Seasons & BW Wednesday

Today I'm joining Jesh (St. Germains) & Adrienne (My Memory Art) for their memes:

SEASONS  and BLACK & WHITE WEDNESDAY











Saturday there were 2 festivals going on at once.  One was the Return to the River Salmon Festival.  Featured here are some of the Native American Dancers that performed during the event.

Some pretty grass that I decided to photograph on our walk up to where the ducks (rubber ones) were released for the Ducky Derby.

Izzy The Camel is a popular attraction at the Ducky Derby

A view of a farm across the creek from where the festivals were held.  It was a cloudy day but only a "sprinkling" of rain fell so while it was windy & cold the rain held off to everyone's relief.

A sea of colorful ducks floating down towards the finishing line.

A lone duck that drifted away from the pack.

Hooray because the first Klicker Strawberries of the Season were ready on Saturday so we had our first shortcake of the summer.  Yum!

Just because he's too cute not so share,  Bandit enjoying the sun streaming into the living room.

Willy Nilly Time

If you are here looking for my GOOD FENCES post click on the link.




Time now to join Tanya (Around Roanoke) for WILLY-NILLY FRIDAY FIVE.




1. I spotted a new "Art Sculpture" (?) while out at the Ducky Derby Race.  I snapped a photo of it.  The piece is titled:  Untitled No. 2  - It's a pretty odd piece of art work.  Not particularly my favorite.  What are your opinions.

 

 

2.  Coleen spotted another find out on one of our walks.  She found this pod thing on the ground and asked me what it was.  I had no clue but it came from a tree and when we looked up we discovered this:

 



 

I took some photos then went home and Googled..."trees with yellow and orange blooms that look like tulips."  That's when I learned this is called an American Tulip Tree.  Yesterday another blogger Miyako (Orchid's Daily Voice) posted some photos of this type of tree.  You might want to check her post out too.  It will be towards the end of the post.

 

 

3.  I've mentioned how every year we have a woodpecker come and peck on a nearby telephone pole for hours (it seems).  Well recently the woodpecker was back but this time he brought a friend.  Sorry but this is the best quality photo I could get.  I'm not sure what type of a woodpecker this is either.

 

 

4. On the way home from the store one night Coleen and I spotted this in someone's parking strip area (that's a patch of grass between the sidewalk and the street for those not familiar with the term.)  Actually the hive was apparently in a tree on the property but they had placed a hive on a ladder on the sidewalk.  I drove home quickly and got the camera to take some pictures.  This is one of the photos I took.

 

 

5.  Last night was Coleen's spring Piano Recital.  She played quite well this time and didn't seem to nervous. 

 



Her piece was called, The Little Waltz.  She's going to take the summer off from lessons and begin again in the fall.  Thought you would enjoy seeing another shot of her taken after the recital.

We sure think she's growing up fast and we're proud of her for being such a sweet and loving child.

Are you ready for cuteness...beside's Coleen?

Bandit enjoying his first taste of Whipped Cream.  He loved it!

The winning caption from last weeks CAPTION THIS:

Thanks Marie.  Marie blogs at A Colorful World.

On Monday I will have a Poll up with all the Caption This photos for last month for you to vote on.  -  There won't be a photo this week.  Check back on Monday for further details.

Have a great weekend. 

Ducky Derby Disappointment

Welcome. - As promised I'm sharing photos from this years annual Ducky Derby Race. 

We arrived shortly after the event started only to learn that they would not be launching the ducks down Mill Creek for the race as normal.  Apparently the sponsors of the race felt there was not enough current in the creek where the ducks are normally released for them to float down stream in a "timely" manner.  Instead they decided to just dump them in a field and have someone fish through the ducks to draw out the winners.  Needless to say we weren't to thrilled about that news but decided to stick around anyway.

 

The event is sponsored by a local bank and all the proceeds go towards prevention of Child Abuse.

 



The Grand Prize was this car or $10,000 in cash.  - There were other prize packages available as well.

A couple of the large inflatable ducks.  These ducks are placed on building around town prior to the race to advertise the race and encourage people to purchase ducks.

Coleen and "Izzy the Camel" - A kid was feeding him carrots and right after I took this shot Izzy swung his head and bopped Coleen in the head.  Thankfully she wasn't hurt, just startled.

We wandered around for awhile and then decided to get some of the .25 cent hotdogs and free drinks to enjoy while we waited for them to dump the ducks. (Coleen and her mom, Greta).

I managed to get Coleen to pose with "Splash" the mascot for the new Haggens store (they took over our local Alberston's last month).  Would you believe some lady was walking by with her kid and said,  "Look at that Bear!"  -  Splash is actually supposed to be an otter.  We laughed at her comment because seriously have you ever seen a bear look anything like this?

The ducks being dumped into the field.

The guy fishing through the pile to pull out winning ducks.  - I know just not much of a race if you ask me. 

Some of the pile up close.

Splash jumped into the pile and started throwing ducks in the air.  That was about the most exciting thing about the race this year.

A shot of part of the crowd taking in the event.

This is about the only duck (I think this is a duck) that we saw floating down Mill Creek at the race this year. -  Sadly none of the 5 ducks I purchased for $20 won the race or should I say the "non-race" this year.

Oh well....there is always next year!