Artful Adventures

The Things I've seen!

Definition of persistence-trying to post today!  This is about the 5th try, went right past the 3rd time's a charm thing, and kept right on going.  There's more pictures than words today, in trying to show you all what I've been seeing lately, summer's good for that, isn't it?                                                      

  Last night, Trina (the neighbor from across the street) came over to show us a baby oriole.  Apparently the chicks fell out of their nest the night before when the wind kicked up, but the parents were continuing the feed them while the brave little souls tried hopping from branch to branch, sometimes landing in the tall grass.  This little guy has managed to survive, with help from Trina who made a quick road trip to the closest bait shop for some yummy grubs that he gobbled right up.  The whole neighborhood is cheering him on!  Here we go again (you're all saying that right?) with more beach pictures, as if you didn't see enough of it last year.  But this was the first time this summer that it's actually been warm enough to tolerate sitting there-that wind coming off Lake Michigan is wicked!  But the water was as blue as I've ever seen it, and relatively calm besides. We weren't the only ones enjoying though, we were treated to watching a bunch of young seagulls playing around in the water.  They appered to be having a ball!  Can't be a summer post without more flower pictures from around the yard.  Here's a few, with more to follow in the days ahead. For tonight, last but absolutely not least, is of another sunset taken at Red River Park.  I've shown them here before, but this is by far the most gorgeous sunset that I've ever seen.  It was impossible to choose a favorite out of the bunch that Gary shot, one was more perfect than the next, so I finally grabbed this one-enjoy it!  And I hope you all get to see such a sight as this soon!

A black & white kind of day

After spending the better part of the summer surrounded by a riot of color, the blazing sun (seriously, it was 90 here yesterday!), the flowers, the art everywhere I turned, and the birds, it felt good in an odd kind of way to have a gray cloudy day for a change.  On that note, not having much to say today, thought I'd share some of my husband's photos-his are always much better than mine!  Why can't I get the hang of that?  See what I mean?  I couldn't have caught that shadow from the palm if my life depended on it!  The difference between the black & white of the bee balm, and the bright red of it's natural color is so dramatic-I kept flipping back & forth between the 2 photos, hardly seemed possible that it could be the same flower.  Then I got to wondering how often do we look at any given situation, and depending on our mood, do we see it for what it is-full of color & wildly alive, or as black & white & maybe not so exciting, though still interesting.  I'm telling you, I'm in an odd mood tonight!  This year we bought some rose bushes back in May, to be planted on the south side of the house.  They're STILL sitting on the patio, waiting to get in the ground, and have put out the most gorgeous flowers all summer.  They don't seem to mind staying in their pots, nearly as much as I've minded working at keeping them alive through all the heat.  As an old friend of mine would have said "Oh well, whatcha gonna do?"   And the hydrangea, well it speaks for itself-one of my favorite flowers.  And now, I'm going to go & try to figure out why I'm in such a mood that is so unlike me-maybe it's the aftermath of the full moon, which for the record, I'm damn glad is over!