Spring, captured in a mass of pixels, hidden away on a computer drive and waiting to be printed or saved to an external drive or put forth into the blogworld here. As much as it frustrates me, technology is wonderful!

And now I am off to check the weather, check the flowers and see if I can get myself again to the point of gasping for air, for the sake of photos.

It's not sane, but I love every second of it!

Enjoy!!!

Pax.