Surprise is a Gift & Posts of the Week

Surprise is the greatest gift which life can grant us. ~ Boris Pasternak

Every photographer has had this experience. You snap an image of a flower or plant and only when processing the photos on your monitor, do you notice that there is a distinct little bug walking or flitting across your subject, making for a more interesting picture than you first envisioned. The images below are mostly like that. I hope you enjoy them.


I was trying to get the tiny yellow buds of this plant into focus with the setting sunlight shining from behind it. Later when I enlarged the image, I saw the back end of a bee exploring the flower.






Maybe someone more experienced with aquatic life than I am can tell me what I'm seeing here - aside from the dark tadpoles, that is. Look near the top, just left of center. What is that green eye looking back at me? Is it a more advanced tadpole-near-frog or a small water snake? Or is it just some debris and my overactive imagination?





A still-unopened daisy with an ant crawling along its base.





A little red spider hurries along the petals of a tiny weed flower reminiscent of a small morning glory.






A wild looking spiky looking blossom sports an unusual little green bug.






This bee actually came into view while I was snapping a photo of the tiny pink blossoms. It was a surprise at the time but not later, when processing.

And now - another surprise - the Posts of the Week. I had collected more of them than I thought so I figured I'd better share them sooner rather than later. Some of them go back a fair way since I haven't posted any since the end of May. There are twice as many as usual so take your time, but do visit and leave a kind comment so that they know their posts were enjoyed.

And now, without further delay, here are the Posts of the Week. The icon below is yours for the taking if if your blog post is named as a POTW.

 TOUGH STUFF

Thursday, June 20, 2013
by Charlie
at Floods, Sweat and Tears


***

PHINE PHOTOGRAPHY

Provins
by Daryl
at Through My Eyes

Dragon Boat Training
by Andy
at Eye Candy


Red-necked Grebe Nest
by Red
at HiawathaHouse

***

A GOOD READ

Gay Marriage and Your Health
by Crabby
at Cranky Fitness

A Regular Guy From Jersey
by Dianne
at Forks off the Moment

The Life I Love is Making Music With My Friends
by Chariskalee
at How My Song Goes


In My Day
by Joeh
at Cranky Old Man

Tips From My Mom
by Gary
at Follow Your Bliss
 
Fathers or Something Like That
by Brian
at Waystationone

In My Father's Footsteps
by Pauline
at Writing Down the Words

Urban Diary
by A Cuban in London
at Un Cubano en Londres

***

JUST PLAIN ENJOYABLE

My Parallel Rope Walk Experience
by Indrani
at I Share

Super Moon Walk
by Leave it to Davis
at Leave it to Davis


On the Day You Were Born
by Lauren
at Mental Pause Mama

Rural Toy
by Indrani
at I Share

How to Do Summer
by Sandy
at Writing in Faith

***

GOOD IDEA

Camping Clean!
by Bag Lady
at Bag Lady's Blather

*** 
 
Please drop by their blogs for a visit and leave a kind comment if you have the time. Also, please feel free to add your own choices (for any blog except this one) for a specific blog post in the comments section below, where others can see them.

Thank you

Leaning Toward the Sunlight

I was a vegetarian until I started leaning toward the sunlight. ~ Rita Rudner

Come take a look through early spring with me. Yes, I know, it's not even spring here anymore. But it was when I took these photos and what else would I do with them if not show them to you? Exactly!


The sun shone brightly that morning but it was deceiving. The light screamed "spring" but the temperatures screamed "button up your jacket!"





It also told me that someone's little hand was cold without their mitten. That mitten is no longer there but was on that branch for a long time, waiting for its rightful owner. The branch is a lot leafier now though.





I can't imagine what transpired in order for this chair to fall over the dam. You can see its seat over to the middle left of the image. Quite likely it was out on someone's curb waiting for trash pickup and somebody tossed it into the pond where it eventually made its way over the dam. Okay, so I guess I can imagine what transpired here.





Warm or cold, the sunlight still makes this fungus looks lovely in its glow.

 


And where there are mushrooms, there's garlic - at least in many of my favourite meals. These buds were just a little bit over-exuberant. Despite the netting which surrounded them, they saw the spring light and began sprouting.





Sunlight gives life and warmth to a lot of things and wood is certainly among those.





Settled in for the day, this is Frank's hand as seen through his beer glass. He's writing my winning cribbage score down in the notepad. Okay, so I don't really remember if I won that game. Let's just say that I skunked him and call it a day.

I apologize for my sporadic visits. Getting my home ready for sale is really cutting into my online time. I so appreciate your comments when you stop by like this. I'll get back into more regular visits of my own once the summer sees me in my new home. Until then, I thank you for your understanding.

Thanks always for joining me. More photos coming up soon.