hitchhiker

This beautiful butterfly landed on me about a block from the house and stayed with me the whole way home.

abercrombie & finch

Or maybe Finch & Thistle would be a better title?

black and gold

Getting up close and personal with a common but beautiful winged creature.

for the birds

This has been a Hitchcock kind of week. On Sunday, I watched a bird chase a cat up and down my street. Yesterday, two quarreling birds almost flew into my windshield. Now this creepy winged creature is keeping watch over our house...

from the archives

I saw the most amazing sunset tonight. I risked life and limb to snap a few pictures with my point-and-shoot as I was traveling along the interstate. Unfortunately, none of the pictures were worth the card they are stored on, so you're stuck with an oldie I took last summer of a dragonfly at Lake Norman State Park.

two of a kind

Today was such a wonderful day! It rained for the first time in WEEKS, and China Grove is getting curbside recycling effective July 1st. Hooray!

derailed

Another borrowed pic from last May, taken on the boardwalk in [Little] Washington. I hope to get back on track tomorrow...

craneum

This crane was hanging out on the waterfront in [Little] Washington, NC. Okay, I admit that I'm cheating by using a photo taken from this time last May. But I've been a little short on time and creativity this week...

new beginnings

These little guys sure are cute, but I'm not too thrilled with their mommy, who seems to enjoy hunting for food in the dirt surrounding my freshly planted flowers!

give me park [minus the avenue]

In between meetings, I enjoyed an afternoon stroll through Thompson Park. Featured above from left to right: St. Mary's Church, a random falconlike bird (which was HUGE, by the way), the Mecklenburg Vietnam Memorial, and a personal memorial for a local serviceman. Despite the serene setting, the nearby construction noise, honking of impatient drivers, and hum of I-277 made it difficult to get back to nature.

don't bug me

Some sort of mutant mosquitoesque insect. Is it really that time again?

gullible

These sea gulls were crackers for crackers. If you look closely, you can make out a Cheez-It cracker above the left shoulder (or the body part equivalent) of the gull on the right. At one point, it felt like we were going to star in a remake of a Hitchcock horror film.

congaree crane

I stalked this poor bird over the river and through the woods. I got one good shot in before he flew off.

shooting the bird

You wouldn't know by looking this scene that it was the most beautiful day outside, filled with bright blue skies and sunshine. It is not a black and white photograph, but somehow it came out that way. I enjoy the juxtaposition of light and dark, of life and death. The tree itself is decaying, but teeming with life. There was another bird and a squirrel on surrounding limbs when I took this shot.