And looking forward to this summer.

A time to wake up early, enjoy the cool air, and catch the moring's sunrise.  Take a walk along the lake shore and watch the birds,  watch while the boaters enjoy a morning work out.  Catch a spider in the grass and just plain enjoy the cattails.

Added 05/09/08 (pm) lightened spider 

Added 05/09/08 (pm) lightened spider 

Just a single spider, today Spider  (I better watch out
or I'll start to like these.)

WARNING SPIDER
1 2 3 4 5 6

   This is the first time I've taken any pictures of a spider. He had a huge web that I couldn't get all of, but here's most of it.  
I got inside the bushes and went behind his web and got hisbackside

Thumbnail

B&W Spider

I took spider pictures.  I can hardly stand looking at them.  But what made me actually take the plunge into it is the amazing  hand stitched look in this web. I could take a ton of   these shots without the spider.  It is a huge Banana Spider.  So it is official this site can make you do things you never thought you would do.

I have long been an arachnophobe. Shudder. Yet, for some reason, the 8-legged freaks fascinate me totally, and I cannot resist photographing 'em when I spot 'em. How masochistic of me. But, I have found that it's slowly but surely been helping me to control my spider-fear.

Black Widows really freak me out though. I have seen the results of their bites and ewwwwww. NOT pretty. So it was with much twitching and rapid-heart-beating that I shot this Texas widow that I found living under a little reflecting globe in my garden. I had to get muuuuch closer to get the shot of this California widow that made it's home on my boyfriend's BBQ grill. And notice, that one was missing a leg. But that didn't make it any less scary. Eeek.

Kinda my own personal brand of fear aversion therapy through photography, I guess. Heh.

I took a walk out to the flower garden again this afternoon - and got caught in the rain.  I did get a few pictures of flowers and insects before the drops came down.  But first a shot of beach grass blowing in the wind for our challenge.  Then the insects that I found today were a fly being attracted to orange, and a crab spider trying to defend its territory on a daisy.   When I shot pictures of the Queen Anne Lace the other day I also caught a shot of a little insect of some kind.  I really enjoy my time with the flowers and I hope that you do too.

Cabbage White Butterfly
Steel Web

Here are the only two photos I took yesterday...it was a busy day so I did not have much time to play with the camera.
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Golden-rod Crab Spider This is not the same one that you have been seeing...I found this one at the other end of my garden.

caught
 safe
  form
   swing

This next shot isn't for all y'all who don't like spiders.....I'm in that category, too, but for some strange reason, I had to shoot this.....it is the biggest black widow I have ever seen.....scared me to death, but I overcame my fear long enough to get a couple of shots of her.

I'm off for the hills of E TN in the wee hours of the morning tomorrow....I'll see y'all in a week!  Have a good one!

Hope y'all enjoy!

I woke up and went into my kitchen yesterday & found him, thought it made a pretty good subject! wolf spider As I said before, I need a better macro, but I like how these pics show the web actually coming out of this guy!side view For those of you who wonder, I made sure he got outside safely!

~X~(Not A Strawberry)
~XX~(Not A Strawberry)
~SB~(A Strawberry)

Another Spider From Around The House
I have been using a 1,2,3 + diopter lenses stacked set up for the macros I have been posting the last few days, thus the poor quality. I hope to try a reverse lens set up soon which should have much better results. Hope you enjoy!

-1-
-2-

Here are some cryptic examples of beasts with different numbers of eyes - see if you can guess what they are before opening the bigger pics.



Two Eyes:

Could be an alien but no, it's a male Calypte anna


Four Eyes:

Hmmm, this looks mighty suspicious, or is it?



Six Eyes:

Now this guy is very dangerous. He is also rather reclusive. Also carries a  fiddle on his back....Loxsoceles reclusa - the brown recluse or fiddle-back spider...


Eight Eyes:

What the heck are these? Maybe this will help? Or how about this to aid identification. Aphonopelma chalcodes!!


More Eight Eyes;

Now don't jump when you see these ones. Two huge, two medium and four small eyes on a lovely face. He is  Phiddipus audax and a very handsome fellow indeed - if very small!

Hope you enjoy!

Going to the big game..high school football play offs..Hope I can sneak on the fied ..so I can get a decent shot..Anyway, have you got cookie spiders where you .....Live

   This little thing was climbing on a wall the other day, thought it was kind of neat with the Shadow
  SG, earlier I said there was a volunteer where I work that reminds me of you--what does everyone think
 lost cousin maybe of SG without a mustache
  With a Mustache
           Enjoy!!

Cindy was away this morning, she helps out by volunteering at the local homeless shelter. When she came home she said, "Let's go out for lunch". So, she suggested we go to Subway and take out lunch to the lake, what an excellent idea.

This is the view from where we sat:
Lakeview 1 Lakeview 2 Lakeview 3 Rhubrum Maple

And for Pete's sake if any of my friends see this, don't tell her I posted it, she doesn't even know I took this shot. Like a shark on a guppy

Walking back to the car she discovered a few things in the grass, mostly because she is so short she gets to see it first. Fungus

And then she found a Marbled Orbed Weaver in its Fall attire. Marbled Orbed Weaver 1 Marbled Orbed Weaver 2

This is a shot of the Orbed Weaver from this past summer to show how it changes with the season. Orbed Weaver Summer

So it was a very nice lunch out and a relaxing way to clear the head of downward thoughts.

I was out today in the rain and I saw this, so I took three pics, One ,Two,  Three , I thought it would make a great pic. What do you think?

Making a gallery isn't easy; I tried it, spent all that time uploading my pics, and they were too BIG! So, guess y'all will just have to look at them here; sorry!  These are of the "cocks comb" that I had posted once before that no one had seen.  1 2 3 4
These are just some random flower pics; some in my yard, some in the neighborhood.  5 6 7 8 9 10
I won't bore you with any more flowers, but I did capture one of my demons today!  Not as massive as some that have been posted here, but at least I did one pic!  Hope y'all enjoy!