Outside in the U.P. !!

Sometimes you can be in the middle of the woods,

and come across electric lines and a train!:

My thrill of the day: A Baltimore Oriole! Right in our back yard!:

This beauty was right in the middle of the woods on an abandoned railroad track!:

Do you see him?:

Our little Chipping Sparrow with a Mohawk!:

I chased this little guy all over the woods because he had a beautiful light blue color when his wings were wide open...but only caught photos of him with closed wings!:

A HUGE mushroom on a tree the size of a platter!:

And, another mushroom on the tree next door, almost as big!:

If you can't think of what kind of photos to shoot,

just

walk outside.

Mother Nature will point them out to you.

The Second Set of our Trip to Florida Pictures, (other than the Wedding!)

We went to Florida

for the second time this year...

(For my daughter's wedding),

but we didn't have much time.

And,

I didn't have my favorite camera

with me due to having to fly there.

But I did have to take some photos anyway.

I mean..how couldn't I???

(I was in the tropics, for cryin' out loud!)

I was so pleased that I did.

My old trusty Panasonic Lumix

Point and Shoot camera

didn't disappoint me.

I had forgotten how I fell in love with that camera

when I first started doing photography.

It didn't disappoint me, and I had fun using it again.

A gorgeous sunset:

Let's grab those two chairs there, shall we?:

A pelican in the sunset!:

Can nature be more beautiful?:

Wait....

maybe!:

We were sitting by the pool and I spied a butterfly by the fence.

I grabbed my camera and ran off.

(My family is used to that sort of thing with me).

But, I couldn't help myself.

He was gorgeous!:

We were lucky to land a condo for a week.

It was small, but it had a balcony overlooking

the Gulf.

We watched a man one day build a huge

sand pyramid on the beach.

It had a tube inside

and at sunset they were looking through

the hole and the sunset

landed

dead on so that they could see it thru the tube.

I wondered about it, but I didn't ask them...

Now I wish I had:

My point and shoot has a zoom, which was used for this one

and I was amazed I could see as much as I could on

the boat with it:

Lovely, lovely sea grass...

Our last night at the beach:

Sigh.

This is the last set of photos of Florida

from me for a while...

I am back in the U.P. now

in the height of our spring.

It has its own unique beauty too...

I will be sharing it with you soon.

Butterflies and more...

Today?

A mix of butterflies, flowers and other things that makes summer wonderful!

A butterfly on some blossoms:

A butterfly AND a bee!! My that bush was BUSY!!:

A blackberry blossom:

A baby bird:

A bunch of wild flag iris by a pond:

A closeup of my yellow bearded iris:

A closeup of my columbine:

Purple lupines!:

O.K.

Maybe EVERYTHING in the summer

isn't

quite

all

beautiful.....

I mean,

I

also

saw

THIS!!:

Feeling itchy?

Looking over your shoulder?

Sorry

about

that!!

Forget that last photo.....

This and That from the Woods and the Lake...

Today, I am posting a collection of photos I have taken in the woods and out on our lake over the last few weeks. Enjoy!:

While taking a hike on the secluded shores of Lake Superior, we spotted this green plant growing inside an old, dead log:

I returned to the pond where I took the lily pad pictures in the spring.

To my delight, there were lily pads that changed into fall colors now:

There are still wild asters growing along the roadsides, along with butterflies:

A late sunset with storm clouds rolling in over our lake:

On the same hike on the secluded shores of Lake Superior, we found this humungus fungus growing on an old log:

Color on our bay!

This shot is looking back at the street where I live on the lake from our pontoon. My house isn't visible, it is just out of sight way on the left side of this picture on another small bay:

The same butterfly on the asters, this time with spread wings:

Those lily pads, now in color.....loved the "carpet on water" they formed with all their fine, fall colors!:

Love those clouds reflecting on the water....right before the sun set:

I was surprised and delighted to be able to still see dragonflies about in the autumn foliage:

As the sun set further, I HAD to take one more photo of those clouds reflecting in the water on our lake:

I hope you have been able to go outside where you live and experience the autumn splendor that nature is providing now, too.