Swinging bridge

With apologies to Babooshka and her posts of the Swing Bridge on the Isle of Man, I offer this swinging bridge. See Lew'sOtherPics to see why this bridge was swinging through the trees.

Late planting

Last week planting began in the field behind our house.Other farms near us are harvesting hay and grain.

Hawk returns

Thursday while cutting the grass, I spotted three hawks circling low over the houses down the street. My camera was inside so I just watched for a few minutes. A fourth joined them as they rode the breeze higher and higher. Then a fifth appeared. They drifted west and soon were out of sight. I cranked the lawn mower and resumed my task. Then a single hawk flew low over the common area beside our house. So I got the camera. The hawk flew over the trees to the field and I followed and was able to get a few shots.

The graduate

Granddaughter Jennifer posing before ceremony

With proud Dad

With proud Grandpa (photo by her Dad)

Diploma in hand

Yellow iris and away

Another iris bloomed this morning. And I will be away for a few days to see my granddaugher graduate from high school. I'll catch up with your posts and comments next week.

Purple and white Iris

This is my favorite iris. It is also one my Mom gave us from her garden years ago and they have done well in Maryland after their relocation from South Carolina.

Rhododendron bud at dusk

This one was taken only two minutes after the peach iris of my last post, but I used fill flash to highlight the bloom and darken he background.

Another iris blooms

Here's the peach iris.

Morning after the rain

When we get afternoon rain and overnight clearing, the mornings are just gorgeous - especially when the flowers are blooming. These shots (and the one of the backyard below) were taken about 7:30 this morning.

Cows

on the road in the rain,

being herded by three very wet people,

and back through the gate into the pasture.

An Iris blooms

May 8 10:52 AM

May 9 8:23 PM

May 10 8:15 AM

Rhododendron beauty

I caught these two shots of our rhododendron blooms a little after 10 this morning.

Study in green

Two flowers that will show some color soon. Above is an iris that I think will be peach. And below is a pincushion (Scabiosa pink mist) that produces delicate little flowers that almost look lavender.

Morning light

Rhododendron bloom

Glass butterfly

Deck and field

Rododendron bloom and spider

Found this eight-legged creature enjoying the beauty of the rhododendron yesterday.

Then and Now - Oak tree

On April 22, our oak was barely beginning to show leaves.

Two weeks and a day later we have leaves and shade.

Verified words? - 7-th edition

Here are more of the "word verifications" I spotted while commenting on blogs; along with my impression of their meaning. Each one has been verified against dictionary.com and wikipedia. First edition was posted as Round 1. Today's words:

slychapi
dictionary.com - NOT a word, suggested "Soleship"
wikipedia - NOT a word, suggested "Schapiro"
Lew's definition: sly-chap-i - Self appointed clever guy.

porinker
dictionary.com - NOT a word, suggested "prinker"
wikipedia - NOT a word, suggested "porringer"
Lew's definition: por-ink-er - Bent nib on a writing instrument.

tripasm
dictionary.com - NOT a word, suggested "tropism"
wikipedia - NOT a word, suggested "trips"
Lew's definition: trip-asm - What your back has after 500 miles in the car.

A little sun Wednesday

The leaves were still wet Wednesday morning from rain the night before. The clouds broke up for a while and I caught this verbina in the sun. Then the rain returned late afternoon. We have gone from drought conditions to flood warnings this week.

Squirrel? Where?

Over here!

With several days of rain, the grass was getting tall and the squirrels were disappearing. This one left his tail up until he decided to see what was going on behind him. (I got most of the yard cut today, but stopped as another down pour began.)

Birds and more birds

There are a lot of birds around the neighborhood and they have been having a grand time flying about, perching in the trees, hunting for food and singing in the rain. The blue jays compete with the squirrels for acorns. The bird feeder below is in our neighbor's yard. The images were captured over the past two weeks. All have been cropped and some were enhanced with PhotoShop due to the poor light on cloudy days.

Rainy and windy Friday

Friday began with rain and wind. Here is an early morning view out our patio door and the pink snow as the cherry blossoms fell to the ground in the wind.