The Party's Over

    Yes, the party is over. But, I must say, Dan and his mom put on one fine birthday party!

    The cake was Blue's Clues, Jake's favorite.

    At first he thought the wrapping paper was "the thing."

    Then he realized there were presents inside!

    He quickly tired of trying to hit the Tee Ball and 

began using his psychic powers of levitation instead. 

    Afraid he might be in trouble, he looked to Granma for confort.

    At the end of the day, it's all about who has the coolest ride.

    Happy birthday, Jake. It has been a blessing to have you for the past 24 months!

Grandma Bearly Makes It

    I have been a grandma for almost two years now. But I never really felt like a grandmother until last weekend when I hiked to Rainbow Falls with a group of photographers 

    Rainbow Falls is over 100 feet high. Isn't it beautiful?

    When you think of rainbows you think of love, peace and happiness don't you? 

    Well, this rainbow almost killed me!

     Rainbow Falls is in a very steep part of the southeastern United States. Getting to the falls involved one hour of hiking down a steep mountain. Those of you who have not done this are thinking, "Oh! Downhill. That's easy." Not so! This is more of a "downmountain" type of thing. It involved stepping down from one ledge to another over and over again, using my thigh muscles as brakes, until those muscles turned to jelly. The ledges were very irregular, sometimes a few inches high, sometimes a foot high. At times it involved stepping from dirt collected by a root to an area below where rain had washed the earth away. At other times it meant stepping from root-to-rock or root-to-slippery-fallen-leaves. Every step was different and there was no way to establish the rhythm that we normally have while walking.

    One part of the trail was so steep that ropes were provided as an aid for descending two sections of large rocks.

    By the time we reached the falls I knew I was in trouble and would have difficulty on the steep ascent back out. I desperately gulped down an energy bar and water in an effort to avoid my personal train wreck looming up ahead.

    When we were done photographing the falls it was time to leave. We had spent about an hour resting there, but it was no use. After climbing just a few yards I began having serious difficulty.

    My quadriceps muscles were so exhausted from the trip down that in no time the climb up became nearly impossible. When my legs became too heavy to lift I resorted to crawling. I used my hands to  grip roots, tree trunks, and rocks to pull myself along. All of this with 24 lbs of camera gear on my back. Pretty soon my arm muscles became fatigued as well. And to say that my heart was pounding is an understatement. I was audibly panting and I didn't care who heard me. I was having so much difficulty I thought I might have to spend a night out there!

    Somewhere on the mountain Mama Bear set the table for dinner.

    All of this happened before we reached the section with the ropes. I'm guessing that as I approached all the young men drew straws. One tall athletic fellow must have been the loser. While I labored upwards he stood at the bottom, cursed with the job of catching Granny, should she fall. 

    To add to my embarrassment, the group of hikers I was with (all in their twenties and thirties) had to stop and wait for me.  They were quick studies and soon learned my name.  "Liz, are you okay?"  "Liz, do you need to rest?"  "Liz, do you want some of my water?" One slender young lady who could talk without gasping for oxygen must have also thought I would be spending the night out. She asked, "Do you want some food?" Bless their healthy little hearts! Their concern for Granny was heartwarming!

    The only way I completed the climb was by drowning out the sound of my own pounding heart with positive mental chatter. I told myself that I could make it,  and I chanted a marching cadence silently to myself as I put one foot (or one knee) in front of the other.

    Finally we reached the top. My shame was overcome by the  pride of a job well done. I bragged to our guide that I was probably the oldest person to have made this hike. Before you could say "You bet your sweet bippy!" he replied, "My dad has done it a few times. He's 74 years old." That really busted my bubble!

    Later we visited several more falls. This is Shower Bath Falls. So named because campers used to shower there. Brrrrrrr!

    I crawled under the ledge at the right side of the falls to video the water from another angle. I had to crouch down under the rock ledge, not an easy maneuver  after the beating my muscles had taken at Rainbow.

    Here are two close ups taken near the bottom of another falls. Sometimes these are prettier than wide angle shots of waterfalls.    

    This photo is taken along a trail to one of the falls. See where the sunbeam hits the rock? Look just to the left of that. Where the rock meets the tree roots is where the "trail" is. This is not the trail to Rainbow, this is what our guide called an "easy" trail.

    In addition to waterfalls, we visited this mountain which is one mile above sea level and known for its windy weather. The day we were there the wind was blowing about 35 mph. It blew so hard that it was difficult to open the car door and at times I was blown off course while walking. There was no way I would have walked out onto the edge of this cliff!

    And that's the truth!
   

    

   

Joy

If my world were to cave in tomorrow, I would look back on all the pleasures, excitements and worthwhilenesses I have been lucky enough to have had. Not the sadness ....... but the joy of everything else. It will have been enough. 
Audrey Hepburn 
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/sadness.html#GKDoYpHe717y3vY1.99

    I have been going through a bit of a rough patch lately. So rough, actually, that I didn't feel like picking up my camera. As a matter of fact, some days I felt so bad I contemplated tossing it into the trash.  Who am I to think that I can be a photographer?

    But then the baby came over. He has a way of putting things in perspective.

    I resolved to take his picture before he left. 

Shall we say he was less than enthusiastic?

At times he feigned disinterest.

But he loves to be in the spotlight.

Finally I was able to get this one!

    It's hard for me to explain, but somehow this small step forward in my attitude has to do with the fact that it is my own child's 24th birthday. 

    Happy birthday, Darling.

    Love,

    Mom

Racing

    I went to an amateur horse race for the first time last weekend. It was a photographer's gold mine with lots of action and bright colors. 

There were a lot of interesting faces to photograph.

I have read that some people look like their dogs. Doesn't this guy look like his horse?

    

Future jockey?

      

Hats are a big deal here.

This fellow has a hat

 and a tat.

It's a risky sport, but this jockey

looks as if he does not have a care in the world.

Pre-race planning.

Apparently this horse does not want to be dressed as a flag.

This horse is being ponied down to the starting gate. 

Another one is hand walked to the gate. It was all the man on the ground could do to keep the horse from pulling away.

 Riding a nervous race horse into the 

starting gate is a dangerous business.

This jockey thought he was going to 

have to bail out. 

But in the end everything turned out alright.

    I have a new feature on my blog. You can click on the flag at the top right hand side to translate to Spanish.

    As always, you can click on any photo to enlarge it to full screen.

    

Like A Twinkie!

     I went out early this morning looking for bugs. I stepped just into the edge of the woods and right away I found this Praying Mantis. Mantises sit very still until an insect comes close enough to catch. This one moved because she was startled. She looks so much like the surrounding plants that I never would have seen her if she had held still.

    It did not take long for her to catch an insect. Her spiky front legs helped her to hold onto her prey. She began by biting off the head.

    She was willing to tolerate me as long as I did not get too close. This ugly glare reminds me of my dog's eyes when she is in possession of a favorite toy.

    The black dot in the middle of her eye is a pseudopupil. Mantises have compound eyes, no pupil.

    Apparently the best part is in the middle. Sort of like a Twinkie.

    Now she is done with her breakfast and she licks the last bits off of her "hands."

    In some parts of the world there are mantises large enough to eat mice and toads. I don't believe I want to see that!

Kristin's Deer

    Last weekend I visited my friend Kristin at her cottage on the Pamlico River. It is a beautiful cottage in a very quiet and peaceful location. This is the view looking up the Pamlico from Kristin's dock. The small island is Indian Island. So named because (you guessed it) Indians used to live there.

    Directly across from Kristin in the middle of the river is another larger island where no one lives and few are allowed to visit. Folks living on the opposite side have seen a bear swimming across the river. They say he can swim quite fast. A search around the internet reveals that bears can swim at 6 mph while the record for a human is 4 mph. The take home lesson is that if you are ever being chased by a bear do not take to the water.

    I also learned that in the nineties bears killed an average of 3 people a year. Lightning kills 90 people a year and dogs kill 15.

    On Sunday morning I got out of bed while everyone else was still asleep and went outside with my camera. I walked down the back steps slowly and kept an eye on my feet. Kristin's steps are steep and she had warned me that she had seen a Copperhead snake on one of the lower steps just a few days before. The last thing I wanted was to fall down a bunch of steps onto a venomous snake.

    When I safely reached the bottom I paused to look around. To my shock, there was a deer standing just to my left at the edge of the yard. 

    Instead of running away at breakneck speed, as deer usually do, he took a step closer to me and raised his head in order to see and smell me better.

    Then he went back to his original plan, which was to visit the bird feeder and fatten himself on grain.

    A squirrel was furious with him and chattered loudly. When the squirrel saw that the deer was not offended by his ugly language he decided to come and join the deer for breakfast.

    This little buck is so tame he even walks across the boardwalk that leads to the dock. By this time I am wishing he would leave so that I could take pictures of something else. I am sitting on the bottom step and Kristin's husband Felix has come outside with his coffee to chat me up.

    I like this photo best because you can't tell it is taken in someone's back yard.

    When the deer finally left I retrieved my game camera that I had set out behind the bird feeder the night before. Click here  to watch the video.

    This is the view from Kristin's dock looking back toward land at sunset. Remember, you can click on any photo to make it full screen.

    Thanks for visiting my blog. I hope you will leave a comment so that Kristin and I know you have come to see us.

Foxy Lady

    I rented a large telephoto lens for the holiday weekend. First I tried it out in the backyard. The hummingbirds have a favorite limb they like to rest on when not at the feeder and so I had some good luck with them.

    You might think that the larger songbirds would be easier. But they are not as predictable and therefore much harder to photograph.

    At daybreak the next morning I went out in search of  more wildlife to photograph. This lens is too heavy for walking through dense woods. It is like carrying a bazooka. So I picked a promising little clearing, settled down with my back against a tree, and promptly became miserable. One of my back muscles was not in a cooperative mood. This particular muscle pained and complained me no matter how I shifted or twisted. To complicate matters further, I was so sleepy I could not hold my eyes open. Even sitting up, I slept so soundly that I dreamed. I was tempted to throw in the towel and go home. But I spent a lot of money to rent this lens and by golly I was determined to enjoy it even if it killed me.
    Quite a bit of time passed and the sun was lighting up the green grass. Luckily I chose this moment to change the settings on my camera to match the brighter light. Hardly had I finished this little chore when I caught a gray figure moving quickly toward me on my right. I tried not to get too excited, telling myself that it might just be a cat out hunting. I thought of my own cat who had caught a nice fat lizard to eat the day before.
    I raised my weighty camera and watched. I could see a fox peeking under some lumber at the edge of the clearing! She must be looking for her own lizard. She swung to her right and trotted across the grass directly in front of me. I could not have asked for anything better.

     If you click on her photo she should go to full screen for you. Look carefully and you can see that she is nursing a litter.

My Big Fat Nocturnal Visitor

One morning this spring I woke up to find my broken bird feeder on the ground. Could this be the work of a bear?

I set up my game camera and captured this scary looking creature. 

A Yeti, perhaps?

As the creature grew bolder it bypassed the feeder, preferring instead to climb the steps to my back porch. There it could get the sunflower seed directly from the storage container. 

On the pollen coated surface of the container a clue to its identity emerged!

I decided to latch my container. My uninvited yet determined guest broke the latch and threw the lid aside.

 Finally I captured its photo. Judging by the height of the container she is about 12 inches tall.

 Wait! Who is this? My cat is securely locked in the garage each night!

 The bold visitor returns three hours later for a second serving.