More Trilliums, Spring Flowers and Birds, Etc. (I just can't help myself)!

Still posting some Spring Flowers and Birds

for your pleasure today!

Trillium beauty:

And?

You can't take in all that beauty

without

SOME questionable beauty:

A turkey vulture!:

Not sure what kind of bird this is. Does anyone know?:

A wild strawberry blossom!:

A wild violet in the middle of the woods:

So, now that I have posted 

some BIRDS....

You  need to get out there and take some photos of some...

because

this month's FREE PHOTO CONTEST

theme is 

BIRDS!!!

Send in your bird photo no later than midnight on July 31st

following THESE RULES.

You don't have to be a Blogger to enter.

White, Yellow, Pink and Green and Birds and Dragonflies in between!

Continuing with the spring photos today..

and some late spring ones too.

I love the bright, sunny colors that the new plants and

flowers bring to spring.

Especially the bright, neon green of fresh growth and the sunny yellows, bright pinks and bright whites...

Marsh Marigolds (cowslips):

New apple blossoms sprouting on our apple trees:

(at the time this posts, those blossoms are now apples growing, about the size of a large quarter already!)

Cherry Blossoms!:

Chipping sparrow at our feeders (just threw that in because with Spring, comes all KINDS of birds to our feeders!):

I always know it is getting warmer when I see that

the

dragonflies have hatched!:

Bohemian Waxwing in our apple blossoms!:

I loved this log full of mushrooms overhanging a field full of fresh white

Trilliums!:

Bright green, unfurling ferns!:

Mother Nature really does a good job of putting fresh flowers

and colors on its table for us after a long, drab

winter, doesn't she??

I'd like to invite her over to help me do my delayed spring cleaning...

what do you say, Mom Nature???

Fiddleheads, Ferns and Flowers

I am still behind in posting some of my spring photos..

but

that's ok...

If you are sitting in sweltering summer heat,

maybe these will bring you back

to the cool breezes of spring in your mind.

One of the things I love most

is watching the forest floor

spring alive with bright green growth and wildflowers/

I love to see the ferns come alive again

making a fresh green carpet:

And cool, twisty, unfurling fiddleheads:

Some orange garden tulips:

And of course, more trilliums~!!!:

and Marsh Marigolds, otherwise known as "cowslips":

We came across two fields FULL of them...

yellow sunshine plants everywhere!:

More spring photos are still to come on my blog,

and then we will finally get some summer ones posted, too!

Smitten and Distracted

I am smitten.

It happens every spring.

It's wildflowers.

And

Trilliums in particular.

They bloom here around Memorial Day, give or take a few weeks,

and

then they only live for about a week and die.

But while they are here,

they are glorious.

We were heading for a wedding late May and I spied
some on the side of the road.

I wanted to stop and get some photos, but my husband didn't think
it a good idea to hike up my long skirt to climb over the grass on a public highway in my heels to do so.
(Silly man).

But, I honored his opinion and waited until the next day to go out
to our favorite place in the woods
to capture some shots of them.

We found a whole entire hillside of them!:

I just love looking at flowers from all different angles:

Some even had some wild forget-me-nots

beside them too!:

Then I spied a beautiful light blue butterfly

flitting all over.

I must have chased him for 5 minutes and he would land

but with his wings CLOSED.

I finally captured one of him with his wings

partially open and on a wild strawberry blossom:

Now...

where WAS I?

Oh yeah..

the trilliums...

(See? Didn't I tell you I was distracted from all of Nature's wildflower beauty?)

Do you SEE why Trilliums are one of my favorite wildflower?

They are protected in Michigan and cannot be picked or transplanted:

And then the apple blossoms

came out.

Oh.

My.

And we had a flock of Bohemian Waxwings

fly into our yard and start eating the blossoms with flurry!:

Where was I (again??)

Oh,  yes...

the Trilliums!:

You can see why I get distracted

with our U.P. Spring.

Everywhere you look, there are gorgeous wildflowers

and birds and blossoms.

I wanted to get back out to take more Trillium photos and we got a few weeks straight of rain!

So it's a good thing I got out there that ONE day.

***********************************************
Happy 4th of July everyone!
Hope you are having a wonderful holiday filled with family and fun!

Here they Are!! June's FREE PHOTO CONTEST entries: Theme: Circles

Here they ARE!!!

I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE

the

creativity of every single one of these!

It is such fun to give out a theme and then see what everyone comes up with!!

June's theme was:

CIRCLES!!!

And WAIT until you see the neat photos we received!!

Wait...????

NO! That's right..you don't have to wait...

HERE THEY ARE!!:

This one is from Heather W. Her blog is called: "Before/After".

This one is from Sharon W. Her blog is called: "Sharon's Paws Create".

This one is from Pat H. Her blog is called: "A View from the Edge".

This one is from LindyLouMac. Her blog is called: "News from Italy".

This one is from Jacob Mc.  His blog is called: "Bland and Boring to Extraordinary".

This one is from SoCalGal. Her blog is called: "Just a Chick in a Chair".

This one is from Arti. Her blog is called: "My Yatra Diary".

This one is from DJan. Her blog is called: "DJan-ity"

This one is from Tracy S. Her  blog is called: "My Thoughtful Spot".

This one is from Sandra H. Her blog is called: "Madsnapper".

This one is from Linda R. Her blog is called: "Linda Letters".

This one is from ValBoy. Her blog is called: "My Girlz Got Paws".

This one is from Larry B. He has two blogs. One is called: "Larry's Creative Zone" and the other one is called: "Larry's Photo a Day".

This one is from Cathy M. Her blog is called: "Mom's Musings".

**********************************************************************

Weren't they creative????? I love what you guys come up with....

every time, without fail!!

And the judges are going to have a really hard time picking ONLY ONE...

again!

My thanks to each and every one of you that enters the FREE PHOTO CONTEST

every month...I know the hard work it takes and we appreciate it so much.

By the way, if you haven't stopped by these fantastic photographer's blogs, click on each of their blog links by their entered photos and let them know you loved their photo!

Which brings me to:

JULY 2011's FREE PHOTO CONTEST's THEME!!!

It is:

BIRDS!!!

I didn't say the CONTEST was for the birds....

NO....

You need to get outside, or look out your window...

and aim your lens

at a BIRD....

(or inside at your PET bird)...

It doesn't matter..as long as you snap a bird!!

You can also enter a photo of a bird from your archives, as long as you haven't 

sent it to me before.

Can't wait to see what you guys enter!

Have fun!

Send in your photo no later than midnight on July 31st, 2011

following

THESE RULES.

You don't have to be a Blogger to enter.