Weekly phoneography challenge: My neighborhood

We’re taking a rather broad view of “neighborhood”  for this week’s challenge –using the panorama function on the iPhone camera. Love the distortion the panorama provides, especially of the car rounding the corner at the same time the phone was scanning the scenery:

DOWNTOWN — Traffic in downtown Ferndale, taken between sign posts. [Next time, I’ll try standing closer to the center of the intersection.] Main landmarks are Col. Mustard’s, a gas station/grocery and the Cutoff Corner Cafe and Dairy Bar. Behind the phoneographer is the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church.

DAFFODIL FESTIVAL — The annual Wye Mountain daffodil festival draws thousands of visitors and an equal number of cameras as doting parents and grandparents pose and photograph children and grandchildren in their Sunday best and cutest smiles. Wye Mountain is about 20 miles west of Ferndale.

Not taken with a phone, but just as a humorous coda for the photo above:

NEED TO KNOW — Important instruction to heed when at a flower festival!

Take a minute to visit a few other neighborhoods:

• Rainy drama – http://s1ngal.wordpress.com/2013/03/10/phoneography-challenge-my-neighbourhood/
• Neighboring flock – http://iiteeeestudents.wordpress.com/2013/03/10/weekly-photo-challenge-phoneography-challenge-my-neighborhood/
• Drawn outside – http://brokenlightcollective.wordpress.com/2013/03/09/beneath-a-melting-sky/
• Dry – http://neophytephotographer.wordpress.com/2013/03/09/phoneography-challenge-my-neighborhood/
• NY Metro – http://jelliefishie.wordpress.com/2013/03/09/phonography-my-neighborhood/
• The north – http://northumbrianlight.wordpress.com/2013/03/10/phoneography-challenge-my-neighbourhood/
• Bougainvillea – http://wtofly.wordpress.com/2013/03/10/phoneography-challenge-my-neighborhood/
• By the sea – http://westcoastkayaker.me/2013/03/10/weekly-phoneography-challenge-my-neighborhood/
• Brunch – http://yichinglin.com/2013/03/10/tradesman-2/
• Challenge homepage: http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/03/08/my-neighborhood/

The accidental eagle

The continued quest to take decent bird pictures meant a stop by the pond on the way to work on Feb. 7.  The buffleheads were sailing around in the mist and the sunrise was glowing coral. Rolled down the roadster window to snap a couple of frames and then continued the morning commute. Not until this morning when the shots were downloaded did something else appear — white head and tail feathers at the far side of the lake. We’d seen the Ferndale eagle around New Year’s Day flying straight over the house, with no camera in hand, and wondered if we’d see him again.

WHITE FEATHERS -- Thinking this was just going to be a photo of a sunrise and waterbirds, it was delightful to see the white head and tail feathers of a bald eagle appear in the upper left of the image once downloaded into the laptop.

Duck!

Mack’s Prairie Wings is a mecca for duck hunters in the middle of the rice and ducks capital of the world: Stuttgart, Ark. Customers are greeted in the parking lot by a giant mallard.

HE'S A QUACK --That's one big duck.

Welcome rain.

After a long, thirsty summer, we welcomed a widespread rain last night. It’s been a long time since there was enough moisture to see droplets cling to petals, leaves and even insects. The cooler fall temperatures are also encouraging regrowth. Volunteer dill, sorrel and clover are all coming back to life.

 

A rare sight -- late season morning glories covered in rain.

White morning glories make a comeback in the cooler fall temperatures.

 

 

October Moon

October’s full moon is well ahead of Halloween, rising on Oct. 22.

Full moon puts leaves in silhouette.

Black and white

This morning’s walk turned up plenty of texture.

Aging hickory nut halves embedded in a crack in the concrete road.

Vines wrap around a pine tree trunk.

Grass seed heads wave in the early autumn breeze.

A husk is all that's left after the squirrel has a snack.

Autumn orange

Fall arrived earlier this week, and fall color is appearing everywhere in the Ouachitas.

The Sept. 25 sunset, between 6 p.m., left, and 7:30 p.m., right. The middle shot shows the sunset reflected in our bedroom windows.

RAGGED WINGS -- A summer of flying has left this butterfly's wings on the ragged edge.

An orange cosmos brightens up a fading fall garden.

Falling leaf suspended in a spider's web never hits the ground.

Last hurrah for morning glories.

With autumn drawing near, the morning glories will be closer to ending their short run.

Tall grass casts long morning shadows over the blue face of this morning glory.

Something to crow about.

American crows are common on the mountain and often announce their presence in a big, loud way. This fellow was king of the mountain for a short while.

Crow scans the world from a an oak tree top.

Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird …

A red-tailed hawk enjoys the updrafts from the Ouachita valley below.

Red tail hawk cruises.

Hawk wheels for a turn into the south wind.