But It's a Loss to Me

Redwing Pair
Originally uploaded by CaptPiper.

All summer I have been enjoying this field owned by our neighbors. I have watched it grow, going through stages, different wildflowers, coming and going, rabbits, birds, spiders, hoverflies, and bumblebees, sweet smells - I fell in love with it. I began a photo journal of it.
Yesterday, the owner mowed it down. He got himself a new John Deer tractor and wiped all that life out. It's just a field of ugly barren stubble.

I am feeling SO sad - almost grieving for the loss of that place. I know the guy has to mow it eventually, or it will stop being a field and become a young forest - already little ash trees were beginning to root and grow - but I will miss it.
Walking hip deep in wildflowers, even through Queen Anne's lace that was over my head, chickory, clover of the pink, purple, yellow, and white variety, hawkweed, St. John's wort, milkweed, wild aster, goldenrod, and a dozen other wildflowers I don't know the names of; butterflies flying all around me; birds swooping and singing; finding little hidden treasures - no more.

Howl

Howl
Originally uploaded by CaptPiper.

Lucy greets me as I return from next door. You would think I had been gone for days instead of minutes.

Safety Net

Safety Net
Originally uploaded by CaptPiper.

I've become fascinated with tthe webs in the morning dew. These latest were taken in the field next to my house. I was out there in the morning in my pajamas, soaking wet with chilly dew, taking shots.

Inspired by Lynn's quotes

Actually, there are more than two ways, but this makes a good quote.
Originally uploaded by CaptPiper.

Field of Dreams

Field of Dreams
Originally uploaded by CaptPiper.

July 16, 2006
Summertime… and the livin’ is easy.

But once in a while, it pays to drag myself out of bed and drive country roads as the sun is rising. Last Friday morning I looked out the window at 5:50 a.m. and saw a slightly thicker fog than usual lying over the fields like a cloud. I decided not to go back to bed, but take my camera hunting.

At first I didn’t find anything much. I took a few of the sunrise through the fog. I got one misty blue field with a double track meandering through it that I liked.
The sun was well above the horizon and I was actually on my way home when the road lead me though a valley filled with a light fog. Sunbeams were shafting through tree branches into a weedy golden meadow. Well, this was worth stopping for. After I was out of the car and searching for the best angle and crop, I noticed that the weeds in the field were draped with spider webs – beautiful round webs sparkling with beaded mist. And there were hundreds of them. This was the treasure I had been searching for. What a rush!!

If you want to see more digital captures from that morning, click on the photo to go to my Flickr site and look at the "Morning in July" set.

Summer Song

Summer Song
Originally uploaded by CaptPiper.

Almost done with the yearbook. A new computer makes all the difference in the world!!

This is the most mosquito infested summer I can remember. Even in the middle of the day in the sun, the mosquitos will find you - and go our on a cloudy day? You don't dare! You will be swarmed and the mosquitos will attempt to take you down. Looking out the window, I even see them hovering around our cat, trying to find a way through her fur, but other than an occasional flick of her ear, she doesn't seem bothered by them. If it would just hold off raining for a while, the swampy areas in the bottom land would dry up, and within two weeks the mosquito population would dwindle.
In the meantime - buy lots of Northwoods Off.

June RiverSwim

June RiverSwim 31
Originally uploaded by CaptPiper.

This is summer!

Soaring

Soaring
Originally uploaded by CaptPiper.

When I was a kid, if I could have had just one wish, it wouldn’t have been for a million dollars or world peace, or great beauty, or a horse (although that one would have been close to the top of my list) – I would have wished to be able to fly. Not in a plane, but to just spread out my arms, give a couple of flaps, and take off into the blue. I wanted to soar among the tops of the clouds and swoop down, weightless and totally free. I wanted to feel the wind lifting me up and slide down warm drafts like an invisible rollercoaster. (I especially felt this way during Mrs. Houghton’s math class.) Sometimes I would even move my arms up and down, trying to build my muscles, just in case.
I knew that it would never happen, but one could dream, couldn’t one? My best dreams were ones where I could fly. Although they usually ended with me unable to get off the ground because there wasn’t enough wind, or there were too many electrical wires strung across the sky.
I still dream about those wires. They represent, I’m sure, responsibilies - the obligations and expectations of society.
I’m too old now. I’m earthbound and solid. I don’t want to fly any more. Not often, anyway.

Redwing at the Dock

Bird at the Dock
Originally uploaded by CaptPiper.

She was letting me get even closer this time. I wonder how close she'd let me come if I went out there every day. She seemed to enjoy playing a game - flitting upward and hovering overhead, then landing closer the next time. Finally she reached her tolerance point. I could almost set my focus at that point and shoot at about twenty feet.