Liam

Liam Carney - age 9

Football at 1pm
Soccer at 3:15pm
good games Liam...two touchdowns and a goal!

Who's doing all that singing?

I have added two links (on the right) to help you identify and appreciate our little feathered friends. One site is excellent for bird songs. I never knew that some birds have two or even three bird calls. This site has them all. Birds and Blooms is one of my favorite magazines. Beautiful pictures with hints to attract birds to your yard as well as gardening articles.

Lower Huron Early Summer Morning

Took these pictures July 6th in the early morning. Hard to believe that summer is over already.

On my way out to blow those confounded acorns from my driveway.

Thistle

September Butterflies

All week my back has been bothering me but today I needed a little walk and some time away from home. I went to Lake Erie Metro Park. I spotted 5 different butterflies as I was strolling along. I am no butterfly expert so I had to get out my butterfly book to identify these pictured. The butterfly above is a Painted Lady and I saw it on the nature trail. The others I saw along the edge of the marsh among the ragweed and other wildflowers. Below is the common Cabbage White, next, the Buckeye and last is the Silver Spotted Skipper. What a gorgeous day and how beautiful is nature.

Ready for some football...

This is a picture of my other 9 year old grandson, Mikey. He's got his game face on! Mikey plays football in Overland Park, KS.

Changing Subjects......

My 9 year old grandson running for a touchdown! Liam plays flag football with the Troy Rec program.

Aspen Trail

Well, my walk is over and these are what

was at the end of the trail. I asked a women

coming the other way what they were and

her response was "Oh, they are just

Sandhill Cranes" I was pretty impressed

though and carefully tiptoed around them.

Great end to a great walk!

A bird in the hand.........

Doesn't take much to make me happy...seeing these little birds and getting a picture was enough to make my day. This little chickadee landed on a branch right in front of me and proceeded to sing ... as if the song was just for me.

Nuthatch

More of The Aspen Trail

Love this little tufted titmouse

Aspen Trail

As I started out on my walk, a deer walked across the trail.She looked at me and I looked at her..we both froze momentarily but I, luckily, had my camera.
I choose the Aspen Trail because it is best for birding (and it was) . It was wooded in parts, marsh and meadow. There were so many beautiful wildflowers as well, evidenced by this bright yellow goldenrod.

Kensington Metropark, Milford, Michigan

Before I could even get on the nature trail, I was greeted by Alvin and all his brothers. They were running all around my feet and just being adorable. One was ever so kind to get up on a tree stump and pose for a picture. I noted that someone had dropped bird seed on the path and that was attracting little critters (chipmonks and a red squirel) and birds (jays, chickadees and titmouses). It took about 20 minutes before I could pull myself away and begin my walk.

Kensington Metropark, Milford, Michigan

Spent the day at Kensington Metropark and what a beautiful park it is! A huge park with several lakes...Kent Lake being the largest. The lakes were busy even though it was quite chilly...fishing boats, kayaks, sail boats and paddle boats. Note the sand hill crane near the person hauling in their kayak.There are two beaches and a water park but with temps hovering in the 50s swimming was out on this holiday weekend. Too bad for swimmers but great for me.


Drove all around the park but spent most of the time walking nature trail...and a lot of nature was to be seen. More on that tomorrow.

Ornamental Grasses

I am really into ornamental grasses this year. This is a new fountain grass that I put in a few weeks ago. It's so pretty blowing in the breeze...speaking of breezes....it is sunny, windy (gusts 27 mph) and 65 degrees. Like an October day.

The morning glories are still going strong and look who dropped in to gather some nectar!

In my back yard

This viceroy butterfly held still long enough for me to get a close up. He is a beauty! My butterfly bush (Buddleia) lives up to it's promise of attracting butterflies. I am letting my dill and parsley plants stay in the ground even though they are past their prime in hopes that a caterpillar will attach itself to a stem. Had one last year...a swallowtail caterpillar. Yesterday I saw goldfinches and a house finch in my back yard. It's amazing what my little garden in suburbia attracts. I do give some credit to my birdbath always being full and fresh.