Saturday was a busy bird day in our yard.
At various times the front and back yards were covered with black birds, robins and another unknown bird foraging all through the grass. I doubt that they found any worms unless they were frozen. These two robins were playing in the snow. Silly robins, snow is for sledding 
Our recent Alaska Cruise on Fantasy Cruises started in Petersburg, AK. This is a small Norwegian fishing village.
As we prepare for a trip to Alaska this summer, we have decided there are a few things we still need to handle the cold weather we will experience. One of the things I need is a waterproof jacket to wear in the rain forest of Southeast Alaska. We drove to Cabela’s today which is somewhere I had never been. While driving on the highway, the car thermometer said 100 degrees! Triple digits and I’m going to look for a coat!!
We parked and walked across the hot, asphalt driveway.
On a cold snowy December night in 1980 I was in Wichita KS hanging out with some coworkers after a day at the Wichita Data Center. We were watching Monday Night Football. During the game we were shocked by the news that John Lennon had been shot outside his New York City apartment building; a sad day indeed.
In 2003 on a trip to New York City, I saw the Dakota apartment building which is located across the street from Central Park. There is an area of the park named Strawberry Fields that is dedicated to the memory of John Lennon. This photo was taken there.
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharing all the world
This summer the National Park Service held a Photography Contest titled “View from the Park”. They were looking for photographs taken from the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (where the Arch is located in St Louis). I entered some photos and was lucky enough to win one of the Honorable Mentions. My photo titled “Poles and Pink” is shown above.
All of the winners and Honorable Mentions may be seen here.
After seeing only bees on the flowers this summer, I finally had some butterflies visit. This is one of them from this past week.
The small Butterfly Garden has been expanded this year. Coneflowers and another Butterfly weed plant were added. The milkweed plant that is a host plant for the Monarch Butterfly has taken over a lot of the space. So far, only bees are partaking in the nectar.
Around the end of June and the beginning of July the Lotus flowers bloom at the Japanese Garden Missouri Botanical garden.
My latest post on 500px, a fairly new website with lots of great photos. This picture is a link to a larger version of the photo.
 Caterpillar and Friend by Randy Oleson |
This was taken last summer in my “butterfly garden”.
The backyard birds are loving the onslaught of cicadas. There are plenty of these bugs to catch and feed to the baby robins.
