Beneath My Feet

This week, Cheri Lucas Rowlands over at WordPress, has chosen the topic “beneath my feet” for the photo challenge. So, let’s take a look at some photos of where my feet have taken me.

What is beneath my feet is:

The deck of a cruise ship.

Split image

The dry earth of the desert.

It is dry as the desert here!

Winter snow.

My house in December

A meadow.

The herd returns – see the ranger?

Hoover Dam.

The overlook bridge

A beach.

A beach view in Puerto Vallarta

A trail in Big Trees State Park.

One of the smaller trees

I hope that you enjoyed my photos for this challenge. Have a splendid weekend, and be well… ^..^

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Bathing Birds

Over the years, I have been lucky enough to capture birds bathing.  And, I happen to have a variety of photos of these lovelies in the midst of their abulations. Let’s go check them out.

Join me in a bath?

Bathing White Pelican

A gull taking a bath on a Carnival Cruise

Now shake it off!

Pulling the water up

Taking care of the back

Now that was good!

Drying in the sun

Cleaning the face

And done! I hope that you enjoyed today’s photos! Have a great day and be well… ^..^

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Winner of the 2015 Pretty Feet Contest!

Today is the day that I reveal the winner of the 2015 Pretty Feet Contest! Thanks go out to everyone who took the time to vote.

We have a tie at third place! The two winners of the third place award go to the Koala and the Frog!

Koala

Koala

Frog

Frog

Proud to be in second place in this year’s contest is the Cougar!

Cougar

Cougar

Drum roll please….The first place winner of the 2015 Pretty Feet Contest: Nicholas the Elephant!

Elephant

Let me share with you a bit of his background. He was born on December 19, 1993 at a circus breeding facility. He was an unruly elephant, maybe because they made him ride a tricycle. He was retired from the circus at the young age of 5. His constant companion for years was a female named Gypsy. She became his surrogate mother. When he reached the ripe age of sixteen, he had to be separated from her to “go his own way” which would happen in the wild.

Nicholas is living a happy life in a huge enclosure at the Performing Animal Welfare Society compound located in the small town of San Andreas, CA. His new companion is a deer. Would you like to adopt Nicholas? You can! Here is the link to PAWS to find out how to do it!

Here is Nicholas in all his majestic glory!

Elephant

Thanks again go out to those who voted, and may you have an amazing day. Be well… ^..^

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Half and Half – A WordPress Photo Challenge

Ben Huberman over at WordPress has chosen the topic “Half and Half” for this week’s photo challenge. He says, “…share an image that has two clear halves, literally or figuratively. You could focus on composition, like me, and take a photo with an explicit dividing line (either vertical, horizontal, or diagonal). Or take the theme in other directions: zoom in on a pair of objects that together form a whole. Show two people whose demeanor or personality complement each other. Or bring into balance two opposing visual elements — light and dark, color and its absence, sharp focus juxtaposed with blurriness.”

Here is my world of half and half.

Half smooth, half rough.

Sea foam

Two halves of a wine barrel.

Pulling the barrel apart

Acorn squash cut in half.

Cut the acorn squash in half

Split image in a reflection.

One lovely reflection

Half on, half off.

I was so tired after flying that I fell asleep on the stairs!

The top half and bottom half.

Yellow cone up close

There you have it! A world of halves. Thank you for stopping by today! Be well… ^..^

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Pretty Feet Contest 2015!

It is past time that I feature, as I do every year, the pretty feet contest! This year we have a number of exciting contenders! You get to vote on whose feet you like the best and in a couple of weeks I will announce the winner! Are you ready to check out some really pretty feet? Let’s go!

Contestant #1 – Buffalo

Buffalo

Contestant #2 – Cougar

Cougar

Contestant #3 – Elephant

Elephant

Contestant #4 – Flamingo

Flamingo

Contestant #5 – Frog

Frog

Contestant #6 – Koala

Koala

Contestant #7 – Meerkat

Meerkat

Contestant #8 – Wallaby

Wallaby

There are the contestants for 2015, and now you get to vote! Just click on the button to register your vote.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend! Be well… ^..^

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Oh Deer Me!

Today I wanted to share some photos taken yesterday morning. We had a jack rabbit in the yard, then a doe came along, followed by a turkey. Only in the foothills can you see such wonders! Ready to check out the doe? Here we go!

Hello!

She hears a sound

She has something to say

Got any apples?

What’s that over there?

Look – a lovely apple!

Found one!

Licking her lips

Wasn’t that fun? Have a great day! Be well… ^..^

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Speaking Out!

My husband and I both enjoy the birds that visit us here at our home in the Sierra Foothills. They have been a great source of enjoyment, and the subject of many of my recent photos. So, for today, I thought that I would share with you some recent photos of these birds speaking out.

Are you looking at me?

Check out all that food!

Where’s the seed?

He’s hogging all the food!

Are you listening to me?

I hope that you enjoyed the photos! Thanks for stopping by and be well… ^..^

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Western Fence Lizard

As my husband and I have our evening cocktails, we observe one of the local natives: A western fence lizard. I decided that I would share photos I took the other night of this foothills critter. Please do click on the photos so that you can really see the detail on this amazing creature.

Meet the western fence lizard

Did you see the blue stripe on his underbelly? This lizard hides in the night blooming jasmine in our front yard. We were please to see him out and about. Here is a photo of this little guy looking right at me. I think it was the sound of the camera as I snapped photos that attracted his attention.

He is looking at me

Here is a photo where he is watching possible prey.

He spies prey

His prey: A honeybee.

Predator and prey

He gives up on this bee and heads over to the hose.

Hiding on the hose

While in this spot, he catches a wasp. I missed it, but I did get photos of him consuming his meal.

He caught a wasp

As his mouth is clamped down on the wasp, we watch the back end of the wasp wiggling. He quickly swallows and clamps down again.

It’s almost gone

It now gone. He is smiling!

It’s gone

What surprised us next was when he burped! If you look closely at this photo, you will see the hind legs of the wasp sticking out.

Burping after lunch

Satisfied after eating, he scratches an itchy spot by rubbing his head on the cement.

Taking care of an itchy spot

Well, there you have it. This is part of our early evening entertainment. We are very fortunate with what we get to see and experience here.

May you have a wonderful Wednesday, and thank you for stopping by. Be well… ^..^

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Those Funny Pigeons!

In the mornings, my husband and I sit outside enjoying our coffee and watching the birds. In the quiet, the air is filled with bird song. Last year was the first year that pigeons showed up here. This might have something to do with the drought. They are much larger in number this year.

What makes us laugh, is how they scare themselves and then fly off. So, today I will be featuring photos I took the other morning of the pigeons doing just that! I hope that you enjoy these photos!

A scrub jay and the first pigeon fly in

There are now seven

Now they number twelve

I count eighteen

Twenty eight and counting

As this one lands, they all get scared

They begin to lift off the ground

More fly up

The rest take flight

As we sat there with our cups of coffee, we witnessed the pigeons doing this about 5 times. So, I decided to take a video. As soon as I turned the camera on, they never came back! Figures!

I hope that you enjoy today’s post! Have a fabulous day and be well! ^..^

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Circling in a Storm

We have had more cloudy days in May than we had from January to April. The clouds are dark and heavy looking. The sad part is: No rain. The other day, with the dark sky, and the sun just setting, we witnessed turkey buzzards flying in circles. Here are a few of the shots that I captured of them…

Circling

Looking down

Wings fully spread

All lit up!

The sun’s reflection

Heading out

The turkey buzzard is such an amazing bird. My husband said to me the other day, “Can you imagine flying like that looking to find something that has died?” I can’t, but there has to be enough to keep these birds going.

Thanks for stopping by today! Have an amazing day, and be well… ^..^

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