My World this Week ~

This week afforded me the opportunity to visit an area to which I have not been. It has be on my, long ago made, list of day trip places to explore. Unknowingly, and to my luck, I arrived on the day of the migration of the monarch butterfly. Imagine my delight when we ventured out on the trails to see flowers, trees and bushes covered with 1000s of nectar drinking beauties. I later read, in fact, over 100,000 butterflies had stopped to eat and rest before making the long journey to South America. Rest assure, I have marked my calendar, as I will not miss magical moment next year.

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B ~ Marco Monday ~

As summer draws to a close, everyone is busy getting ready for the colder days ahead.

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Itchy Critter ~

The Patagonia Cavy ~ large rodent which resembles the hare. Adults weigh in at 40 lbs. When being eyed up, as a good snack, by a larger creature they can reach speeds of 35 miles/hour. However, it appears this poor little fellow was having difficulties out running the pesky, little black flies.

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Photo Share ~

(SkyWatch ~ one photo down)

This week I had the opportunity to head out, with camera in hand. I spent time playing with my aperture settings. I took distance shots with the background in focus and the foreground blurred, then changed my aperture and captured the same photo with a different aperture, completely changing the look of the photo. Due to my quest to capture some amazing photos, I had the chance to see a pool of starfish. A first for me. I took a chance on trying to capture some "out of reach" photos. I took a daytrip to visit a “never been to place”. My timing was perfect. Unknowingly, I chose the day of the arrival of the migrating butterflies. Never have I seen such a magical site as I did on this day. As I stood on the trail, in the marshland, 1000s of beautiful butterflies surrounded me. I learned several, life and photographic lessons this week.

SkyWatch Friday ~

On the last of summer, the sky was bright and beautiful.

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Caged ~

Seeing Clearly ~

My Kayaking World ~

The cooler nights and shorter hours of daylight, bring depressing thoughts of endless hours of indoor activies. I have been soaking up every last bit of summer. Last week while out paddling my kayak, on the cystal clear water of the lake, I spied this beautiful white lily. Seemingly trying to do the same.

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Marco Monday ~ Milkweed Motel

I am not one to complain about getting old. As a matter of fact, these are the best years of my life, with one exception, my eyesight is not what it use be. I need my reading glasses to see just about everything up close.

Our local butterfly garden is home to numberous milkweed plants. While visiting last week, I noticed 2 red bugs on this neon green pod. Not having my glasses with me, I started to clicking away, only to find, after uploading to my computer and making the image visible to my aging eyes, what it was that those 2 red bugs were actually doing.

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Camera Critter ~ Willy ♥

Last Wednesday B and I were off on the same day. Since this is a rare occasion, and it was a glorious day, we celebrated by taking the girls swimming. Willow, a.k.a. Willy, was on sensory overload. After fetching a stick out of the water several times, her nose hit the ground and she was off to investigate everything. Sadly, for her, this area tends to get busy with hikers, and admittedly not everyone likes someone else’s wet, sandy, overly excited, dog jumping on them, Willy needed to be leashed. Need I say she was not happy about it. But despite herself, she had a wonderful time.

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I am going to miss Summer ~

The Pollinators ~

~ SkyWatch Friday ~

@ work, under the cover of bright blue skies.

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Last Days of Summer ~

New Friend ~

The Girls, in My World ~ ♥ ~

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Little Hardshell Friend ~

Don't know but I like it ~

SkyWatch ~ Earl

Last week preparations were made for the arrival of Hurricane Earl. To prevent injury, boats were pulled in from the waters. The ocean churned with his anger but luckily his bark was worst than his bite. And although the skies were dark and gray, Earl passed by with little damage.

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Red Wing ~

SkyWatch Friday ~ Sunset

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