Odds and Ends.....

Yesterday I stopped in at Mouteau Park to look for Meadowlarks, Kingbirds and butterflies.  Found 2 out of three.  It wasn't a good day for butterflies :-) 

I was watching the Kingbirds on the cable fence, when another bird landed.....a Barn Swallow!  It let me get at least one good photo of its front side.....

 .....and then turned its back on me.  I've never seen a Barn Swallow at this park before and wondered where the nearest barn structure was.  Maybe it was nesting in the rafters of the shelter house, but when the soccer kids began to use the place, it won't be happy with that idea!  Right now the park is very quiet and empty.

 It was preening and picked some funny positions.

 Wish it had been facing me for this mouth open shot :-)

 Such a pretty and colorful bird.

Missed a place under that wing!

The Kingbird shots were not very good.  Sometimes I have a royal battle with my camera trying to convince it that the bird is what it is to focus on rather then the grass and background stuff.  Frustrating.

The Meadowlark was willing to sit still.....but oh, so far away!  I see it on the same pipe every time we visit. It has a nice view from there.

 At home.....the Deutzia bush is blooming.

I think it is lovely as the blossoms spill downward toward the ground.  Mike hates it because he walks into it all the time and it hangs in front of his garage door when it gets really big.  Looks like this will be a year to cut it back shorter.

"The-cat-that-thinks-it-belongs-to-me" was following me around as I was inspecting the flowers, so I took his photo.  A.k.a. "Shadow".  He has pretty much moved into our garage and is determined not to leave.

 Around the side of the house, my last Rhododendron is blooming.  It is really tall!  Those triangle windows are about 10 feet off the ground.  I can stand inside the house and see the blooms, which is nice!

 It is a pale pink and really looks pretty in the sunlight.

Close-up.