I Was Twice Blessed

Some things you hear stay with you through the years. In high school I read what William Shakespeare wrote in 'The Merchant of Venice':

"The quality of mercy is not strained,
it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
upon the place beneath it is twice blest.
It blesseth him that gives
and him that takes."

I would like to say:

The quality of friendship is free flowing,
it comes in unexpected ways.
It is freely given in many directions.
It gives satisfaction to those who give
and those who receive.

I received a gift from a friend. I enjoy Gospel music and had purchased an CD from Tipper of A Blind Pig and the Acorn. I had liked her father's song "Sweet, Sweet Corn" and wanted it in my collection. She drew my name in one of her many free giveaway drawings and also sent me a second CD called 'Whispering Hope'. Pap and his brother ( The Wilson Brothers) do some great down home gospel singing. This is the sound I had grown up listening to. You can hear the songs on her site. They often have some great singing on the site. I have a special connection with Joann and Jack with their own named site. Joann shares a heritage and love of Ohio which she shared with me in a poem when I posted some Buckeyes on my site. I used it while making my gift for Becky who won on my one year blogaversary. I actually made two gifts because it was my photo along with Joann's poem that made it special. Yesterday, I received a package from Virginia. Joann and Jack decided on their own to send my way this wonderful collection of magazines, CD music, flower seeds and Virginia peanuts. I do really love everything that they sent.
The Internet can be so rewarding in more then the gifts but that sharing takes place between you and your new friends. Thank you so much to Tipper, Joann and Jack for their wonderful friendship. They are truly my friends.

Sky Watch Fridays #16

Sky Watch Friday has on it's own site. Please check out the site and link in if you wish to participate. There were 385 people last week with beautiful Sky photos. You can link in from my side bar or at the start of this post.

I was driving to work last Friday and it was dark and cloudy starting out for the first hour. Then the sun started to rise and the sky exploded. This all took place in fifteen minutes.
The darkness was replaced by a wondrous site.

The sky kept changing as I drove.

I had to obliged and tried to catch a shot every couple of minutes.

It kept showing different phases as the Sun rose.

I felt like I was being treated to a marvelous sky show.

It all started to calm down and the colors all mellowed. Something started to change, a little spooky don't you think.

The final shot before the Sun broke through told the whole story. It was all to get my attention as the ghost of Halloween showing up in the sky. Can you see his eyes, nose and mouth as he says Happy Halloween?

I do hope you enjoyed the sky show.

Wednesday Potpourri #2

Wednesday is a time to catch up on photos that I've wanted to post but just haven't had time. In that vane I give you the following photos today.

The line at our local Family Video was fairly long today, it was extended clear to the roof. Every one wanted the same Alfred Hitchcock movie 'The Birds'. I wonder why.
I shot this Yellow Legged Meadowhawk sitting on a cement drain at a local pond that I visit for the first time.
There was a Brown Praying Mantis at work on the side of the building. This is 75 miles away and is the same species as the one at home. Note the injured right front foot.
My grandson soccer boy told me to take this bug on the front window because he liked its neat color.
I didn't have the heart to tell him that these bugs were on the building next to where I found the Praying Mantis. Do they look familiar? They are Box Elder bugs.

This was a pretty neat Bumblebee shot I got at The Kent Public Library.

This is a bug I found on our siding, I think it's called a stink bug.

Do you know what a group of crows is called? Well it is a 'Murder of Crows'. I enjoyed the movie of the same name.

And finally, there was a Potato Bug on my shed in the rear of my property. I was in the process of painting the shed and had one coat of primer on the shed. I need to show the changes to the shed next week.

I had wide variety of subjects and yet all in the same critter vane.

Squirrels Do Know How To Pose

I was at work going to the car to go home and there was a Robin, Blue Jay and a Grey Squirrel all playing in the opening behind the parking lot. The Blue Jay was not cooperative but the other two stayed to show off. The Grey Squirrel must have been looking for something to eat and posed with its tail in the air.

I caught this Grey Squirrel in my back yard on a stump. This stump completely gave up this year and is gone.

Here is a female Black squirrel eating a toadstool. How daintily she poses while eating.
This is a Black Squirrel in my friends yard that was feeding on his acorns.

Check out the look this Fox Squirrel that me as it posed at the golf course. Okay mister, what's up.

I even caught a Chipmunk on the front porch by my wives Fall decorations. This was the day I photographed all the birds in the Buckeye Tree.

He sat there for quite a while before taking off. I had been putting Buckeyes on the window sill and it would come up and take them off when it was quiet. It was easier for him then competing in the yard with the bigger squirrels. Do you see the way he is posing and watching me out of the back of his eye. They have very good peripheral vision.

Those are my posing squirrels for today.

My World #2

This is the second posting for the My World meme . It is hosted by Klaus, Tom, Ivar, Wren, Sandy, Mac and myself. I would like you to check out what we have to offer in the opportunity to show our world to you and we would like to see your world.

On the main post I showed the upstream view of the Cuyahoga River and here is the downstream view. In this view you can see Arch Dam which was done in 2003. This was modified for water quality considerations. The designers did a really nice job with the modifications. You can see that the railroad tracks that I talked about in the opening runs along side the river on this lower then road level.

This is a boulder on the upstream side of the Main Street bridge.

This is the view further up the river near the Brady's Leap area. The water is being aerated instead of flowing stagnant behind the dam.

There are still several pieces of stonework left from the canal days.

Here is another large cut stone from that time along the side of the river bank.

The river was a really important part of Kent history and I'm glad I am able to share the Cuyahoga River today.

Today's Flowers # 12

My friends Luiz and Denise have a Today's Flowers Meme, check it out. Come and join with your flower photos. Sunday at 7GMT is the post time. I thank them both for allowing me to share my Ohio Buckeye tree with the Flower's Today group.

I have shown on the opening page flowers from the tree that is in my front yard. It is the focal point of the yard and I planted it myself 36 years ago as a 5 foot tree. I did this when we moved into our new house. It is now over 30 foot high. Ohio Buckeyes Trees are a sturdy tree and slow growing. It will definitely still be growing long after I'm gone from this earth. Here is the tree in the this years Spring season in full flower. Here are the buds as they emerge from the tree.

They start to open and you can see the little flowers as they get ready to pop.

The flowers come out as yellow blooms and are a real attracted to the bees. The bees are so busy that they are easy to capture. I shot this one with it's wings blurred as it sipped the nectar. Please note all the yellow pollen on the leg that is helping the tree produce the buckeyes in their symbiotic relationship.

The tree produces a buckeye that helps to feed the local squirrels and chipmunks of the area. buckeyes are poisonous to humans but are truly beneficial to the wildlife.

Here is one of our famous Black Squirrels as he feast on a Buckeye treat. He is a cute little bugger. Yesterday, around the Maple Tree in the back yard, I had 4 Black Squirrels and 2 Grey Squirrels all playing a version of a game of tag.

I would like to share with you an interview I did with David McMohon who is an Australian based writer. I really enjoy David's site and participated in his Sunday Roast. If you click on the link you can read the post. This is another time I am happy I have friends around the world because of the Internet.

Camera Critters #29

Camera Critters by Misty Dawn, go here to see who's participating.

I was driving home to lunch and I noticed movement in the yard. This is a busier road then where I get shots near the lakes but I pulled or and put on my emergency flasher. It is an emergency when you need to take some pictures, right!!! What I saw was a mother and two fawns. What a wonderful photo opportunity. This was a about three weeks back so the trees were still green but the Oak Tree must have been dropping some acorns.
The fawns were just beautiful.
The mother was also in real good shape. She was already in her winter coat and was real healthy.
The fawns were through the spot phase and were also looking healthy.

They were feeding and came together at one time.

Now I what to tell a story of a trip to the Texas roadhouse with the grandchildren. This took place near where I work and about 4 miles from where we are now with the deer.

I spotted a mother with two fawns on that day. I was able to pull over and place the grand kids right adjacent to the deer. My grand daughter Princess said one of them was a buck. I looked and sure enough the one spunky fawn was a button buck. I had left my camera at home. I carry it along 90% of the time but not this one. The buck put on quite a show and crossed the road directly in front of me. I was so mad , I thought, you dummy "Where's you camera?".

I went home and was looking at my photos from the week before and walla, look at the little button buck. No, there was no photo editing. That is way beyond me. What you see on this site is what you get. I do hope you didn't mind another deer post. I have been really lucky with deer this year.

I would like to share with you an interview I did with David McMohon who is an Australian based writer. I really enjoy David's site and participated in his Sunday Roast. If you click on the link you can read the post. This is another time I am happy I have friends around the world because of the Internet.

Sky Watch Friday #15

Sky Watch Friday has on it's own site. Please check out the site and link in if you wish to participate. There were 390 people last week with beautiful Sky photos. You can link in from my side bar or at the start of this.


Today I'm offering four unrelated photos. The sky was a little plain but I always loved the little island beside the golf green. It has some railroad ties to cross if you pull your shot over there. I've never seen anyone cross them and I don't know if I worry about the ball.
This is some construction going on at the local car dealership while I was having my oil changed. I loved the construction against the neat sky.
This is my Red (leaves), white and blue (sky) post. Our elections are getting real close so get out and vote.
This is a really interesting sky with a hot air balloon up and away.
I do hope you enjoyed the variable skies which I captured. Visit some skies around the world.