Grasshopper and Confederate Rose

The plant is a Confederate Rose. It's an interesting plant that blooms in the late summer or early fall. The blooms come out white, and then quickly turn red for one day before they are gone. This one had not bloomed yet when I took the photo, but the leaves were being consumed by this rather large grasshopper. I didn't kill him or run him off because there seemed to be plenty of leaves for him and the plant, but he stayed around for several days. Get a load of those drumsticks! I remember seeing these guys by the hundreds when I was growing up in Georgia, and they are probably still there, but I just don't spend nearly as much time roaming around grassy fields as I did then.

2 Things Challenge Apple/Eye

The 2 Things Challenge this week is Apple/Eye. My step-daughter posed for me for a class I took last year, and I called this photo "Brown Eyed Girl." Since she was holding an apple, and this is one of my favorite photos of her, I thought it appropriate for this challenge.

Two Things Challenge - Road/Arch

Road = Abandoned stretch of the Pennsylvania Turnpike near Breezewood, great place for a hike
Arch = Roof of two mile stretch of tunnel through the mountain, scary black hike except the ends

Others = My stepdaughter, my neice, my grandneice, and their dogs, marching off into the fall foliage a couple of years ago; priceless

No Vacancy

From Eeyore's Ramblins

These shiny butted bumblebees (or possibly carpenter bees, I'm not positive) were just swarming all around the balloon flowers. I was right in the middle of them, but they paid no attention to me. Good thing, too. I remember trying to catch them as a child when they would go down inside a deep flower and I would grab the end of the flower and close it up. Actually I only think I did that ONCE! Now the only thing I try to capture is their image.

Cruise In

From Eeyore's Ramblins

Every third Saturday night, at least during the summer, owners of antique and restored vehicles gather in a parking lot in Columbiana, Alabama, and sit around admiring each other's vehicles and swapping tales. I wandered around a couple of weeks ago and tried to get some photos of shiny stuff (there was plenty of it around). This was the engine in a restored Corvette.

Just Hanging Around at Lay Lake

Like Dusty said on his blog the other day, these guys are incredibly hyperactive and difficult to catch. This one had staked out this twig as his home base (at least for a few minutes) and was using it as his lookout position to guard his little corner of the lake. When any other dragonfly, or mosquito hawk as I grew up calling them, came near, he would dart at them, chase them away, and return to his perch. Since he routinely landed near the same spot, I set up the tripod, focussed on that spot, and waited with the shutter release cable in my hand. He would land and I would trip off several shots. Until that afternoon I really did not know there are so many different kinds of dragonflies, many sizes, and colors, but all the same basic helicopter shape. And all very adept at changing directions abruptly in mid-air.

2 Things Challenge Star/Appeal

The 2 Things Challenge this week is Star/Appeal. I have enjoyed taking some photos of the night sky, so I guess you could say it "appeals" to me, and this cluster particularly appeals to me. It is Pleiades, otherwise known as the "Seven Sisters." It is one of the nearest star clusters to earth, and it's been around a while. I even remember it from when I was a child. The thing is, we used to think of it as the Little Dipper. It is not the Little Dipper, but we were kids and didn't know any better. Neither did our parents. I was almost disappointed a few years ago when I got a star book and looked it up. But then I thought the real names, Pleiades, and Seven Sisters, were just as appealing as Little Dipper would have been. Now I look for it it the winter sky whenever I'm outside, in the country, away from the city lights. Fortunately this one is bright enough to be seen even through some of the light pollution.