Here, There & Everywhere

Back to Balsam Grove we went. Tommy asked Marc to come up and help with a plumbing problem. While they worked, I photographed hummingbirds again. They were very active all day long.

We saw this butterfly (Pipevine Swallowtail) feeding on the plants in the butterfly garden Tommy had planted. The blue on the butterfly was almost iridescent.

After a few days in the mountains we came home and have had lots of rain.

 

 

RIP Uncle Bob.
You and Aunt Alline were always there for me if I needed something and I thought you always would be. I will miss you greatly.

More butterflies!

The beauty of the simple coneflower:

Some more cool things from the yard.

 

Back at home we were so glad to see lots of butterflies. Last year we didn’t have a lot but this year looks to have a much better crop of them.

I really do love flowers. :)

Another great thing about the coneflowers–they attract goldfinches. They are so colorful but they are very hard to photograph. I did catch this one looking like he was smoking a cigarette.

This is one of my very favorite flowers. I know I say that about almost all of the flowers in our yard, but I don’t think any of them are quite as cheerful as the Gerbera Daisy.

While in the mountains I did a lot of sitting on the deck reading and watching (photographing) the hummingbirds.

On July 4th we went to town. Sadly, each year the festival gets a little smaller. We did, however, go to Dugan’s Pub and have our annual 4th lunch which included a Guinness (Tommy) and Harp (me).

It was time to go home to the hot flatlands. :( While Tommy was closing up the house I took a few quick photos.

 

After Linda had spent a few hours shooting our flowers, it was my turn to go to her house and shoot her flowers. Her garden is amazing with an incredible variety of flowers.

When I got home I felt the need to take more photos of flowers. :)

Then it was time to head back to the mountains for the 4th of July. The hummingbirds have been fairly active, but there are two branches in the dogwood tree where one or two of them sit and wait–either for their turn at the feeder or to chase another one away from it.

Our view while eating dinner:

My friend Linda, from whom I’ve learned so much about shooting flowers, wanted to come over and spend some time with the coneflowers. Even if we don’t focus specifically on the coneflowers, the mass of them makes a great background.

We got some tickets from Tony to go see Atlanta United play. While I prefer to see soccer played outside, I was looking forward to going to Mercedes Benz stadium. It was really nice.

There wasn’t a lot blooming in Balsam Grove so I took a walk around looking down. Amazing what you can find when you look down at the ground.

One of the first hummingbirds I saw in the mountains:

Back at home the coneflowers were outstanding.

Not to be outdone by the coneflowers, the dahlias and zinnias were pretty too.

These birds have been so entertaining. While I was waiting for the momma bird to come feed the babies, the gold finch flew into the dogwood tree and waited until I took its picture.

I practiced shooting flowers…again. :)

We took a short trip to Balsam Grove so Tommy could replace deck boards. Somehow he convinced Steve Gustin to come up and help, thank goodness.

I bought some strawflowers to take photos of. Such a cool flower.

When we got to the house there were lots of these little, wild daisies.

It’s flower and bird season!