Lots of sunny, smiling flowers for a Sunday afternoon.
Smiling Flowers
Picture of the Day for August 9, 2013
When I walked down to the pond this week, I scared a frog and it hopped from the shore into the water. Walking closer to the edge of the pond in an attempt to see the frog, I heard a bigger slash and the next thing I knew, a green heron was flying up with a frog in its beak. So my curiosity caused the death of a frog but some baby herons probably enjoyed a frog leg supper.
At least this frog was smart floating out in the middle of the pond since the green heron stays on the shore line.
Floating Frog
Picture of the Day for August 8, 2013
Emerging from grass like foliage, the unusual shape blooms of the Blazing Star make a dramatic statement in magenta and white colors.
Blazing Star
Picture of the Day for August 4, 2013
On a lazy summer Sunday afternoon, one might end up by the pond watching cloud formations.
Thunderhead Building
Picture of the Day for July 26, 2013
It is always a nice treat to see a rainbow and a double rainbow is an added bonus. A rainbow is an optical and meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection of light in water droplets in the Earth’s atmosphere, resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky.
In a “primary rainbow”, the arc shows red on the outer part and violet on the inner side. This rainbow is caused by light being refracted while entering a droplet of water, then reflected inside on the back of the droplet and refracted again when leaving it.
In a double rainbow, a second arc is seen outside the primary arc, and has the order of its colours reversed, red facing toward the other one, in both rainbows. This second rainbow is caused by light reflecting twice inside water droplets.
Double Rainbow
Picture of the Day for July 21, 2013
Since it is Sunday, we need a sunny picture and this yellow flower is a sunny type of flower.
Sunny Flower
Picture of the Day for July 17, 2013
It appear this is the ‘dog days of summer’. The Old Farmer’s Almanac lists the traditional period of the Dog Days as the 40 days beginning July 3rd and ending August 11th, coinciding with the ancient heliacal (at sunrise) rising of the Dog Star, Sirius. These are the days of the year with the least rainfall in the Northern Hemisphere. And it is definitely hot here this week.
Dog Days were popularly believed to be an evil time “the Sea boiled, the Wine turned sour, Dogs grew mad, and all other creatures became languid; causing to man, among other diseases, burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies.” according to Brady’s Clavis Calendaria, 1813.
The Romans sacrificed a brown dog at the beginning of the Dog Days to appease the rage of Sirius, believing that the star was the cause of the hot, sultry weather. So it is a good thing this dog is black and white!
Dog Days of Summer
Picture of the Day for July 16, 2013
On hot summer days, even the sunsets appear ‘hotter’ than normal even if they might give rays of hope that the weather would return to more comfortable temperatures.
Hot Summer Sunset
Picture of the Day for July 14, 2013
The July summer days are being filled with beautiful lilies blooming. Oranges, yellow, red and pinks dot the landscape.
Summertime Lily
Picture of the Day for July 13, 2013
Having the windows open when a cool breeze is blowing is always a treat in the summer but that also means you can hear the screaming kids outside. And this week, the crying kids are the baby Baltimore Orioles who sit near the sugar water feeder and screams until one of the parents tanks up on the juice and delivers it to the screaming kid. Grape jelly is another way to feed the screaming babies.
Baltimore Orioles prefer darkest colored berries, ignoring green and yellow berries even if ripe. And when they find dark berries, they will stab the berry with a closed bill and then open their mouth to cut a juicy swath to drink the juices.
The young males do not molt into the bright orange plumage until the fall of their second year but sometimes the drab first-year young males will attract a mate and raise a family. The females become deeper orange each time they molt and some older females can be almost as bright orange as a male.
Baltimore Oriole Eating Jelly
