At the Top

One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things.

~ Henry Miller

Tiny ant on the tip of a Rhododendron Petal 

On Delicate Hinges

Swinging on delicate hinges

the Autumn Leaf

Almost off the stem

- Jack Kerouac

 Look closely and you can see the 
frost on the edges of the leaf.

Print Available -  HERE

 

Dark-eyed Junco - Peaceful Harmony

Each day, awakening, are we asked to paint the sky blue? Need we coax the sun to rise or flowers to bloom? Need we teach birds to sing, or children to laugh, or lovers to kiss? No, though we think the world imperfect, it surrounds us each day with its perfections. We are asked only to appreciate them, and to show appreciation by living in peaceful harmony amidst them. The Creator does not ask that we create a perfect world; He asks that we celebrate it.

~Robert Brault

Print Available - HERE 

Leaves - I Count Them As Joy

Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it.

~Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Cedar Waxwing - Focused on the Berry

Do whatever you do intensely.

~Robert Henri

Birds with Long Tongues

Hummingbird sticking it's tongue out.

Red-bellied Woodpecker - stretching his tongue to reach the peanut butter.

I think most woodpeckers have long tongues like this.

I think it's pretty cool!!

I believe that every person has uniqueness - something that nobody else has.

~ Michael Schenker

Butterfly Encounter

Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength.

~Saint Francis de Sales

Artsy version available - HERE 

Birds and Beaks

It seems that I am always focused on trying to capture birds with something either in their beak or on their beak. I captured the above cardinal with the sun shining ON his beak and a seed IN his beak (a twofer) Looking back - I see that it has been quite a subject on this blog -

for example:

A Blue Jay Feeling quite Nutty - HERE (a little piggy with all those nuts)

A Downy Woodpcker that's quite a Messy Eater - HERE (no table ...er feeder manners)

A Female Cardinal just hanging out in the pines - HERE (pass her a napkin)

A White-throated sparrow with a buried beak - HERE 

A good time to laugh is any time you can. 
 ~ Linda Ellerbee

I hope you've had a laugh!!

Dream it - Be It!

Only as high as I reach can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as I look can I see, only as much as I dream can I be.

~Karen Ravn

The Dew Of Little Things

In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.

~ Kahlil Gibran

Red-spotted Newt Close-up

(also called a Red Eft)

When a new day begins, dare to smile gratefully.

~ Steve Maraboli

See more of him - HERE 

Pay Attention To The Story

There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks. Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, quiet enough to pay attention to the story.

~Linda Hogan

Droplets on The Stamen

Discovery consists of looking at the same thing as everyone else and thinking something different.

~Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

The Polka Dot Bird

Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things I am tempted to think there are no little things.

~Bruce Barton

About the image: Taken thru the window - 
the tree is in my back yard.

About the quote: You may wonder what this quote has to do with this picture. In doing a little research on this bird - The Common Starling - I discovered that it is considered a "nuisance" here in the US (not to me though). It seems that there are 200 million of these in the US and they descended from 60-100 that were released in Central Park, NY back in 1890.

You can read more about this bird on Wikipedia - HERE

I think it is a beautiful bird :)

Carolina Chickadee and How to Change The World

Carolina Chickadee - Izaak Walton Park 
Christiansburg, VA 

My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world.

~Jack Layton

Celebrate Unique Creatures

Today you are You, that is truer than true. 
There is no one alive who is Youer than You.

~Dr. Seuss

As we grow as unique persons, we learn to respect the uniqueness of others.

~Robert H. Schuller

 As I grow older I am learning to accept and recognize my own uniqueness and the uniqueness of others - and I celebrate it!

About the images: These images were taken July 17, 2011 - Heritage Park, Blacksburg, VA. I believe this is a mayfly - but I am not positive on that. What the pictures don't show very well are the little "tails" at the end. These were the first I've ever seen of this creature - a "life bug" for me :)

Nature's Glow

In Nature's Glow ~ My Soul Delights

  Deerfield Trail - Blacksburg, VA

Shooting into the light is a no-no - but I love the way leaves look when they are backlit. I also love finding hearts in nature - and the very bottom one looks like a heart to me :)

Oh What Bliss

Oh What Bliss ~

To Scratch That Itch!

Our Senses Are Our Doors And Windows

Our senses are indeed our doors and windows on this world, in a very real sense the key to the unlocking of meaning and the wellspring of creativity.

~ Jean Houston

I Am Rich with Autumn's Gold

I am rich today with autumn's gold,

All that my covetous hands can hold;

Frost-painted leaves and goldenrod,

A goldfinch on a milkweed pod,

Huge golden pumpkins in the field

With heaps of corn from a bounteous yield,

Golden apples heavy on the trees

Rivaling those of Hesperides,

Golden rays of balmy sunshine spread

Over all like butter on warm bread;

And the harvest moon will this night unfold

The streams running full of molten gold.

Oh, who could find a dearth of bliss

With autumn glory such as this!

- Gladys Harp

Cardinal In the Pines

There is no telling how many miles you will have to run while chasing a dream.

~ Author Unknown

Prints, Mugs and More Available -  HERE 

 

Patience

All things come round to him who will but wait.
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

There Will Come a Time ....

There will come a time, you’ll see with no more tears.

And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears.

Get over your hill and see what you find there,

With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair.

– Mumford and Sons, After the Storm

 

Print Available - HERE 

Robin with Wet Berries

For after all the best thing one can do when

it is raining, is to let it rain.

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Red-bellied Woodpecker - and His Red Belly

Each today, well-lived, makes yesterday a dream of happiness and each tomorrow a vision of hope. Look, therefore, to this one day, for it and it alone is life.

~ Sanskrit Poem

 I grew up calling his guy a "Red-headed" woodpecker .... well he does have a red head - but he isn't a Red-headed Woodpecker. If you look closely you can see his tongue too. 

Leaves in the Rain

A rainy day is the perfect time for a walk in the woods.

~ Rachel Carson



Prints Available - HERE 

Monarch Caterpillar - Focus on Potential

Focus on your potential instead of your limitations.

Alan Loy McGinnis

I hope this little guy lived up to his potential and became a beautiful Monarch Butterfly! 

Female Cardinal and Her Berry Beak

Autumn is the eternal corrective.

It is ripeness and color and a time of maturity;
but it is also breadth, and depth, and distance.

What man can stand with autumn on a hilltop and fail to see the span of his world and the meaning of the rolling hills that reach to the far horizon
- Hal Borland

Squirrel in the Morning Light

Get over the idea that only children should spend their time in study. Be a student so long as you still have something to learn, and this will mean all your life.

~Henry L. Doherty

Tree Lined Path in Autumn

Understand that the right to choose your own path is a sacred privilege.

Use it. Dwell in possibility.

~Oprah Winfrey

Black Vulture - Caught in Mid Flap

Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in awareness.

-James Thurber

Many times I hear these creatures before I see them. Their wings make a type of "woosh, woosh" sound as they fly overhead. Quite a thrill to hear!

Carolina Wren - Singing His Song

There is always Music 
amongst the trees in the Garden,

but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it.

- Minnie Aumonier

For those who have not heard what beautiful music this little guys makes - click HERE for a link.

I have found that a walk with Nature is one of the greatest stress relievers and mood enhancers. Feeling down? Go for a walk in the forest or in your local park and listen to the sounds around you. You WILL feel better!

Hiding In the Goldenrod

Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.

~Zora Neale Hurston

I think this is a type of crab spider - however - I have no idea what type.

I found this info on Wikipedia about crab spiders. I LOVE Wikipedia!

This guy was itsy-bitsy. I used my 105mm Macro Lens for this shot (seen in my sidebar under favorites).

For More Macro Monday Shots - Visit Lisa's Chaos - HERE

Autumn in the Forest

The clearest way into the universe is through a forest wilderness.

~ John Muir

Print Available - HERE 

White-breasted Nuthatch - Hanging Out

There is no telling how many miles you will have to run while chasing a dream.

~Author Unknown

Tree Branches - Bending and Reflecting

Between every two pines 
is a doorway to a new world.

~ John Muir

Female Cardinal - Peeking from the Pines

Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.

~ John Lubbock

Print Available - HERE 

Pass Your Days In Song

You must pass your days in song. 
Let your whole life be a song.

~ Sai Baba

The Morning Dew of Wonder

Tomorrow the sun will also rise to the occasion of another day with equal grandeur. Such is the nature of that morrow which today has already seen, yet it greets us each time afresh with the morning dew of wonder in its eyes.

~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Locust Borer Beetle

As we grow as unique persons, we learn to respect the uniqueness of others.

~ Robert H Schuller

This is a Lifer Bug for me - the first one I've even seen. I find him quite unique - and - beautiful in his own special way. He was crawling in the Goldenrod and blends in quite well.

Mockingbird - Drying His Feathers

If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Autumn Lace

For the Fall of the year is more than three months bounded by an equinox and a solstice. It is a summing up without the

finality of year's end.

~ Hal Borland

More Autumn Pics - HERE