2 Things Challenge: Stone / Stare

This stone (I think it is actually concrete) statue of Jesus graces a small family plot in the nearby Wilsonville Cemetary.  Some stares can be mean, contemptuous, inquisitive, interested, or simply blank, but this one seems compassionate.

Swallowtails Two

Odd pairing at the butterfly bush.

It's Mine!

These guys are fighting the yellow jackets and the hummingbirds for access to the sweet nectar.

Swallowtail

An Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly on the fading butterfly bush.

2 Things Challenge: Metal/Medal

The 2 Things Challenge for last week was Metal/Medal.

This 2 inch heavy metal medal was awarded during my senior year in high school to the person who made the highest score on a city wide math competition test given to the advanced math classes in all the high schools.  Unfortunately, it went to a boy from our cross town rival high school.  A couple of weeks later my math teacher was reviewing all the problems and solutions from the test with our math class.  When he worked through one of the problems, I pointed out that the answer given was wrong, and that another one of the answers was indeed the correct answer.  When I showed him the mistake, he agreed and took the issue up with the others in charge of the competition.  Everyone's test was regraded, and the new winner was me.  They actually went to the other boy and made him give it back. 

The goldish medal is tarnished with green now after 44 years in a little plastic case at the back of the top shelf of my closet, but it felt a little tarnished the day I got it.  They should have let the other boy keep it and gotten me a new one, or just forgotten it.

Something for Dusty

Seems like I remember that Dusty likes rusty.

Moisture

We finally got a little shower on Friday afternoon.  It wasn't much, but it left a little puddle on the deck so I could get a reflection of the big oak.

Then it rained all Saturday morning, but still not a lot of water to soak the ground and really help the parched plants.  I had decided to try a photograph of my son's old bike for the 2 Things Challenge, so I rolled it out to the driveway, propped it up, and got the camera.  When I went from 72 degrees inside, to 85 degrees outside and probably 100% humidity, the lens immediately fogged up.  I decided to try one photo while waiting on the camera to heat up and clear, and I sort of liked it, especially desaturated, but not as much as the colorful Schwinns below.

2 Things Challenge: Bar/Seat

The 2 Things Challenge this week was Bar/Seat.  These new "retro" bicycles by Schwinn have both, especially the boys version (the blue one), and they look quite comfortable to ride.

Hummmmmmm

It's Hummingbird season in Alabama. This young male was a frequent diner at the feeder, and his little luminescent throat looks golden here:

and it looks like it's got a hint of red here. Depends on how the light hits him.

I'm not sure if the female is attached somehow to the male, or if she is strictly a competitor for the food. They sure try to chase each other away.

2 Things Challenge: Smooth/Ripple

The 2 Things Challenge for this week was Smooth/Ripple. If anything says smooth and ripple at the same time to me, this is it. It reminds me of the splash from a pebble with the ripples racing across the surface. This may be my first interpretation that doesn't have an actual photograph, but hey, I saw it, and I pressed the button to capture it (just not a shutter release). It's sort of like a photo without my trusty Sony Alpha. I'll tell you how I did it in the comments, maybe Monday or Tuesday, or you can guess.