My series of fails

It’s not easy capturing birds in flight. That’s a big understatement, but sometimes I get lucky. I sat by the kitchen window late yesterday afternoon in the pretty light, turning up the shutter speed considerably and shot the picture below on the first try.

 

I thought to myself, “close – but no cigar.” And so I continued to try my luck in order to catch an awesome wing spread. But it was to no avail. Below, I give you all my fails.

I know. You’re thrilled, aren’t you?

 

 

Now this is just weirdness.

 

 

Not quite.

 

 

Just missed this one. I was focusing manually too, because when I shoot in Shutter mode, the autofocus gets confused. Does it do that to you, owners of Nikon D7000’s? It’s easier to just shoot on manual focus when in that mode.

 

And another wonky one.

 

 

 

This one’s ok in a dreamy sort of way.

But only barely.

 

 

 

But this one of a male cardinal caught preening is my favorite.

Oh, there’s an entire series of this guy which I’ll have to share with you soon.

This is my favorite of the lot and was taken from the living room window.

 

And speaking of windows, our view through the woods of the the sun setting.

Taken with the long lens, Nikon 70-300mm, through the kitchen window.

 

Thanks for stopping by today.

ps – due to massive amounts of spam since the first of the year, I have recently had to limit comments to registered users only (which includes Open ID). A friend informed me that most of the people who do it  (spam) are out of work and live in 3rd-world countries. They get paid a small amount to pepper spam comments all over the world. I took it off and put it back to anonymous last night and within several hours, I got hit again. And I refuse – absolutely refuse to go word verification.  You are welcome to write me at katydid56@gmail.com if you have a problem commenting here.

Weekly Pinterest Finds

I know that at least one reader was vehement against me posting what I find interesting on Pinterest.  She said that she comes here to see MY photography. To that end, whenever I choose to share images I find on Pinterest, I'll always post one of my own. 

I enjoy perusing Pinterest from time to time. It's like looking through a magazine. When I see something I enjoy, I post it to one of my boards, of which I have several. And my Pinterest account is in George's name in case you were wondering. 

I love owls. And I love this image.

Source: 500px.com via George on Pinterest

From my New York, New York board.

Source: nestprettythings.tumblr.com via George on Pinterest

This one just makes me happy.

Source: flickr.com via George on Pinterest

An example of what raindrops can add to an image.

Source: mostbeautifulpages.com via George on Pinterest

I have a board titled Coolness, which is what this is.

Source: fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net via George on Pinterest

If I made every recipe I found on Pinterest, I would be huge. This one looks healthy and delicious, though. I love this site for the recipes, and it's really nice being able to store them on my boards.

Source: runningtothekitchen.com via George on Pinterest

Pretty blue bathroom.

Source: mostbeautifulpages.com via George on Pinterest

Gorgeous misty autumnal image.

Source: crossingislandnatur.tumblr.com via George on Pinterest

This is one of my own images, taken at the Four Seasons in Philadelphia a couple of years ago.

Source: katespictureaday.blogspot.com via George on Pinterest

Hope you enjoyed. Have a beautiful day ~

Moments in time

On the whole, my weekend was quiet (and damp). I made panko breaded chicken tenders and twice-baked potatoes on Saturday night with chocolate chip oatmeal crisps for dessert. Tonight, I served a small fryer chicken stuffed with lemon and rosemary, accompanied by root vegetables, and cornbread muffins. I would hesitate to agree with anyone who said I was a good cook; I am serviceable at best. But my son seems to think I am. I will say that it’s nice to be appreciated when you make something good.

It’s also nice when you don’t have to do the dishes. {Thank you, son}.

Otherwise, all was quiet. I appreciate the silence all the more these days.

 

All was silent as before -
All silent save the dripping rain.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

 

We found out the new squirrel-proof feeder wasn’t what it was cracked up to be.

It's not that I'm so smart,

it's just that I stay with problems longer. 

~Albert Einstein

 

 

 

I enjoyed several cups of tea.

May you always have walls for the winds,
a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire,
laughter to cheer you, those you love near you,
and all your heart might desire.
~Irish Blessing

 

 

 

And there was another lucky wing shot.

We do not remember days; we remember moments.

~Cesare Pavese

 

 

Hoping the week to come is good to you. I’m hoping it’s good for me, too.

Thanks for stopping by ~

Gray and green

I woke to a gray dawn and the sounds of an exuberant border collie clambering up the wooden stairs that lead to the bedroom.

I pretended to be asleep when he came to my side of the bed. I don’t know whether or not it fooled him, but he quietly went away. He’s respectful enough to leave me alone when it looks like I’m still asleep.

Sometimes I open one eye and look at him just to mess with him (and to see his tail wag like crazy). Seeing that is actually a pretty good feeling – just knowing that someone is that happy knowing that I’m awake.

{Taken early this morning}

I don’t have any plans for the day other than a small list of things I can accomplish on one quick trip out into the world. I thought about cleaning but thankfully the feeling passed.

I’m watching a documentary called Chesapeake Bay by Air on Maryland Public Television. It’s showing the shoreline and sites like lighthouses, and cities like Baltimore and Annapolis. From the air, it’s so interesting seeing what the forces of nature do to the coastline. It’s a beautiful documentary.

I can hear my son playing the guitar upstairs. He taught himself and it sounds like he’s trying to work out another Led Zeppelin tune. He plays by ear and records it when he gets it right. He’s got a keyboard up there too, and one of my favorite things to do is listening to my son playing the piano.

He got a job working 3rd shift so he’ll probably be falling asleep in a bit. He has off tonight so I’m sure he’ll be gone most of the weekend, so I’ll enjoy the music while I can.

Here’s my Happy St. Patrick’s Day image for you ~

I took it from the kitchen window this morning.

Sometimes I sit there to drink my coffee.

:   :   :

So what are you up to this weekend?

Inquiring minds need to know.

I still can’t get enough of {this song}.

 

There's pain in whatever, we stumbled upon

If I never had met you, you couldn't have gone

But then I wouldn't have met you, we couldn't have been

I guess it all adds up, to joy in the end...

Dive bomb

When a blogging friend wrote me this evening and asked if I were ok, I realized I hadn’t written a post since Saturday. I’ve had some stuff going on but as I like to say ~

All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.

Whatever that means.

Actually it means that {this too, will pass. And in the end, it will all be ok.}

 

This was a lucky shot taken from my chair through the kitchen window. A really lucky shot.

 

Not so lucky was losing the old widow’s walk which you can see lying in shreds on the top of the old manor house here.

John came and cleared it all today.

 

The trees are beginning to bud.

I love when that happens.

 

 

Dive bomb!!

 

 

Excuse me while I daintily eat my seeds.

 

 

I get such pleasure watching the birds. If anyone had told me twenty years ago that I would be doing this, I would have laughed at them. I just find the birds charming . . . and calming . . . and so very interesting.

Got my hair cut last night. Photos to come ~ if I am brave enough.

 

A quiet Saturday

It’s Saturday morning as I write this and oh my gosh – is it ever a beautiful day. It’s a day that has no particular plan other than my resolve NOT to do any cleaning.

I have done something to my knee. I woke up last Saturday in terrible pain and by Monday at work, was having electrical shock-like shooting pain near the kneecap. Thank heavens it only lasts about 10-20 seconds at a time, but the pain? It is intense. I scheduled an appointment with a new orthopedist that comes highly recommended and I’ll see him on Tuesday. Meanwhile, I am bracing it. And NSAIDs work. And I’ll sometimes go for hours on end with no pain. Ok, enough talk of such things. I can’t stand it when people go on and on about their ailments and I don’t want to be doing that to you.

One evening this week, I put on my pop-up flash bounce and took some pictures of my best friend. Unfortunately, he didn’t feel much like posing.

 

When John came over to fix the hatch to the widow’s walk this Wednesday after it blew off the roof in the storm, he brought his wife and daughter with him. His wife is a co-worker of mine, and a good friend. We had tea while John and my husband worked on the hatch situation. Their daughter, Gabrielle, was a little concerned about how George would be with her because the last time she saw him, he wasn’t very friendly.

For some reason George is afraid of children. He runs from them. Gabrielle was much smaller when she last saw George and I completely understood her hesitation. But Gabrielle is in 9th grade now and much taller and I’m glad to say that George is officially in love with her. When they got here, George was excited to see company and wanted to play. We were standing in the kitchen so I told him to go to his toy box and get one of his toys. “Get your snowy owl”, I said.

 

 

Christine and her daughter looked at each other as if to say, “yeah – right. Like he’s actually going to go get a toy because you asked him to.”

So imagine their surprise when he came back not just with a toy, but with the toy I requested. We went into the living room then and George proceeded to astound them with his leaping and fetching abilities. Gabrielle was worn out after a half hour of toy-throwing. Once George finds a new friend to toss toys, he doesn’t quit.

He was so happy.

 

 

Yes, George. You are a clever boy.

 

 

The sunset on Thursday. You can see the roofs of the houses in one of the two developments that border the property. They look quite close from this vantage point, but they’re really not. And in the spring and summer when the leaves are thick on the trees, you wouldn’t even know they’re back there.

 

Hope your weekend is full of good things.

Because that’s what weekends should be, right?

Until later, my friends ~

From my kitchen window

I took all of the pictures in this post from my favorite chair at my kitchen window. It faces west, and in the winter you can see the sun setting through the trees along the edge of the property.

 

Taken at sunset last night.

 

Taken as the sun was waning, in beautiful late afternoon light.

In fact, it was so beautiful that I couldn’t believe that snow was forecast for the following morning.

:   :   :

Yes. Snow. And some parts of Maryland got it today, but for us it was all rain although we had a snow day anyway, in preparation for the storm that was to come.

The rain was accompanied by strong wind gales, and several times the windows in the house seemed to shake with the force of it. I feel safe enough in this old manor house because I know that it’s been standing here through the centuries and am sure that it has suffered resolutely through many storms. But one gust today nearly knocked me off the chair. Upon investigation, we discovered that it had demolished the entire widow’s walk and left the heavy hatch to its roof entrance lying on the front yard.

The owner came to assess the damage, along with our trusted fix-it man, John. But until they came, my husband and I had to rig up a way to keep the rain from coming in. Honestly, with that wind sucking everything up, it was a little hairy at times today.

But it’s all fixed. Well, except we don’t have a widow’s walk anymore . . .

Here are a few posts that show what the widow’s walk used to look like:

Views from the widow's walk

It is accessed through an opening in the roof on the third floor of the house. One must climb up a ladder, then through another set of steps above the top of the ladder, removing the heavy hatch to get to the prize at the top which is a lovely view. The railings are all gone now and all that remains is the copper top with its hatch covering.

 

 

While the hatch was being worked on, I amused myself by taking photos of birds out the kitchen window. They were resting on the branches of the dogwood tree and trying to keep from being blown away.

 

An example of how windy it was for a tufted titmouse.

 

 

 

 

Now that is windy!

 

:   :   :

 

I’m glad I was home today because my husband would have been by himself when this happened. And I’m really glad that all is well now.

Chasing after some finer day

I can feel spring making an attempt at arrival. And Saturday, as the sun shone for a brief time, I sat outside in the cold until the clouds rolled back over. I took the camera with me just in case, not intending to actually get anything good but you never know if you’ll get lucky. My husband saw me sitting outside and brought out his special bird mix {the one with the fruit} and soon, there were birds a-plenty.

My husband never tells me anymore in words that he loves me. But he doesn’t need to. He has trouble with words anymore, but I can tell that he loves me by the little things he does for me. Like bringing out the fancy bird seed.

 

Hello, good sir.

 

 

The crazy bush was full of male cardinals. {I call it the crazy bush because it’s just a bunch of vines that grew around the stump of the old cherry tree in the west yard}. We’ve left it there and just keep cutting it back come summer, as it makes a great habitat for the birds.

 

 

There were a few female cardinals as well, and I waited until this one’s crest was fully extended before taking the shot.

She’s a purdy one.

 

 

This is a male cardinal with fright molt.

Fright molt is a survival mechanism that occurs during trauma. All the tail feathers will pop out at the same time, and it’s meant to confuse their predator. The feathers will grow back in about 4-6 weeks. Thank you to my good friend, {Reena} for posting about it earlier this week. I’d seen birds with no tail feathers before but wasn’t aware there was a name for it.

I had only been outside for about 20 minutes, happily photographing my fine feathered friends when suddenly, they scattered. I kept my eyes peeled for the sharp-shinned hawk who must surely be nearby.

 

 

And there he was. I shot this through the branches of the lilac bush and am loving the cool bokeh that seems to have come from the combination of that and the trees along the edge of the property.

This appears to be a juvenile sharp-shinned hawk. He’s rather small – although you can’t tell this from the photograph. After a couple of moments, I stood up slowly, hoping to maybe get him to fly to a better location for my lens. That’s when I noticed the cardinals in the bush nearby. I didn’t want to spook them as they were completely still. I took a few more steps and the hawk flew to the upper branches of the dogwood, landing directly above me.

 

 

He looks fierce.

:   :   :

It’s Sunday and I’ve got no real plans other than relaxing, doing some reading {Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet}, a little knitting {something in which I do not excel}, and maybe watching a movie {Owd Bob}. Tonight I’m roasting a chicken. I’ll stuff it with lemons and rosemary and our house will smell like heaven for several hours.

And when I look back at this post in years to come  ~  and I will  ~  I’ll remember that these were the good old days.

Here’s hoping that you’re enjoying your Sunday, as well.