| Butterfly Landing...summer, 2004 |
| The dock is at the side of the house, a corner lot. Often the water is as still as you see here. Gentle breezes and its normal current ruffle the surface. Not enough wind to sail, except in bad weather, so we only see a kayak or two, or a few small fishing boats with small trolling motors, now and then carrying home catfish and bass of a fair size.. Sunsets and mornings are great from the dock - but you have to avoid the mosquiito hour. |
| The azaleas have already bloomed, and I'm a bit late getting them trimmed in the back. Anything lower than a tree is an azalea. They grow ten to thirty-six inches each season, depending on their age. I'm standing about halfway to the lake. |
| I turned around for this shot and zoomed in with the camera across the way. You can see a dam across the lake, so no houses can be built for a good stretch right across from me. The dam is further across than it appears here. I understand that the birds who use these houses eat mosquitos. I thought they were bat houses till my second spring. I don't think I'll be shimmying up that pole to check out the occupants, at any rate. Canada geese and mallard ducks are nearly constant visitors. They also feel like they own my dock. Sometimes swans fly over on their way to nearby Swan Lake, which has at least one of every kind of swan in the world in zoo residence. People visit these gardens to see huge masses of iris blooming, also. |
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| My neighbor felled a lakeside dead tree, and the resident turtles have continuously used it as their private spa. Princess of Quite-A-Lot and I both have repeated tried to sneak up on them from behind the azaleas, but they always saw us coming. A friend managed to catch most of them with a longer telescopic lens, but this smaller version doesn't do it justice. |