A nature photographer’s images and stories of butterflies from her backyard near Orlando, FL
July 27, 2010 - We haven’t been seeing very many turtles at the Circle B Bar Reserve lately. But Rich found a kindred turtle spirit living a few blocks away from us. We had to laugh when we first saw this yard statue of a turtle with his golf gear. It felt very appropriate for Stoneybrook West!
July 17, 2010 - We’ve had an unusual number of snails in the backyard this spring. I’ve been trying to get close-up pictures of them, but by the time I get them focused, they move out of good range. So tonight when this snail was posing on the window, I had the unique opportunity to get a two-sided view […]
July 7, 2010 - I took this picture of the moon rising over the Stoneybrook West golf course a few weeks ago. At the time I didn’t think it good enough to post, but it’s been a slow photography week, and when I saw it in Lightroom today I liked it better than before. We’ve had several new bird […]
June 28, 2010 - One little, two little, three little squirrels… Rich says I should stop there – or better yet, we should have stopped with one! Last fall we had our first squirrel visitor move into the backyard. He was always by himself, and he had a pretty regular pattern, so we were fairly confident that it was […]
June 8, 2010 - Rich and I have been enjoying our evening walks at sundown. I love the extended daylight hours in the summer! Tonight we saw a pretty sunset over the pond. I took some bracketed exposures to play with HDR again, but I didn’t like the result. I did like my original 2 stop underexposure, which captures […]
May 16, 2010 - This afternoon I helped my papitos plant their new Plumeria plant, better known as Frangipani. I got the tree at Lukas on Friday and we got it into the ground this afternoon. Aren’t the flowers pretty? I took several pictures, using several different filters, and I decided that I liked this diffused one best. It […]
May 5, 2010 - On our third bunny walk with camera we finally saw a bunny! He was farther away and the light was fading, so the picture isn’t great, but here’s the proof that we saw him.
April 18, 2010 - I was out trimming the hedges this afternoon when this dragonfly (or dragonbird, in the Goldilocks vernacular where everything that flies is a bird) came to land on a shepherd’s crook nearby. The dragonflies always seem to perch high when they are searching for their food, and after they dive after a bug, they come […]
March 28, 2010 - The runner-up in the Fluffy Tail Contest found our feeder in the oak tree. I’m sure I’ll find squirrels very annoying as more of them find our yard, but for now, this guy is still a novelty and he’s cute. First he ate like a civilized squirrel, then he was scared off, and rather than […]
March 5, 2010 - This spider has been hanging out for the last few months inside our garage door pad console. I decided that I needed a picture before the eggs hatch.
December 31, 2009 - This morning I heard some rustling in the crape myrtle, and looked up to see a bushy tail disappear up onto the roof. When I went outside to investigate, this squirrel was running around on our roof. Squirt wants! You might think it’s strange to list a squirrel as a new visitor to our backyard, […]
December 30, 2009 - Rich and I took my lens out on our walk this evening to take this picture of the fountain in the little pond by our neighborhood. It’s really pretty when it’s lit up at night. Thanks again for the remote shutter release, Vicki and Rich!
October 14, 2009 - Squirt’s friend the opossum came back tonight. He climbed up into the lugustrum, stayed there for a while (not hanging from his tail, unfortunately!) and then he climbed down to feast on bird seed. Both Goldy and Squirt were entranced. So do we call this an opossum-bird, Goldilocks?
August 29, 2009 - Rich and I stayed up to watch the last scheduled nighttime launch of a space shuttle. The moon was beautiful, too.
August 28, 2009 - This oleander moth was happily nectaring on my zinnias and Goldy was happily watching, so I had to break out the camera…
August 4, 2009 - There was a double rainbow in the backyard tonight. You could see the full arch of the main rainbow, and most of the double rainbow (to the right).
July 25, 2009 - Rainbow after an afternoon storm… Keep doing that rain dance, Squirt, because the roses need the extra water and nutrients!
July 15, 2009 - Finally! Endeavor was finally able to lift off and we could see it from the front yard. It’s hard to believe that there are so few flights left before the shuttle is retired. We’ll have to find another excuse for impromptu get-togethers with the neighbors while we all gawk at the sky! I thought it […]
May 31, 2009 - Mmm…time for Rich to practice his cat’s meow again, the bananas over at Peter and Carla’s are starting to ripen!
May 26, 2009 - This dragonfly was buzzing around with its mate in our front yard, then did a nose-dive into my rosebush and posed for me.
May 20, 2009 - It’s raining, it’s pouring…Squirt must have been snoring! Our rain gauge shows that we’ve had 12.5 inches of rain in the last two days!! Our backyard is becoming a swimming pool. At work, the puddles are deep enough that the ducks are swimming in them.
April 30, 2009 - Mieu! This guy hangs out a lot on our fountain, so Squirt doesn’t get to bat at him through the window. Lucky frog!
April 28, 2009 - Squirt’s buddy visits him every night on the bay windows. Squirt sits on the windowsill inside, batting at the frog and squeaking with excitement!
April 10, 2009 - Apparently I’m not the only one who’s impressed by the freshly cleaned fountain. This little frog took a break from bug-catching to pose for me…
March 14, 2009 - I think I know now who went around Carnegie Mellon on Pi Day enumerating the digits of Pi on the sidewalks, correct down to hundreds of digits… With very little sidewalk space outside our house, Rich had to content himself yesterday with baking a few pies. :)