Portrait by Mr. J....

My three year old grandson had the camera and and interesting perspective...

Rain...

The rain finally stopped and everything is greener...

Into the Woods...

Another walk in Arcadia...Petals falling and more spring blossoms...

Par Avion...

What a thrill it is to receive something fun in the mail...and from so far away...The world really is getting smaller...I ordered this zine from Gracia&Louise after reading about it in another blog and I was thrilled with how it arrived so nicely packaged...and with a lovely thank-you note inside.

...Lots of fun digital collages in a small package...Love it!

Stalking the Ardea Herodias...

...or Great Blue Heron...

Illustration by John James Audubon

Although I take just about the same route every time I take a walk in my neighborhood, there always seems to be something different to take pictures of...today a Great Blue Heron was wading in a shallow part of a nearby pond. I waited quite awhile to see if I could capture him flying but he was the more patient observer...

My camera isn't capable of much in the way of telephoto pictures...but I was fairly pleased. On the other hand I wasn't pleased at how muddy my dog managed to get while I was busy taking pictures...

Memorial Day...

More flags and flowers...

...and a visit to my parent's gravesite...

My parents rest in a cemetery that was built in the town they grew up in and they knew the land well...my father had stories of walking through the property when it was still farmland... It probably opened when large ecumenical cemeteries first became common and salesmen managed to sell plots to all my relatives on both sides of the family. There are no headstones here...only plaques laid in the ground and so the land is supposed to look park like...I have a suspicion that the main reason for deciding against stones was more for ease in costs and maintenance ..but maybe I am being curmudgeonly...Although there are lots of shrubs and trees you can't plant flowers over the graves...the preferred method is to place the flowers in these long handled baskets...as the ride on lawnmowers go by they just have to lean over, grab the handles, and keep on mowing!

Fog, Flags, and Grandchildren...

Hope Memorial Day weekend is pleasant for all...

Thank you for the Christmas Gift!...

At our age one of the best gifts that we can receive does not need dusting, displaying, or fitting into..so tickets to the Red Sox from our daughters for Christmas was a perfect gift...especially since the weather finally turned sunny and warmer...

We arrived before the crowds...

...discovered the Bleacher Bar...

..wandered the souvenir shops along Yawkey Way...

..found our seats early...


...and took pictures of this beautiful old ball park.

I had to take at least one picture of the mascot Wally...named after the "green monster" wall...

Tim Wakefield, one of our favorite pitchers, was the starter......and it was a great game for him against the Toronto Blue Jays who are presently the leaders in the division...

Everyone, including the other players, was cheering Big Papi on...but he didn't get his first home run of the year until the next night...

...As the closer, Papelbon was exciting to watch...and of course we won...

The most fun of being at the game...besides watching them win...is singing along to "Sweet Caroline"...enthusiastically sung by the entire stadium at every home game eighth inning...

...It isn't your typical baseball song...

...but Good Times never seemed so good - so good - so good!

Light Tricks...

I have been busy with house guests but also feeling particularly uninspired in this cold, rainy weather we've been having...Then the sun came out this afternoon for about fifteen minutes and made a crazy pattern on the wall...

Mother's Day Birds...

Last year near Mother's Day I took pictures of baby robins...my header this month is one of those pictures...This year my dog Kaja and I upset another bird family...The entire time I was taking pictures the father goose never stopped honking...the mother seemed rather calm about it all..

Canadian geese have become quite a nuisance in our area lately but I can remember when they were very unusual to see and people would drive for miles to see a flock that wintered in a reservoir near my home...I have to admire how they adapt and I still think they are beautiful.