My November 2018 In Photos

…yes, November. That is how far behind I am with this. O.o I’m going to catch up this month, hopefully! I’ve been so busy lately.

Weird mushroom I found at my grandmas.

Another angle.

Close up – it somehow grew around the leaf.

And it was oozing. O.o

Flowers! When in town, I spotted these outside a business. I don’t know what kind these are but they are lovely. ❤

Closer up. 😀

Autumn leaves. ❤

It was so cold, the mudhole froze over. There is a leaf in the center. XD Aaaand…

We got snow!

It was just a dusting but it was enough for pretty scenery.

I probably took too many photos of the snow. XD

The top of the gazebo and our house covered in snow – and the autumn leaves in the same shot. ❤

Dew and snow on the same leaf.

Snow on the banister.

Thanksgiving moon – weird that it had a ring around it.

Up close, it was hazy.

Squirrel! This one wagged its tail at me. I think he was upset.

Some trees I thought were cool looking.

Another squirrel! This one gave me the privilege of allowing me to watch him eat a nut.

And here he is eating it. 🙂

This concludes another episode of a month in photos! Hope to be back soon for December’s. 🙂

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Purple Bearded Irises

After my grandma died a couple of years ago, we dug up her irises and brought them home. As long as I can remember, she only had one to bloom, and the others had never bloomed. And they never bloomed for us either.

Until this year that is. 😁

And they are PURPLE! (My favorite color.) As you can see,  was so excited about it that I took photos as the blooms developed. Here is the open bloom is all its glory:

Not only is it purple – it has little tiger stripe looking designs on the petals. You can see that better in the next photo. 🙂

From the research my dad and I did, it looks like they are called Purple Bearded Irises. I am absolutely floored by the beauty of these flowers.

This is the top view.

And here is an experimental macro shot of the veins in a petal. I like how this turned out! I think it just screams at me to put a quote on it.

And as if I wasn’t excited enough about one bloom… a second iris decided to bloom about a week later.

As you can see, it is also a Purple Bearded Iris, but it is a slightly different shade of purple. I love the variety! I hope these decide to bloom again next year, along with a few more. 😀

Raindrops

In response to the photo prompt, Shapes… circles! Here in Arkansas, we’ve been getting a lot of rain; so much, in fact, that few schools were closed due to flooding last week. I went outside to take some photos of the flooding and got stuck out there during a shower. Instead of running inside like a normal person, I hunched over the camera to try to shelter it from the water and took these photos because I thought it might be fun to see the circles as the raindrops hit the water. 😄

Birdwatching

I noticed during the time we had snow, the birds looked hungry. So I decided to feed them.  And then I thought it might be fun to take photos of the birds that came. With the new camera that my parents gave me for my birthday, I can zoom in on birds without scaring them away. Or well… that was the idea. I forgot at first that I could zoom in that much so I tried to stay nearby. That’s how these two photos happened:

Oops. Sorry birds. 😂 Anyway, then I grabbed a chair and went to the other end of the porch to sit down so that they would not get so frightened. The photos got much better after that.

I think that cute grayish little guy is called a Tufted Titmouse.

And I thought that this was a black-capped chickadee, but it turned out to be a Carolina Chickadee. Maybe.

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A few weeks later, I was at it again. I believe this is a White-Throated Sparrow. It was dawn, and the bird was too far away for the flash to help, except to make the bird’s eyes light up. XD

There was a bird that I couldn’t identify that steals my cat’s food on a regular basis, and I was determined to get a photo of it.

After getting the photo, I finally found out what it is: a Red-Bellied Woodpecker!

Here it is eating my cat’s food. Silly thing. That can’t be good for it…

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Knowing that Cee’s Fun Photo Challenge – Birds was coming up, I went outside yesterday to see if I could grab any more photos of birds. Here’s what showed up for food yesterday:

This is a juvenile male Northern Cardinal. I was so happy to see him! I didn’t get a shot of his parents, but they attacked any other bird that got too close to their baby. 🙂

This is one of the birds who dared to get to close to the Cardinal – a Blue Jay! This was the best shot I took of him. He was shy and stayed in the trees. Couldn’t blame him – the Cardinal’s parents were really protective of their baby and took a lot of it out on him. 😂

I think this is a Carolina Wren.

I’m not sure about this one; it looks a lot like a Hermit Thrush, but there is a splash of yellow under the wings that it doesn’t look like a thrush has.

This one took a while for me to identify. I think that this is a Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker.

This is my first time seeing one; it was exciting!

And my favorite shot of him – here he is actually drinking sap out of a vine!

I Trust In You

Do I have faith? Do I have the courage to take the leap?
Are these empty promises that You could not keep?

No! I trust in You, Lord; You never break Your promises,
You keep Your word; there are never hits and misses!

You were not lost forever in eternal sleep,
You rose from the dead; from the deep!

I will follow You, no matter where You lead me,
Whether it is through green pastures where you feed me,

Or besides still waters where I may be washed spotless,
I bow to You and I shall all that is on my heart, to You, confess!

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And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures… (First Corinthians 15:4:)

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. (Psalm 23:2: )

For it is written, ” ‘As I live, ‘ saith the Lord, ‘every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.’ ” (Romans 14:11:)

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Hello everyone!  🙂 I found this poem in my drafts – from last June! I thought it was time it made its debut. Not sure why it hadn’t before now, haha. Anyway. I was thinking about fear of the unknown and trusting Him with leading me – and having the courage to follow that leading wherever He may lead. Sometimes I fear where I’m being led (or think I’m being led), and wonder what God is thinking – but He knows best, and He is a faithful God! ❤

Snow!

WE HAVE SNOW. Haha. We rarely get snow, so this is exciting for me. If only it will get warm enough to not be powder. I want to make a snowman! Or snow-something. I made a snow-chicken one year. I even made it a nest. So anything is possible… 😆

This is a collection of photos I took yesterday and early this morning.

This is the frost frozen on the window. It’s so pretty, haha.

Snow! And Jay wanting breakfast, haha. He was relentless. He wouldn’t let me take photos of the driveway yesterday until he had breakfast. XD

Pawprints.

Our driveway.

It’s easy to tell where all Jay has been. XD

Tire tracks.

Here is the temperature at 8:00 AM. Brrrrrrrr. **shivers** I’m not used to this! Cold yes, but not this cold. It rarely gets below 20. This is insane. I can’t stay outside more than five minutes without my fingers and toes going numb. **sigh** How am I supposed to play in the snow?! Patience. This is teaching me patience. 😂

Hope you all are having a beautiful day!💜

Emerging From The Cocoon

**Originally posted on June 9th, 2017; I moved the post date today in response to the Daily Prompt’s photo prompt, transformation. 🙂

(Click the link to view all the photos – I may have gotten a little carried away. But only a little. 😉 )

Following Him Beside Still Waters

On a Thursday night in May, God showed me one of His many miracles in His creation. He is so good.

I had the most exciting opportunity. About a month ago while raking leaves, I happened upon a cocoon attached to a leaf. I saved it and brought it home with me.

Fast forward a month. I rescued a beetle that was in my sink, and when I put it in a potted plant outside, I saw that the cocoon was missing. That was startling. I found it under the leaves of my potted plant and I picked it up – and it wiggled.

If you look really close in these photos, you can see the legs and wing design through the transparent cocoon.

I didn’t expect to be present when this was happening, so the fact that God brought a beetle into my sink at the right time…

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