Sat down for yet another lunch at the desk. Just as I unwrapped my sub, there appeared out the window a pair of foxes. The larger one, top photo, was more bold, venturing into the clearing with a wary eye on the parking lot. The other fox hugged the tree line of the greenbelt, disappearing into the undergrowth soon after the second photo was taken.
We came late to Cee’s “My Favorite Things” challenge, catching it in verse 2. While taking down the outside Christmas decoration a few weekends ago, we were delighted to see that the folds of a big velveteen bow had become home for one of our favorite insects: the ladybug. Twice a year, they appear by the dozens inside the house and outside, scores of them cover the warm sidewalks and walls. They are generally beneficial insects, chowing down on aphids, but have also been known to consume monarch larvae. Read more about the multicolored Asian lady beetle: http://www.uark.edu/ua/arthmuse/asian.html.
The Weekly Photo Challenges seem to be getting, well, more challenging. This week’s theme is “Express Yourself.” This image is not so much about what the sign says, but how out of place its expression seems in a place where the only anglers are birds.
Self-expressions that we liked include:
Finding serenity any time is a challenge, and this week it IS the challenge. For the last few weeks, I’ve been trying to capture the latest comet Lovejoy in pixels. Tonight’s effort was flustered by clouds, but one shot — a test shot setting up — seemed to hit all the right notes. The soft light in the cloud, the familiar pinpoints of starlight and the warm glow coming from the house next door all seemed to be a little bit of serenity.
Other bits of serenity from this week’s challenge:
Not a great photo, but liked the somewhat wacky composition.
The probability of pine needles landing more or less vertically seems to me to have the about same probability of a tossed coin landing on its edge. Which is why this sight grabbed my eye. A green swath with pine needles landed heads down, sticking up from the grass like a little forest of lawn darts. Alas, the lawnmower man came by the next day and the needle forest was gone.
A Daddy Long Legs enjoys breakfasting on a wolf spider (I think), while a parasitic red mite enjoys same on the daddy long legs.
While shooting art for an article about bee research, there appeared this gem, tucked away in a tangle of giant ragweeds, passion vines, morning glories and johnson grass, on an old farm road in Lonoke County, Arkansas.
The (Urban-Wildlife) Interface 