Willy Nilly Friday Five and Feline Friday

Yikes!  Summer is going by so quickly and I've not posted much about it.  Seems like I'm so busy trying to keep up with yard work, housework, taking care of my mom etc..that I barely have time to breath much less blog.  I miss it,  so every now & then I manage to do a post just to let you all know I'm still alive.

Joining Tom (The Backroads Traveller) for WILLY NILLY FRIDAY FIVE
and Sandee (Comedy Plus) for FELINE FRIDAY

1. June was a nice cool month and we had a nice surprise on June 29th with a tiny rainshower and a rainbow.  This is the best shot I could manage of the rainbow....

Others were much luckier.  You can view their shots HERE and HERE

That same evening the sunset was just wonderful and I snapped this shot of it:

 

2. Drove up to Bennington Lake one evening and spotted these colorful kayaks out on the lake.

 

 

3.  I also found some Queen Anne's lace to photograph.

Here is an "artsy" edit of the same photo.

 



 

4.  On the way out of the lake I spotted a Quail sitting on a fence post.  I quickly pulled into a nearby turnout and quietly got out of the car and got as close as I could without spooking the quail.  I've always wanted to get a shot of a quail like this.  Sadly I didn't quite get the quail in good focus but it's not a bad shot and I'll keep working on getting just the perfect shot of a quail.

 



 

5.  We didn't go out of town over the 4th of July but we did manage a picnic at one of the local parks.  Below are shots of us having a good time.

 



 

 

6.  Bonus shot of one of the many hanging baskets in our down town.

 



 

Now for FELINE FRIDAY....

 

 



A shot of Bandit watching one of the other cats.  He has such gorgeous eyes.

 

 

It's a HOT one here this week.  The high today is expected to be 102 so I'm leaving you with this musical selection.

 

 



 

Have a great weekend.  For those of you in the "Heat Wave" areas stay cool and safe.

Friday Fun - Sept. 22, 2017

Welcome!

Today is the "official" First Day of Autumn (Fall) here in the US.
One of my all time favorite seasons and it has been a beautiful day here.

So today I'm joining Tanya (Around Roanoke) for WILLY-NILLY FRIDAY FIVE

I went to Rooks Park today to take some pictures and I'm sharing some of the photos I took while I was there.

1.  I spotted a large bird flying in the air as I was walking through the park.  I managed to get a shot of the bird in flight but I'm saving that for another post. (I know rats....) - Anyway the bird landed in a tree and I was able to get some shots of it.

This is as close as I could get with the lens that I had on the camera.  The bird is some type of a hawk I believe. - Edited to add,  I now believe this bird is an Osprey rather than a Hawk.  Any birders out there to help with identification let me know.

  - Later on in this post you'll see another picture of this bird.

2.  A sign that Autumn is in the air...

 

3.  Just a pretty shot of the clouds and one of the trails in the park.

 

4.  A photo of some Queen Anne's lace in bloom. - What caught my eye was the tiny hint of "lavender" in the center of the bloom.  - That's a bit unusual.

5.  On the way out I noticed these little rock cairn formations.

 

 

6. Okay for my bonus photo...I caught another shot of the hawk in flight and after I uploaded it to the computer I noticed something cool in the shot. 

 

Be sure to enlarge the photo for better detail.

 

 

 

Do you see it? - The bird has a fish in it's talons!  My first ever capture of a bird with a fish. 

 

 

Also joining in on FRIENDLY FILL-INS on McGuffy's Reader.

 

 

Week 72: September 22, 2017

 
1. I would never be friends with someone who _______________.

2. I will never refuse ________________.

3. I have never been to                     , but                              .

4. When it comes to                            , I                              .

 

My answers: 

1.  I would never be friends with someone who cuts down others to make themselves appear to be better. - That really annoys me.

 

2.  I will never refuse a helping hand when I'm stressed out.

 

3.  I have never been to Hawaii, but I have been to Canada.

 

4.  When it come to housework, I tend to procrastinate as long as possible.

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Finally for FELINE FRIDAY (being hosted on Comedy Plus)

 

 

It's Caramel Honeybun - Checking something out that caught her attention.

 



Black and White Wednesday - Scenes from Bennington Lake

Today I'm joining Adrienne (My Memory Art) for:
BLACK & WHITE WEDNESDAYS








We took a quick drive up to Bennington Lake the other day & I snapped a few photos while we were there.  I'm sharing them today.  I've converted them to BW but I'll include the colored versions too.

Be sure to click to enlarge:

Spotted this Falcon (correct me if this is a Hawk)  I was quite please at how close I was able to get with the 75-300mm lense that came with my new camera. - Although this has been cropped.

Queen Anne's Lace in bloom.  One of the shots I took while practicing Depth of Field (DOF) shots.

 

 

A Dragon Fly we spotted - Coleen pointed it out to me.  Loving the shimmering wings.

Fencing and grass near one of the trails that you can walk on around the lake area.

 

 

Farmland viewed from across the lake.