August and September 2018

Hot, humid and wet pretty much sums up August and September in the Triangle area of NC where I live but we lucked out with Hurricane Florence having minimal impact in my part of the state. 



I wish the coast and eastern part of my state had done as well.



The coast and eastern part of NC has had a very hard time and rivers are still rising even as the storm moves out.



Although we've had hot weather this summer it has been so wet that in some ways leaves look more like spring than late summer.



The photographs in this post started with August and cover up to yesterday (Saturday, September 16) at the end.



I was surprised to see wild grapes during a walk on the trail that extends past Shelley Lake. 



The shot above, below and beyond were taken at the North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) Park walk.



I had a lot of unexpected dental appointments and after what I thought would be my last for awhile I walked at the NCMA.



I've written about the NCMA before but the collaboration between North Carolina State University and the museum to create an environmental ecosystem that is sustainable has been quite a success. 



I'm not expressing it well but through water collection and recycling the pools around the museum that are part of art gardens are self sustaining.



I think water and plumbing inside the museum is also supplied with the collection and recycling systems.



There is a mixtures of native plants including grasses as well as paths of mowed grass.



The great blue heron above did a great job of hiding.



I always enjoy seeing both the long term sculpture in the park as well as newly installed pieces. 



I didn't make it into the forest section of the walk this time but there are always new surprises with both temporary and permanent art.



The piece below is in the children's discovery garden.



There is a sign that instructs children not to climb on top of the pig. 



Don't they know if you design a piece for children to walk up and into it that the fun part is to climb on top, especially if that's not allowed.



The butterfly below was my first shot in September.



It was flapping its wings open and shot so fast, I had trouble getting clear shots.



The shot below is of what used to be mostly grasses and wetland but we've had so much rain long term that on a walk this month it was flooded.



Although we didn't take a direct hit from Florence we did get a lot more rain so I'm sure that the area is even more over taken with water



The mallards above will be replaced in the fall by cormorants who always take over those perches when they return.



The shot below was taken of my deck day before yesterday.



I took the last shot yesterday of the dogwood starting to don it's early fall colors.

Summer Synopsis

I'm going to start with an early summer walk at the JC Raulston Arboretum at NCSU.



I always photograph the lath houses when I walk around this arboretum in Raleigh, NC.



Out in the rest of the garden this whimsical tree caught my fancy.



I don't think it's alive but makes an interesting feature including being painted in spots although that doesn't show up well.



Above is a rufous sided towhee on my deck.



We've had so much rain this summer that by and large everything has stayed very green.



Appropriately the two shots above were taken on a greenway walk. 



I think there almost needs to be a Canada geese crossing guard.



Peter Cottontail was frozen with fear so I took the snaps fast so he could be on his way.



I had surprisingly good weather at Topsail Beach, NC in late July.



There was a chance when we went to the beach to join some friends that it would be stormy the whole time.



Fortunately the storms were scattered and didn't interfere with much.



We had a stormy lunch and a stormy evening but the weathered cleared each day for walks on the beach.



I prefer fluffy clouds against a blue sky over all blue.



I definitely had some beautiful skies to shoot.



The only time I prefer a solid blue sky is when it's been raining for many days in a row without a break.



In spite of having a wet summer we have had enough breaks in the rain most weeks that I'm mostly glad for the rain to keep things wet.



The humidity has been pretty intense some days but usually improves after a shower.



I had trouble picking shots from the beach.



The shot below was taken when it was muggy and I had trouble keeping my lens clear.



I took a bunch of shots that looked like there was dense fog.



Most of them were unusable.



I guess I'll stop here.

Late Spring Vacation in Key West

I usually select photographs for a blog post and then upload to flickr so I can embed the photolink.



I did it differently this time because I wanted to upload more shots to flickr for a friend who is from Key West, FL to see what her hometown was looking like during my vacation.



This is making it harder for me to figure out which ones to include in this post.



It was nice to get away for an out of town vacation and I also took some time off once I got home because my adult child was visiting for mother's day and to help me deal with my house.



The photographs are all from Key West although the narrative will skip around.



The AIDS memorial is very touching.



I've lived in the same house since 1984 and although I don't have plans to move it is overwhelming to think about a change that would involved packing up. By the way I live NC and although I have tried my best to hide my house in overgrown bushes, I haven't accomplished a hidden house like this one in FL.



Avory offered to help me look through stuff and decide what I was ready to get rid of and what I wanted to keep.



We got a remarkable amount done.



It also motivated me to keep going with the rest, a little bit at a time.



A lot of these shots are from the Key West public garden.



A friend of my sister's is on the garden board and took us around while supplying us with interesting information about the plants and Key West history.



I love gardens and always find it interesting to see ones with different growing conditions.



I feel a bit guilty about the bird below although my brother in law set it free.



When I started photographing him I thought he was on the outside of the screen resting.



As it turned out he was caught between the glass and screen door.



I usually avoid cars in photographs but the red car and red flowers seemed to go together.