The wildflowers of 2006

(An August 2006 view of the wildflower meadow.)

Karma, in one of her comments on my blog, asked if I had any photos of the wildflower meadow when it was in full bloom.  I couldn’t find anything from the spring months.  Perhaps because I was new to digital photography (and not yet addicted enough to be snapping hundreds of photos every day), perhaps because the flowers tend to be more sporadic in the spring so I took a few close-up shots but no wider or longer views of the meadow itself.

September of 2006 seems to have been a great time for the wildflowers.  Not just those in the meadow, either.  I have a file of photos all taken on the same day (September 29) from one of my walks around the pond.  There were flowers blooming everywhere.  Some, like the coneflowers, were finished for the season, but others were bursting out in bloom all over the place, including the jewelweed, something I didn’t see as much of this year.

(Praying mantis hiding in the jewelweed.)

There seem to have been plenty of monarchs flitting about as well.  I have a large collection of photos of them.

(Monarch in the asters.)

It was interesting going back and having a look at photos from four years ago.  It is hard to believe that much time has passed since I got my first digital camera.  I don’t think my photography has changed much, though.  Even back then I was trying to do that impressionism thing:

Although it almost hurts to look at that one (lol!) because of the blurriness, I do like the colors.  What is odd is how the camera focused on one plant over to the far right.

(A view of the pond from above the wildflower meadow.)

Karma also asked (when I left a comment at her place which, by the way, have you visited yet?  You should.  Go now.  I’ll wait…) about pictures of baby killdeers.  I had mentioned that we usually have a family of them nesting on our property and that I always enjoy watching the babies.  I thought I had several pictures of the group of them from this past spring but could only find this one:

They were living in the garden, near the asparagus bed.  It was a good spot to pick, for the most part, because the garden is fenced in yet roomy enough to walk the babies around.  The only problem with nesting in the garden was that the night before I took this photo M and I were out in the garden picking asparagus by flashlight (I can’t remember why we decided to do some night gardening) and I almost stepped on the babies who were all huddled together, no doubt scared after having this giant stomp through their nesting area.  I had no idea they were out there as I hadn’t seen them during the day.

I went back the next morning and took a few photos.  Most of them must have been blurry or otherwise deemed “no good” as this was all I could find.  I had a brief period of ruthlessness a few months back and went on a delete spree that cleared out a lot of photos that I’m sure would have done nothing more than languish and take up space.  I need to do that again.  Soon.

Thank you, Karma, for giving me the incentive to go back and have another look.  It was fun and I think I may have learned a thing or two about myself while I was at it.