Sunday, August 30, 2015

Chihuly: Garden and Glass exhibit.....

As you can see....I'm not at home at the moment!  This is some of the awesome glass works by Dale Chichuly in the new Garden and Glass exhibit at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle.  There are 11 areas to browse.
The Glass Forest 
 Northwest Room
Sealife Room 



Persian Ceiling 


 Mille Fiori





Ikebana and Float Boat 





Chandeliers 


 Macchia Forest



 Glasshouse
 Garden









I've got lots more photos but will stop with these!  
We had a great time picking out our favorites that we would love to take home with us.....if we were reallllllllly rich :-)

Friday, August 14, 2015

Little bandits in the night....

Every year we can count on a new crop of raccoons coming up on the deck at night looking for left over bird seed.  This pair have been showing up pretty regularly lately.  They don't even wait until it gets dark, which makes picture taking easy.
 "I think she sees us....time to get out of here!"
They get real comfortable in the feeder and don't understand why I want them to leave. 
 "I think she is serious this time....she just picked up a broom. 
 I'm getting out of here now!"
"But I'm still hungry!!!!!!"

Sunday, August 9, 2015

Three is always something to see at the wetlands....

We decided we needed some exercise and the heat wasn't too bad, so we went to Howell wetlands to see what might be about.  We ended up seeing more mammals then anything else which is unusual.  My favorite find were the 2 fawns.  Only rarely do we see deer there, so these two were a great bonus for the day.
Fawn #1 lying in the grass when we first saw them. 

 Looks like it would like to take a nice nap in the sun.
Finally got up and walked over to join its sibling. 
Fawn #2 giving up the eye.  We tried not to disturb them, but they knew we were there.  We didn't see an adult with them, but mom may have been hiding deeper in the grass and bushes.
A big woodchuck was grazing in the same patch of grass.
 And later a bunny in the meadow.  I saw a gray squirrel in the woods, but didn't get a good photo, so we saw plenty of mammals!
 A Blue Dasher dragonfly on the rail....I think it was eating something.
 A Great Blue Heron along the side of the pond area.
This is a dragonfly I don't usually see......a Great Blue Skimmer.
  I noticed it because it was larger then any of the normal dragons we see.  Then when looking at the photos I saw the white face which none of the other local dragons have. 
 Pearl Crescent
Question Mark 
One of the Skippers, but I don't know which one. 
A perfect Monarch on the Swamp Milkweed, which they love.
And of course there were turtles.....not a lot, but a few!

Back at home they delivered the shingles for our roof and if it doesn't rain they start tomorrow on it!  I dread the mess and noise but can't wait to have a secure roof again! 

 A young Cardinal at the feeder.
And my House Wren finally managed to get a family started in one of the bird houses, so I hope the roofers and their noise don't disrupt it.  It didn't like having me hang around even at a distance hoping to get a photo of it going in and out with food.  It sat in a nearby bush and made low sounds either to warn its mate or distract me.