Just because, part 33


The weather across much of the continent has turned cold and ugly, and I think we need a reminder of the spring that will come, so here are some cherry blossoms on the ornamental tree in the front yard.

But to be honest, these are not from the spring to come, but this past spring, because I’ve never dumped the money on a camera that advanced. There’s no way to prove read more

On the trail of fall color


The season for getting good conditions for nature and wildlife photos in North Carolina is winding down, as it does every fall, and like every fall, I find no nice colorful landscapes within easy reach to do broad scenic images. Partially, this is because of the trees themselves this region of NC at least has far too many hateful longneedle pines, which are ugly read more

Storytime 45


It would be easy to miss a little detail in today’s image, and in fact I likely missed it when I was shooting the frame, three years ago, but there’s evidence of a curious effect to be found here. It’s subtle, and may be missed if your monitor’s gamma is set incorrectly, because we need the details in the shadows.

In my defense, I did see at least a portion of what I’m read more

“You paid money to do this”

I mentioned earlier that there was some potential content coming, and lo and behold, here it is! We had friends visit last weekend, mostly to help us with a major project (which they achieved in exemplary fashion,) but also to kick around a bit, and one of the activities that I’ve been itching to do again since the first time during the read more

The right conditions

For Halloween evening, we had almost ideal conditions: the temperature was warm enough to be out without a jacket, but there was a breeze that occasionally turned into a blustery wind that bullied the leaves around, as and the night wore on, the sky began flashing ominously and distant thunder could be heard. It was, as far as I was concerned, just the right kind of mood for trick-or-treating, read more

Getting to be that time


Yep, dusk is falling on that magical evening, so I had to post an appropriate image to help the mood along. Here, we see an extremely rare Portuguese tiny-tailed bat (Yashulden bythis) cruising overhead in pursuit of its favorite prey, Carolina wrens. Since Carolina wrens are diurnal and bats are nocturnal, now you know why they’re extremely rare.

Okay, no – there is no such species, read more

Oh, sure, just waltz out of here, October!


I hate to be the one to tell you this, but it’s the end of the month, and that means it’s abstract time! Gather the kids, pop some popcorn (the proper way, none of this microwave bullshit,) and settle down as we spin this sordid tale.

This month’s image was indeed taken this month, stemming from my occasional tendency to look around and find something compelling other than my primary read more

Laziness does not pay off

Actually, just typing that title reminds me of the satirical ‘Demotivational’ poster that I saw some years back, which read something like, “Hard work pays off over time, while laziness is an immediate reward.” Nonetheless, this is a tale of knowing better, gambling and losing, and learning a lesson yet again that I will still fail to heed at some point in the future.

That read more

Storytime 43


I happened across this little scene several weeks back, and it remained in place for quite a long time – as far as I know, some of it still remains. It was found directly on the trail around the nearby pond, and is very likely evidence that some mammal met its end at the teeth of a predator, also likely a mammal I’d lean towards a fox dispatching a read more

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