You Capture - Summer

Beth's You Capture subject this week is Summer and it's one I've been excited about since she announced it last week.  Everybody knows I enjoy photographing our backyard birds and I determined that I would re-double my efforts to catch some good shots.

But first I had to think about the koi pond.  It used to be my all-time favorite hobby before the birds took over.  I still enjoy these guys but I spend a lot less time watching and photographing them than I used to.  They are, however, definitely a summertime source of pleasure.

And here's an overview of their summer time home.  Of course it's also their winter home but it doesn't look anything like this in the winter.  


Next I turned to the birds.  Like almost everywhere else in the country, we've just gone through an incredibly hot spell.  One day I carelessly allowed the bird bath to go completely dry.  I hate to say such a terrible thing, but it was almost worth it to watch the parade of birds that visited as soon as I filled it with fresh cool water.

The first one was this rather prissy little bluebird.  She landed on the edge and looked it over carefully.

Before she stepped in to begin her toilette.

But once she was in, she bathed with relish.  And I'd like to say she emerged looking refreshed and beautiful, BUT

Not so much.  Poor girl.  I wonder if she knows what she looks like after her bath.

I think she might because as soon as she saw me taking her picture, she flew off.

Then I watched this interesting fellow.  I'm not sure of his breed so if anyone knows, I'd be grateful if they shared.  Anyway, he landed at the bath with his lunch in his mouth but first he apparently had to wash it.  I could post a dozen or more pictures of the steps he took to either wash it or beat it up, but I'll settle with two just so you get the idea.

This little goldfinch was a colorful visitor.

Also a colorful addition but not a very pleasant or desirable bird to have around was the blue jay.
 
And sometimes things even got a little crowded.  Here two fledgling bluebirds tried to get their baths in but were intruded on by this female cowbird.  (A cowbird is also a most undesirable feathered visitor.  Would you believe they don't even build nests or take care of their babies?  They lay their eggs in somebody else's nest after removing some of their eggs and allow an unsuspecting bird to not only hatch the eggs but raise the young.)

And speaking of undesirable, these blackbirds are not only unpleasant but I don't even think they're pretty with their beady yellow eyes and cantankerous ways.

So just to get back on an even and pleasant keel, we'll finish the birds segment of our post with this most desirable, delightful, and beautiful little bluebird singing in the sunshine.

 And finally, nothing says summer like fireworks.

 

For more 'Summer' shots, visit Beth at I Should Be Folding Laundry!

You Capture - Summertime

Beth's You Capture subject this week is Summertime and, boy, I took so many pictures that I didn't know where to start ... or stop.

Please don't be confused by my fireworks pictures. In our little city, the fireworks signify the end of the summer festival which happens over a week after the 4th so, for us, fireworks say summer just as surely as they say the 4th of July for everybody else.

The fireworks are shot from the pier so the beach is the go-to spot for watching them and therefore, I grabbed some beach shots while we were there waiting for the sun to go down.

And today, after capturing this shot in the Indiana Dunes State Park,

I drove past the beach to capture the Dunes beautiful lake shore along with the Chicago skyline.

And now back to our own backyard and a couple of the things we love most about summer. A couple of years ago my brother built us a bluebird house. I never really thought we'd get nesters but we did. Right now though, I'm watching tough love in the bluebird world. Evidently the fledglings have been evicted and aren't sure what to do with themselves so they sit forlornly on the fence almost all day long.

Except for when nostalgia gets the best of them and they sit on the house but they seem to be barred from entering.

And I couldn't talk about summer in our backyard without a shot of our koi. They constantly provide us with pleasure and entertainment.

For more Summertime pictures, visit Beth. You won't regret it.

Date Night aka Fireworks

The Michigan City fireworks were last night. Most cities have their fireworks on the 4th of July but not us. Our fireworks signal the culmination of the Summer Festival and really it's a fitting end.

The last time we went we felt we were just a little bit too far from the show. Michigan City sets theirs off from the pier and spectators line the expansive beach for literally miles. We think we were maybe a half mile out that time.

This year Mr. Right was determined to get closer. Last week he started asking me if I'd talked to the Beths about going and when I told him they weren't, he was disappointed. I said "We could just take Anna and Noah". He said, "no". "How about Kayla and Emerson" (the two children that live across the street but visit pretty frequently to see the fish). He said, "No, lets just go by ourselves".

Now that was a novel approach. It just didn't seem right. All that todo - getting ready and getting down there just for us? Hmmmm Anyway, that's what we determined to do. But it turned out that getting down there was even more of a todo than we expected. We arrived at 7:04 and the main entrance to the park was blocked by the police. We went in the back way and every parking lot was blocked. That would seem normal if they were full - or even near full but most were not two thirds full. There were parking places everywhere but no one was allowed to enter. I approached an officer of the law and asked if they were going to open the parking lots because there were at least 500 parking places in there. He said no because there were 10,000 people that wanted to park. There's some logic. I wanted to tweet Michigan City Fireworks parking - Big Failboat. But I didn't know how to so I didn't.

We parked in a weedy lot and paid $5. We didn't mind that but it was a half hour walk to the beach where we wanted to be. Then we were approached by Jake, who's starting college this Fall. He offered to take us there for $3. Mr. Right didn't think twice before he said "SOLD!".

So we got to the beach and there was a wonderful boardwalk so we didn't even have to walk through sand. We set up 'camp' close to the boardwalk and waited for the fireworks. At about 9:08 they started.

To begin with they were really good fireworks and we were definitely groovin' on them. Then came the grand finale and grand it was. Here are some examples, but they just don't do it justice. I took eighty pictures in the last one minute and every one had the potential to be spectacular. Unfortunately I was so excited that some of them were too blurry to keep but lots were good enough.

The whole show was fantastic really and we had no regrets about going - yet. The half hour walk back to the car wasn't bad at all especially since we were accompanied by hoards of other people walking miles to their cars because of the Police Dept Failboat.

There is one tiny little detail that could still put a damper on this memorable evening.

As we were backing into our parking place in this weedy parking lot, a terrible noise starting coming from under the car. We thought we'd picked up a milk carton or something ; and it wasn't bad going home - in fact most of the time we couldn't even hear it.

But when we backed into the driveway, it reared it's noisy head again. Upon inspection, Mr. Right saw that it's part of the car. A shroud of some kind must have been torn down by those very stout, tough weeds.

So now I'll call Honda and later today we'll probably know in what way our evening really was memorable.

You Capture - Patriotism

Beth's You Capture subject this week is Patriotism. Of course this is a perfect week for patriotism and I just know that everybody went out there and got sensational fireworks pictures. That's what I meant to do. I got this one but I can't actually take credit for it. It was taken with my camera though and I was there so I hope it counts just a little.
I had to resort to these because even if I couldn't get out and get my tripod set up, there was patriotism in the places were I did go and that's what I captured. I am loving the colors.

For more patriotism captures, visit Beth at Ishouldbefoldinglaundry and maybe even include your own fireworks shots. I'm looking forward to seeing them.

Memories

We went to the beach in Michigan City with Beth & family last summer for the fireworks. It was a such a pleasant evening, with perfect weather.

Apparently the sand and the water and the beautiful sunset reminded Beth of something else that happened at the beach for the first time many years ago. I clicked away while Beth told her audacious story. I'll leave the rest to your imagination.