Happy Friday, TGIF and happy 4th of July, Independence Day, to those in the United States! I hope to be able to see some of these tonight, this is from last years show that a homeowner near me puts on every year. It's about better than a town show. The sparks from the fireworks created a bit of a bokeh effect and today is about bokeh as well because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!
I had transplanted about 3 or 4 Common Milkweed plants a few years ago when there was going to be some major road work and they were going to be wiped out. They have been doing well and spread more each year. I was very pleased to see that a Monarch had found them and produced this caterpillar this year. Hope it survives and continues on it's journey.
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! One of my favorite wildflowers is in bloom and I have a pretty good patch of them. These are Queen Anne's Lace at a couple different stages. These don't seem to have the prominent red spot that gives them their name in the center. They are in the Parsley family but are also known as Wild Carrot. They usually bloom June through September. I think they are very photogenic flowers.
Happy first day of July! I was able to capture a semi decent image of a beautiful male Wood Duck while I was in Minnesota. It was out on one of the small ponds by the barn when I was headed out to dinner one evening. I wish I had been closer and that the light had been better but will take what I can get. 😁 They have such a beautiful coloration/pattern to them.
Happy Monday, happy new week and happy last day of June. My goodness the summer is going quickly. I have had a few opportunities recently for butterfly images. They have not been as plentiful as I would like, no sign of Painted Ladies yet. This is a female Black Swallowtail on my Butterfly Milkweed that I was able to capture last weekend.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Today's image once again is from my recent week in Minnesota. They hold a Kid's Day every year during the Steam School weekend and it was as popular as ever. We had lots of riders who enjoyed being behind a steam engine. I took this image during a test run I was doing the day before in front of the cool coaling tower that was donated to the railroad along with the buildings seen in other pictures and videos.
I have a short video of the train traveling past this Coaling Tower HERE:
While I was out looking for wildlife photo opportunities I was down by the big pond on the grounds. It was so still and serene with nice reflections. It was quite the contrast to what we are having lately with high winds and heat.
