ABC Wednesday: Not X-actly X

This week we have reached the letter X, an extremely difficult letter . . .

. . . But I didn't want to think too hard-- it's summer, a time to relax and to watch

puffy white clouds or jet trails make a pattern in the blue sky.

Summer is also an exciting time in the garden as the garden teems with insect life and blooms like these of my favorite flower, the purple coneflower, fill the garden with color.



Or when exquisite creatures like these flit about searching for food. Note this is not the same dragonfly I pictured last week; I've had several varieties come to visit in the past week.


It can also be an exasperating time--the Japanese beetles have arrived!


Check out more ABC posts here.

And a note to garden bloggers, particularly those who attended Spring Fling: Sometime tomorrow I plan to post a review of the book A Garden of Invention. I hope you'll have time to stop by and read it sometime.

ABC Wednesday: Wandering W's . . .

This Week's ABC Wednesday post is brought to you, appropriately enough, by the letter W.



W is for the Windy City, a fond nickname for the great city of Chicago. Fortunately, when I visited Chicago for Spring Fling at the end of May, there was only a gentle breeze and the temperatures were just right for sightseeing. Before the Chicago skyline was highlighted by skyscrapers and the city and its suburbs sprawled across most of the northeast corner of the state of Illinois, much of this area might have looked like this . . .

. . . or perhaps like this . . .

Both of these photos were taken near my home much further downstate at Meadowbrook Park in Urbana, Illinois, an ideal place for a walk. However, today was not a good day to walk as temperatures have been in the 90's here with humidity levels making it feel even hotter. A quick walk to the closest areas for good photos, and then it was back to the air-conditioned car!





The first photo of Meadowbrook was taken of a large Prairie Restoration area where Wildflowers are just coming into bloom. This area was burned off in late winter much like the natural prairie fires of long ago, and vegetation has reappeared. By July the prairie flowers should be in full bloom.

The second Meadowbrook photo was taken of the shaded Wildflower Garden, where most of the spring wildflowers have stopped blooming for the season. But a few flowers are just coming into their own, like the Prairie Coneflower.

To some, these wildflowers may look like Weeds, and, in fact, this common wild daisy (specific name unknown, sorry) is often pulled out when it grows in unwanted places.

W is also for weeds, of which I have plenty. But this Butterfly Weed is one I purposely planted and am happy to have growing in my garden. This Asclepias Tuberosa has tripled in size since last year; this is also the first year it has bloomed. Hopefully, it will attract many butterflies before the end of the season.

While the butterflies have been scarce so far this summer, other Winged insects have been abundant. The honeybees and bumblebees have definitely found my garden.

And it must have been serendipity that this morning I saw another of my favorite Winged creatures, the first dragonfly of the year. With their gossamer wings, I find them very hard to photograph; for some truly beautiful photos of these gorgeous creatures, you need to visit Q's Corner. Another favorite winged creature, the hummingbird, has been visiting of late, but it may take me all summer to capture one photograph of that elusive bird!

For more ABC posts, do visit the collection posted here. And stay cool!

The Birds and the Bees (or the Quest for the Elusive Hummingbird)

I have a serious case of camera envy. This past Christmas my children bought me a new Sony Cybershot camera to replace my five-year-old 2.2 pixel digital camera. My new camera had 7.2 pixels and the 3x optical zoom; I was thrilled! That is, until I started blogging. My new camera takes great pictures of the grandkids and decent photos of flowers (once I figured out what macromode was), but trying to take a photo of anything that moves or flies is nearly impossible. I'm too cheap to buy a new camera, and I'm not about to tell my family, "Hey thanks for the gift, but what I really need is a $500 camera with at least an 18x digital zoom."

Instead I'm trying to make the best of what I do have. I have a friendly Mr. Robin Redbreast who often stops by to visit and share a little conversation. He likes his space, though, so this is the best picture I could get of him, and that is with a lot of cropping. As you can see, once you start drastically cropping, the picture gets blurry.

The goldfinches who frequent my feeder are also camera-shy. One day, though, four of them were so busy fighting over who got which perch that I managed to sneak up on them. Camouflaging myself in the tree branches and standing very still, I waited for their return and was able to take several pictures before this one detected me.



I realize that having a good camera is essential to taking sharp photos of wildlife, but skill plays just as large a part in good photography. I have been trying for the last month to take a photo of the hummingbirds once they arrived in the area. Don't even bother enlarging the next photo, because there is no hummingbird there--he flew away before I even had the camera focused.




I thought I was being smart this year in hanging a second feeder on my porch, just a few feet away from the swing where I often sit. Yes, they did find the feeder, and I could have gotten some great photos---if I'd had my camera with me. I've learned from my mistakes and now take the camera with me nearly every time I go outside. But for some reason the hummingbirds have spurned this feeder lately. Could this be the reason?

I know this is blurry (there's my skill problem), but maybe you can see the ants covering the feeding hole. We seem to have a plethora of ants this year, though so far they've stayed outside. One group seems to love climbing into this feeder to reach the sweet nectar even though it means a certain death by drowning. After I shot this photo, I emptied and cleaned out the feeder and refilled it with fresh nectar, but the ants were back within a day's time, a host of them floating at the top of the juice. Do you think the hummingbirds are turned off by this?

Or could this be the problem?

I doubt the hummingbirds would be intimidated by Tarzan, the guard cat. And frankly, if they came to visit, I think Tarzan would be so entranced by them he wouldn't even move. Whatever the reason, I'm getting frustrated by my lack of success.

As I said, though, skill is such an important part of photography, and I am lacking in that area, too. Back in the days before digital cameras, I was known for taking advantage of wonderful photo opportunities, only to discover I didn't have film in the camera. And my daughter will never let me forget the year I took a whole roll of film of her and her date on Homecoming, but all the pictures were double-exposed! I never did figure that one out.

Digital cameras have made photography so much easier for the average person, yet I still make some mistakes. At my daughter-in-law's graduation ceremony last month I was given the task of taking pictures of her with her family. Somehow in the process of juggling three different cameras I turned the mode dial on mine to video. (The price of vanity--I refuse to wear my reading glasses unless absolutely necessary.) So instead of a nice group shot of her family, we have a short video of them getting in position, standing still for a second, and then several seconds of pavement and (ugh) my stomach while I took shots with the other cameras.

By far the most infamous example of my ineptitude with cameras, though, was during my trip to Europe 5 years ago. I was one of the chaperones for a group of high school juniors and seniors on one of those 10-day whirlwind trips of three major European cities. Our first night in London we set off on a walking tour to see the sights, led by our Italian guide. I looked like the typical American tourist with a backpack on my back and a large camera bag slung across my chest holding my first digital camera and a video camera borrowed from my daughter. The digital camera worked fine, but I'd never used a video camera before. I remember taking video in the heart of London as we walked through Picadilly Circus. I'd heard of Picadilly, of course, but never quite knew what it was--I was expecting an actual circus. (Yes, my UK friends, you may laugh at this.) I remember taking video to show everyone at home just what this famous landmark looked like.

After our stop there, we set off on a long walk to Trafalgar Square, so I eventually put the camera back in its bag. By the time we finally reached Trafalgar Square, I was in an excited state of bliss--I really was in London, the home of Big Ben, the Globe, and Westminster Abbey! I took out the video camera again to be able to capture the whole scene, but to my disappointment, the batteries were dead! My daughter had told me I could take only so many minutes of video before recharging the batteries, but this was ridiculous. It wasn't until later that night as I reviewed the video I'd taken that I found out the reason--I had never turned the camera off! So instead of a 20 minute video showcasing the grand sights of the heart of London, I had five minutes of Picadilly Circus, then 20 minutes of the derrieres of the people in front of me, my feet walking on the streets of London, and finally total darkness with an audio of my conversation with the students walking with me. (I had put the camera back in the bag, remember.) I can laugh about the incident now, but I sure do wish I had that video--who knows when I might get back to London?

I have learned from all my past mistakes, and I am working on learning the finer points of photography. Why, I even read the camera manual! But even with some skill, a photographer has to practice to understand the effects of light and shadow or using the proper settings. One morning last week I saw the first dragonfly of the summer. He was a very accommodating fellow, landing on this iron lantern holder and posing for me for several minutes. I must have taken 7 or 8 pictures of him, yet this was the best I could do. As I stuck my camera just inches away from him, I could imagine him saying, "Hey, lady, how long is this photo session going to last? I've got breakfast to catch!"

This morning, though, I was a little luckier. This dragonfly wasn't quite so patient with me, but he did land on different flowers for a couple seconds at a time, so I was able to get a better picture.

Look at those gossamer wings! And here's another one for you, Beckie.

After reading many of your blogs, I know that those of you with great photos also show a lot of patience. But sometimes you just get lucky. While waiting for the elusive hummingbirds to appear one day, a bee landed nearly at my feet, enjoying the sweet blossoms of a verbena.

Traipsing around my garden trying to get some good shots for this past Garden Bloom Day, I noticed this ladybug crawling inside the Stella d'Oro daylily. Once again, the photo is rather blurry, but I was happy to see her. (You may have to enlarge this photo to see her.)

That same day, as I looked more closely at the garden, I found this spider enjoying the watering I had just given the petunias.

And resting on the leaves of a coneflower was this little guy. Can anyone identify this insect? To me, he looked like a baby praying mantis, but I'm no entomologist. Please just don't tell me he's a purple-coneflower-eating parasite!

Sometimes a good photo is simply a case of pure dumb luck. Taking pictures of my gaillardia for my Bloom Day post, I didn't even see this bee until I downloaded my photos and began editing them.

Obviously, I have a long way to go before I can submit a photo to Audubon or Insect World, but I'm going to keep practicing on the birds and the bees, though I think I'll stick to showing you mostly flowers from now on. I do hope to get a photo of a butterfly sometime; once my coneflowers are in bloom, I usually have dozens of them flying about. And I am not going to give up in my quest for my very own hummingbird photo, even if I have to camp out under the feeder all day. In the meantime, I am going to continue to enjoy the photos of all you who do show such marvelous photos of wildlife. In particular, I want to note the work of three master photographers: Cheryl, the "Queen Bee" at My Wild Life Sanctuary; Mary, Head Chef to the birds at Mary's View; and Sherry, the "Butterfly Queen" at Q's Corner. Ladies, you are a true inspiration to me!