Every year, we are swarmed by these tiny little spotted beetles. The wee creatures get into the house by the hundreds and we are constantly having to vacuum them up. According to our local experts, these are not the beetle popularly known as Lady Bugs.
As a result of these little bugs not being "Ladies" we have affectionately dubbed them Hussy Bugs. Such is our sense of humor.
Saturday morning, I sat on the river bank and watched geese squabbling over the same length of river. Most of them were mating pairs. The one exception was this loner. Strangely enough, he always came out on top.
Tree reflected on The Little Miami River.
Thursday morning, I spent half a day hiking along the river in Clifton Gorge. The weather was perfect & as always in the spring, I had the itch go get out and comune with Mother Nature. When it comes to the woods, I am pretty predictable.
Don't you love the vibrant greens that only appear in the spring of the year?
All of that new growth seems incredibly fresh. Months of winter's gray and then within a few days, the green rushes in like a great tide. Suddenly, you feel alive.
My favorite flowering tree is red bud. I like the sparseness of the buds. The tree seems to be light and airy as a result. Red bud is in bloom and I am a happy camper.
Are you a cat and do you live in a box? Life is not so bad on a warm sunny day. Just close your eyes and soak it all in.
Got to wash your toes? Don't worry about it, it's your box and you can do what ever you want. Life is good, don't sweat it.
Whenever I approach a photo subject, I try to see something new or iconic in the image. I often take several images from different angles and with different settings. I'm trying to go beyond the normal view of the object. I try to determine what caught my eye. Was it the light? Was it the shape or maybe the contrast in colors?
My approach to a scene would be a little different. Then, I would often look for the story that the scene tells. However, with objects, I am often focused on trying to catch your eye without telling a story. I just want you to see what I see. I want your eye to settle where I think it should. Often, through framing, focus, depth of field, and post processing, I can lead your eye around the image until it becomes riveted to a single spot in the picture. That is a real challenge, and is real power.
Of course, sometimes, I just see something pretty and want to take a picture of it. Really… no need to over think it.
This weekend, we realized that grape hyacinth spreads like a weed. We planted it in one spot and a year later, we find it popping up in the oddest spots around the yard. Not that we are really complaining, it does look fantastic and makes for some really interesting bokeh.
Who knew?
We have a gorgeous magnolia in our back yard. The blooms are a wonderfully vivid pink. What is strange is that the tree is blooming a month early.
Even stranger, the poor magnolia is already past its prime and is shedding leaves.
The heavy rains that we've seen for the last two days are part of the problem. They stripped many of the petals off of the blooms, leaving them on the ground in a perfect circle around the tree.
The pink litter fills flower pots, covers chairs and blankets the ground like a densely packed snow. What a strange, warm year this has been.
tim mcmurdo 