Hummingbird photos

I played Nature Photographer the other day... set up the camera on a tripod got a chair and waited and waited and waited ... SUCCESS

Evening on the beach

The view from our hotel balcony










Feeding the Gulls ... She was actually baiting the gulls so her husband could take pictures. I took advantage and started snapping shots as well.

Flowers

I've downloaded the new beta Picasa 3 ... and I've been playing! This was my first try at a collage.

At the St. Louis Zoo

Rajah ... The first baby elephant born at the St. Louis Zoo. He will be 16 in December
The polar bear was putting on quite a show for us ...
This lioness looked up from her nap long enough for me to get this shot .....

Another bird picture.... Sparrow

I finally got a little sparrow facing me! I must admit I was surprised at how well the picture turned out.

Success.... a hummingbird

Well, this picture may never win any prizes, but I'm a happy camper! My first successful shot of a humming bird that's fairly clear. The only other shot I even came close to getting was really, really blurry! Okay, there are a lot of large bees also buzzing aroung the flowers and while I respect them they don't really scare me. However, shortly after I took this shot and she had taken off to parts unknown, or so I thought, I was trying to get a shot of one of the blooms. I was focused on the flower when all of a sudden there is this loud, and I do mean loud, buzzing near my ear. I had visions of this huge, really huge, bee right by my ear! Scared the living daylights out of me ... until I realised what I was hearing was the humming bird getting up close and personal for a few minuets! I never did see her ... but I bet if I had turned my head instead of ducking down we would have been eye to eye!

Let's not forget our veggie's

Back to summer ... my husband is growing gourds in a pot. I was sceptical ... but it seems to be working...so far. Now it's starting to head out on my clothesline which will be interesting. There are about 5 or 6 baby gourds so far. Are gourds a veggie or a fruit? Hmmmm....

and don't forget the tomatoes. Now there are only two of us living in this household, so why do we need 17 tomatoe plants? They are sure looking gorgeous right now. Of course, the squirrls haven't bothered them yet either.

Never satisfied

Okay, today we are sitting in the air conditioned house complaining about the heat outside since it's supposed to hit 96 degrees this afternoon. Yet back in March we were complaining because:

The view out my back door. I want to move somewhere the weather is nice and balmy all year long!

Hardy Hibiscus

Well, after a frustrating battle, I finally got something to post from my Picasa program.

More Flowers

The Hardy Pink Hibiscus is blooming...


as well as the Petunia's


and the Rose of Sharon

Birds in the backyard

Caught this sparrow on the roof... Any other time I've tried for one of the sparrows they are never facing the right direction! I'm always catching their backs!


The male goldfinch came by today! And I had the camera with me!!!

Dusk at Pere Marquette Lodge

The back of Pere Marquette Lodge. A patio stretches across almost the whole of the backside. There are tables and chairs which make for a relaxing view of the Mississippi.





These were my first shots of trying to get a sunset. I don't know if I succeeded in what I was trying for, but I ended up feeling pretty good about the shots as a whole.

I do photograph flowers besides roses...

Gorgeous Lily...unfortunately, I don't know the name of this particular Lilly. We got this Lilly in a mixed bag package sold by my grandson as a school fund raiser. It's the prettiest one of the five bulbs that were in the bag.



We had a bumper crop of lilacs this year





What's left of the wild flower's that my husband sowed several years ago. Now if they would just spread completely around the base of the dogwood tree...



After the rain.... you may need to click on the picture to enlarge to get a better view of the water droplets on the Lilly.

Shorty redux

I've been playing in photoshop again...very basic stuff though. Here's shorty again using first soft focus and then b&w focus. I'm fairly pleased with the result.

Shorty ... Our resident baby rabbit

The minute I got the camera out this baby rabbit sunk to the ground and did a "I'm not here, you can't see me" routine.



Here are better shots of Shorty after he settled down and got used to me sitting and taking pictures. I love the zoom on this camera!