flight

I'm fascinated by butterflies and inspired because I'm reading Barbara Kingsolver's Flight Behavior, and..it's gardening season!

monarch

nectar table at The Butterfly Farm in St. Martin

People are always enchanted with the butterflies during the  exhibit at Krohn Conservatory in Cincinnati, Ohio.  I love watching the interaction.  (The first photo of this POST is of a butterfly on a girl's nose!)

LINKS:
The Butterfly Farm  St Martin (Caribbean) --Monarch butterfly caterpillars need milkweed plants on which to feed.  Find out how, in the US, you can get free milkweed seeds.  There is a link to a USA state by state guide of where butterfly exhibits can been seen. 
Krohn Conservatory
Monarch Butterfly website --lots of information
The Butterfly Site --awesome site with a plethora of information.  Look under "Gardening" for a list of plants liked by a variety of species of caterpillars and butterflies.  There are links to butterfly varieties found state by state in the Us as well as other countries.
Barbara Kingsolver

Alphabe-Thursday, hosted by Ms Jenny, is so much fun!  This week our letter is  "F." Come visit others' submissions HERE and join in the fun!  


Thank you, Ms Jenny, for hostessing another round!

  
photos by me  © 2010 and 2011   all rights reserved

a few favorites

(very random)

In the Spring of 2011, we re-nested 3 baby barred owls.  This is "Barry," the first baby owl, so named by the neighborhood children.
I blogged about the owls:
Re-nesting 
Baby Owl #2 

I love exploring nature with my camera.  The tiny details of flowers fascinate me.  Sometimes I'm lucky and capture a creature as well.  This photo is my blog avatar which I've used since I started blogging in January of 2009.

I love to hike, especially in the mountains.  This photo was taken at the end point of a hike in Lake Louise, Canada--The Plain of Six Glaciers.  It is one of my all-time favorite hikes.  The scenery along the entire route is stunning.  To the tea house is about 3.5 miles with an elevation gain of 1200 feet. 

photos of the hike on AlbertaWow

I love the beach and the ocean.  I grew up 3 hours from the Eastern shore of the US, so trips to the beach were frequent.  This is a photo of Cupecoy, a beach on a favorite Caribbean island--St. Maarten.  

Alphabe-Thursday, hosted by Ms Jenny, is so much fun!  This week our letter  is "F."  Come visit others' submissions HERE and join in the fun! 



photos by me  © 2007-2013   all rights reserved

Five Fs

fireworks

Friday night fireworks at a June Reds baseball game

 

feet

detail of sculpture: The Birth of Venus by Robert Laurent placed inside the Showalter Fountain on the campus of Indiana University

 

flowers

 

I planted bush beans in pots on my deck this year!  These are the flowers of a purple variety.

 

fur

On the Indiana University campus, this squirrel ran up a small tree and kindly posed for me.  He has a very long tail.  I believe this is an Indiana fox squirrel (Sciurus niger).

famous foliage

two tower trees:  In the 1870s a tree was noticed growing from the Greensburg, Indiana Courthouse.  Over the years a series of trees have sprouted, thrived, and subsequently died.  No definitive explanation exists as to how the seeds have germinated in the tower.  No one knows how the trees have survived 110 feet above the ground.  The current large tree has been identified as a mulberry.

LINK:
Greensburg's Famous Tower Tree 

Alphabe-Thursday, hosted by Ms Jenny, is so much fun!  This week our letter is "F." Come visit others' submissions HERE and join in the fun! 

 
photos by me © 2013   all rights reserved

a few fun Fs

frosty

January 2009

fiery

Christmas Day 2012

fragrant

 

My Meyer lemon plant is blooming again!  It recently produced 3 lemons!

festive

Earnest loves the Christmas lights by the front door.

fun

 

air plants! a favorite Christmas present from my son's girlfriend.

feline

Lying under the Christmas tree is a favorite activity for Oliver.  Biting the branches is even better!

frilly

Lately I've been knitting ruffled scarves.

Alphabe-Thursday is so much fun!  This week our letter is "F"  Come visit others' submissions HERE and join in the fun!

 
photos by me © 2009 and 2012

fireworks and flags

Independence Day--July 4th--is almost here!  Time to celebrate!

with fireworks!

I love the patterns fireworks make!  The circle here is actually the moon!

more of the moon!  These fireworks patterns inspire me artistically to think of dyeing projects.

This photo was taken at a fireworks show after a Reds baseball game.  My friend Sammy's band plans to use this photo for the cover of their new album Live Forever! 

and with flags!

I just finished dyeing a bunch of these chamois (soft, very absorbent towels) for Kast-A-Way Swimwear.  This particular flag chamois is taken from the Dive Cincinnati/Springboards and More website.  (I cannot believe I didn't take a photo of a completed dyed flag chamois!)  Here ↓ are some flags just after they've been dyed.

Speaking of flag chamois, the Summer Olympics are coming up, so these are very popular right now. 

It would be so great to actually see one of my chamois at the Olympics!  Do let me know if you see them.  To the left and right are photos of some of my tie dye chamois for those of you who have been asking to see them.

Here ↓ is a cute little boy wearing a flag shirt I made.   (You can find these in my shop.)

And here ↓ is a photo from a tie dye session at a Girl Scout summer camp in 2009 from the blog post Red, White, and Blue!

 

I'm linking up with my favorite teacher, Ms Jenny Matlock, as we work our way through the alphabet.  Please do go visit the other students, for you never know what gems you may find--humor, poignancy, information, visions of far away places, stuff you've never even dreamed of!  Check it out HERE.  You may even wish to join in yourself!  This week our letter is "F."

photos by me and one by Dive Cincinnati © 2009, 2010, and 2012    all rights reserved