Going Home Again

Saturday morning, I had to get up early and drive to my parent's house. I always spend a few minutes while I'm there shooting some pictures around the place. Something is always blooming or growing or flying or something. It was very foggy while I was there, so all the pictures came out with somewhat muted colors, but no shadows. That's not the way I like to shoot, but a good photographer has to adapt to the conditions, I suppose. Here are three pictures that show a few of the things I spotted.

These yellow flowers were growing out in the field near the burn pile (and the old Malibu, which will be the subject of a future blog, I'm sure). They sort of resemble snap dragons, but they are obviously growing wild. I don't know if the picture clearly shows it, but those flower spikes are almost 5 feet high.

These little blue flowers were doing their best to carpet the whole field. (Later in the year, pink flowers will attempt the same feat.) This time of year they are in all the ditches and fields in the area up there, and they always make for a spectacular sight. Sitting in the field surrounded by these, I noticed an odd buzzing noise that I eventually figured out was the hundreds of bees collecting pollen from the millions of blossoms. I always remember lots of bees (and bee stings) when I was growing up, but I never did find a beehive. To this day I wonder where they all lived.

This little lady was on some flowering bush that I can't name. The flowers were very small, white, and not too attractive. But luckily I spotted the ladybug, so I had something interesting to shoot.

I was only there for an hour or so, but in addition to the pictures I shared, I also saw a pair of woodpeckers on a telephone pole, a pair of hawks flying overhead, and a wren's nest inside an old piece of furniture. I wasn't able to get decent pictures of any of them, but there's always tomorrow.