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It's a marvelous night for a moondance

This is another one of the photos I shot on my saturday night run to see the sunset. One thing I like about where I live--a lot of sky.

Autumn Sunset

I was cleaning up the kitchen after dinner yesterday and kept stepping to the patio door to watch the sunset. After awhile, I decided to go get some pictures of it. So, I ran to get my camera and tripod and jumped in the car to get away from the houses. These pictures are taken at a spot about 5 minutes from my house.



I must have looked kind of odd with my car pulled over on a gravel road, door hanging open, frantically trying to set up my tripod with my camera and telephoto lens. I was only standing there for about 10 minutes. But the whole thing was glorious.



I managed to get about 30 pictures before the sun disappeared. These are my favorites.

Oktoberfest

This weekend it's been just crazy in my little corner of the world. It's Manteno's Oktoberfest weekend. It included garage sales, a marathon, a talent contest, a food contest, an arts and crafts show, a carnival, rides, food and even a tour of the bottom of a quarry. Bottom line is that it's just been crazy in my quiet town. Personally, I like it better when a traffic jam is two cars at the stop light. But that's just me.



I brought the kids to the carnival today. We did rides and games. I only let them play games that guaranteed a prize. It's so sad to see them play a game that costs $5 a shot and walk away empty handed. Of course, that meant that I was not only juggling my camera, but all of their little prizes as well. They did pretty well with the prizes. I must have looked kind of funny.



It always cracks me up to post pictures of the silos in the "downtown" area of Manteno and say that they're the tallest structures in town....but they are. Here's a shot of the carnival against the water tower with the silos standing behind. Oooops...almost forgot to mention the riding lawn mower races. I don't think I've ever seen so many riding lawn mowers all in one place. I think there were a few tractors in there as well. We saw them after the races were over and they were all riding together to the local Ace Hardware. LOL...can't wait until next year.

it's wild

Monee Reservoir is a peaceful place. Many people go there just to fish. So, any amount of noise is not welcome. The place is surrounded by native plants, including this wildflower. I see it all over the place, but of course, couldn't tell you the name. As usual.

monee reservoir

I had a few free moments to take a drive today. Lots of corn that's drying out, some ripening soybeans. Before you know it, the fall colors will be here. Until then, here's a picture of some floating thingys in storage over at Monee Reservoir--a nice fishing spot near Monee (of course.) One thing I wanted to mention--I saw a lot of beautiful open land, miles of cornfields, soybean fields, forest preserves, hawks etc. Plus we all around here have heard the cries of the coyotes late at night (or in my case, very early in the morning) and the likes of all kinds of critters. Why would you want to pave all of that over with an airport? Furthermore, who would ever think that the Chicago area needs a third airport? Okay, I'm done ranting.

summer turns me upside down

Well, the kids go back to school tomorrow. Summer has just flown by. We had a lot of fun this summer, especially in the pool. Plus, we were able to spend much more time in our pool this summer than last. We still have days ahead of us for swimming. But too soon, we'll be closing the pool and getting ready for another Chicagoland winter.

night creeps
across corn fields
quiet snow drifts
snake across the road
remembering summer

-bpl 8/10

You Can't Judge a Book by it's Cover

Ugh! What is that? It's a variety of yellow squash. Very mild tasting. But when cooked into muffins, along with a couple tablespoons of pumpkin pie spice, they can be very yummy. Even was able to get Jeremy to eat some. I love making vegetables into dessert. LOL.

Don't Bug Me

This moth lounged on my screen door all morning. Must be nice.

To-ma-toe, To-mah-toe, Let's Call the Whole Thing Off

The tomatoes are starting to ripen. I think there's a million of them out there. The tomato plants are like monstrous creatures that have split apart their tomato cages (except the ones Debbie gave me) and are taking control of the northern half of my garden. I spent awhile this evening boiling tomatoes. Which makes it easier to peel the skin off and remove the seeds. I already have some hot and medium peppers. Still need to make some salsa.

'Cause I've Got Magic In My Eyes

I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles.....

I am told that Pete Townshend says "miles" 57 times in that song. lol. Just wanted to share another shot of the clouds from my back doorstep.

Wait wait wait...Roger Daltry sings this song, right?

Green Tomatoes

I've blogged before about my mutant zucchini plants. I need to prune them again this weekend. Geez. But now my tomato plants are taking off. I may have to prune them as well (can you prune tomato plants without killing them?) because they're so heavy that they're falling over in their cages. I have a lot of tomatoes in the garden. Unfortunately, most of them are green, like these lovely roma tomatoes. I know they'll all ripen at once and I'll be buried in tomato skin and seeds.

While I was out in the back yard checking out my garden, a little bird kept stopping by to watch me. (below) I only had the 18-55 lens on the camera and the bird wouldn't let me get very close. So, this is the best I could do.



He just kept chirping and watching me pull up tomato cages and swat mosquitoes. I went in the house to get my telephoto lens, but he was gone by the time I came back out. He had the prettiest song. Well, it's been like animal kingdom in my backyard this summer, so I imagine he'll be back eventually.

tourist moment - washington dc

I'm here in dc for a few days because of work. My hotel is just a few blocks from this place, so i thought i'd stop by for a visit. This is another picture from my cell phone. I need to break down and buy a real camera that will fit in my briefcase. It's been awhile since I've had a few minutes while I'm here to play tourist. But, if I really was a tourist, you know I'd have a different camera with me.

Going Home

Today I used my cell phone camera to try and capture some images of my trip home from work. I have already posted some of them on FB. But here are some of my favorites.

This is the train platform. I like the stark patterns. Usually there's a pigeon walking around on the platform looking for food. Pigeons are just flying rats IMHO.



Part of the problem of the whole affair was that for the most part, the train was moving. I managed to capture the reflection of this young family. They were having a lot of fun in the middle of baby screams.



Once I reached my station (the end of the line) I had some awesome tunes going. Kris Bell serenaded me the entire trip home.



A sure sign home is near are always the corn fields. This one is just a few minutes from my house. Basically, we're surrounded by corn and soybeans. The farmers rotate the fields every year. So next year, this field will most likely have soybeans growing in it.



My cell phone camera always causes me heartburn, given that I can sometimes be too much of a perfectionist. But it's always fun to keep people wondering what the hell I'm doing and why I'm taking pictures. But hey, don't need a cell phone to do that. lol.

Garden Update

This is a view of my monster zucchini plants. I spent quite a bit of time last weekend pruning the leaves so I could actually see what was going on down on the ground. I had to cover up pretty well and it wasn't fun considering how warm it was last weekend. Plus, I cut down enough to fill one of those huge heavy brown paper garbage bags they sell at the hardware store for grass clippings. I still ended up with a mosquito bite on my face. I've been trying to be diligent about picking the zucchini so they don't grow to monster size. But I found several hiding in the garden. I used one to make a zucchini crisp. I diced one zucchini and it was enough to fill up a 13 by 9 pan. lol. It's really good. It tastes like apple pie.




These are my tomato plants. They're also huge and have many tomatoes already. But none of them are red. It's been too warm in the evening for them to ripen. Gotta start warming up all of my tomato recipes soon.

I can't say that these are the most artful pictures. But I just had to share them. It's been a productive growing season.

Black Tiger Swallowtail

Yesterday I blogged about a picture of the yellow tiger swallowtail I photographed at Cheekwood. This is a picture of the black tiger swallowtail. Very pretty. But as usual, difficult to focus on since it's black. There are a few tricks to force the camera to focus automatically, which is probably the best bet when running around after butterflies with a camera. Not much time for a manual focus. I took a lot of pictures of this same butterfly at Brookfield Zoo, but they didn't turn out quite as well. They were busy checking out the flowers, being very fluttery.

Tiger Swallowtail

I managed to catch a picture of this Tiger Swallowtail butterfly during my recent visit to Cheekwood Botanical Gardens. There's three or four different types of the Tiger Swallowtail. I think this might be the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, but I'm just guessing based on some brief research. We were also chasing around what I now know to be the black form of the Tiger Swallowtail. But I think I like the yellow form the best. Just call me the butterfly seeker.

Bug Lunch or What's in a Name?

This is another shot of mine from Cheekwood. I thought this little flying creature was so interesting. I can't say that I've seen anything like it around where I live. Anyone have a clue what it is? I first thought it was a butterfly because of the antennas (antennae?). I thought it was just the right shade to be flying among these flowers. Black eyed Susans? Who knows. As usual, I'm totally clueless about the name of the both the bug and the flower. But I love the color! There were also some big fuzzy bees floating around having lunch at the time. Getting pictures of flowers, butterflies and other misc bugs requires hazard pay.

Chasing Waterfalls

As I have already said, last weekend, I was in Nashville. Lisa, Laura, Jen and I visited Cheekwood to see the Chihuly glass exhibits. But, I just had to stop and take some pictures of the small waterfalls. I took similar pictures at different speeds to demonstrate that water is very interesting. The picture above is at ISO 400 (F stop is at 9.). The water looks like it's in motion-you can see the blur.



This is a similar picture but with the ISO at 1600 (F stop is 6.3). The faster speed catches up with the speed of the water. So now it almost looks like a big icicle frozen in place over the small waterfall. I prefer pictures of flowing water at faster speeds.

Don't go chasing waterfalls
Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to
I know that you're gonna have it your way or nothing at all
But I think you're moving too fast -- TLC

Chihuly Cattails

During my recent trip to Nashville, we had a chance to see the Chihuly glass exhibit at the Cheekwood Botanical Gardens. (www.cheekwood.org/Art/Chihuly_at_Cheekwood) It's really interesting. They're exhibiting the Chihuly glass in the natural settings of the Cheekwood gardens. This is a small view of Chihuly's Cattails exhibit. Again, if you're in Nashville, make some time to go see this!

break for the blues

Well, the blues and rock and roll. I had a great time this past weekend in Nashville with friends. We saw some great musicians, including Bart Walker, Sexstone and the Kris Bell band. Bart played the blues on Sunday at BB King's on second street. He's there every Sunday evening with his band. Go check him out if you're in Nashville and have time. You won't regret it!

Butterfly or moth?

Here's another beautiful winged creature from Brookfield Zoo's Butterfly exhibit. I honestly don't know the name of this one. Actually it looks kind of like a moth to me. I think it's pretty. Wish the picture was a little less fuzzy.

Monarch Butterfly

Finally, a monarch butterfly! I see many of these, more this year than in previous years. I wasn't standing very close to the monarch and was only using my regular lens. So, it kind of surprised me that the picture turned out so crisp. Monarchs are the most well-known butterfly. They migrate in massive groups over long distances and can even cross the Atlantic. This pretty little insect has to be pretty determined. lol.

Zebra Longwing Butterfly

Here's a zebra longwing butterfly from my visit to the zoo over the weekend. These butterflies eat the leaves of the passion flower. The passion flower contains a toxin. So when the butterfly eats the passion flower leaves, the butterfly itself becomes toxic to predators. It's awesome the way mother nature works sometimes.

more butterflies

I know that the butterfly on the left is a Queen. Can't tell you the name of the one on the right. Any thoughts? So pretty! Love the butterflies.

The Common Buckeye

Butterfly, that is. So pretty! We had a good day yesterday. Can't wait to go back soon. Captured this with my regular lens.

Butterflies

I dragged my family to the zoo today. It was a last minute thing. I love the zoo in the summer because of the butterfly house. I don't know the name of this butterfly. They had a guide posted of the types of butterflies in the house, but this doesn't look like a monarch to you, does it? Anyway, I love the chance to get close to these types of insects. LOL. let me know what kind of butterfly you think this is.

My Favorite Flower

This is my favorite flower in my garden...at least for today. It's so pretty and delicate. It's also pretty small--only about a couple of inches across. So I couldn't get the camera to focus quite the way I wanted. But I still like the picture.

Time out for clouds

We're having some really weird weather tonight. There are nasty storms north of us. But we just had a Charlie Brown sized storm cloud float over our tiny little town. It poured rain for about 10 minutes. It's still icky and dark outside though. Can't tell if any of that stuff to the north and west will drop by here again. This is a picture of the storm front headed at us. For some reason it's turned around. Well, you get the idea.

What the heck is that....revisited

What is that? Those are the blinds on the sliding door in my kitchen. Those blinds are always closed in the afternoon. We get a lot of light in our kitchen from the west. Really heats things up if you're making dinner!

what the heck is that?

What the heck is that? This is one of those toys that you're supposed to throw in to the pool and send the kids diving after it. Of course, diving is only allowed in the deep end. Of course, no diving for me. Swimming is now a thing to do to relax, not exercise. lol

Summer Fun

We've had an absolutely beautiful week. We have done a lot of swimming over the past couple of weeks, except for a couple of days where it was actually a bit too cool to swim. I didn't use any special techniques here. Just set the camera on automatic, then aim and shoot.



We had a very sunny day today. I just love the way the sun sparkles in the water.

more backyard lilies

Not MY backyard silly. My sister's! Did I ever say that I love flowers? Natural light always seems to work best when it comes to flower pictures. At least it does for me.

Backyard Lily

This is another inhabitant of my sister's back yard. She has flowers for the entire season in her backyard. One of these days I'll remember what the damn things are called. I know this is a lily....lol!

Don't Drive Through the Cornfield

It might sound like fun, but just don't do it. Turn left or right like the sign says.

I took this picture later in the afternoon. But the best light is usually in the early morning or right before sunset. So, I had to adjust the brightness and contrast a bit.