Nature Friday – Scenes Around a Pond

Hi everyone! It’s Cindy here to show you a little more of what we saw at North Ponds Park a few days ago. There were quite a few wild flowers.

Cattails

Queen Anne’s Lace with a Lady Bug

Unfortunately we found a couple of invasive wild flowers too.

Loosestrife

Spotted Knapweed

There were plenty of dragonflies around but many were too fast or too far away. I was lucky to catch this little guy.

Blue Dasher – Pachydiplax longipennis

In addition to the Great Blue Heron I showed you earlier there were other waterfowl around. I found these young ducks near where the heron was.

Young Black Ducks moved away as I approached.

The ducks cut a path through the algae.

The babies were hanging together but what were the adults up to?

Maybe if we can’t see them the kids won’t find us.

I hope you enjoyed seeing a little more from our walk at the ponds.

Join the Nature Friday Blog Hop

We are joining the LLB Gang for their Nature Friday Blog Hop. You should pop over to their blog to see all the other posts.

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Wild Bird Wednesday – Great Blue Heron

Hi everyone! It’s Cindy here. A couple of days ago Charlie and I headed up to North Ponds Park in Webster, NY. It’s only a few minutes drive from our house and offers a nice paved walking path around the two ponds. We left Millie & Walter at home and took our cameras instead (don’t worry we made it up to them later).

The first loop around the ponds I had my 50 – 230mm lens on my FujiFilm X-T3 camera but my longer lens was in the car too. In the west pond we saw a Great Blue Heron wading just off shore. (Remember you can click on the images to see a larger view…I highly recommend it)

Great Blue Heron

After we completed a loop we stopped at the car so I could put my 100 – 400mm + 1.4x TC lens combination on. I had my fingers crossed that the heron would still be fishing when we got back around to him.

Great Blue Heron wading in the water

Thankfully the heron didn’t disappoint and treated us to a nice show.

A little grooming interlude between fishing

Back to fishing

Wading further into the water getting ready to…

…Strike!

He hooked a beautiful sunfish

The heron fought to regain his balance as the fish wiggled on his bill.

Determined not to loose his catch…

…the heron flew off to find a secluded place where he could eat in peace.

We lost sight of him but are sure he enjoyed a nice lunch. That was just the series I was hoping to capture. I can’t believe how lucky I was that the heron stayed in place while I changed lenses. From the first picture I took, (at the top of this post) with my shorter lens on, to the time the heron flew off with lunch it was about an hours time. I’m not sure I would have had the patience to sit for an hour waiting for some action but I happened to time it just right.

I hope you enjoyed this Great Blue Heron fishing adventure. I’m joining the Wild Bird Wednesday blog hop. You should stop by and see some more birds.

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Nature Friday – Bugs and Blooms

Hi everyone! It’s Cindy here. Summer is near the end and so is the growing season for the flowers in our yard. We still have a few daylilies blooming.

Rose colored daylily

Yellow daylily

Some of the hosta still have flowers too.

Hosta flowers

Another late bloomer in our yard is our non-vining clematis.

Clematis “Mrs. Robert Brydon”

The various bees around our yard seem to be working overtime collecting pollen.

Bumble bee on Joe Pye Weed

Bumble Bee on Blue Fortune Agastache

This little guy was so loaded down with pollen he could barely take off.

Now those are full saddle bags

Next I want to show you some dragonflies.

Orange Meadowhawk dragonfly

Orange Meadowhawk dragonfly on hypericum berry

Lastly I want to show you one of the many leopard frogs we have in our yard.

Leopard frog

There are so many of these frogs in the lawn that when I mow the lawn I have to go very slow around the edge of the grass (where they seem to be the most plentiful) to try not to squash or mow over them. We seem to be having a banner year for leopard frogs in our yard this year. It usually takes me about 2 hours to mow our lawn but since the frogs have appeared it’s taken me about 1/2 hour longer because I’ve had to go much slower. I want to get a bumper sticker for my tractor that says, “I Brake for Frogs”!

I hope you enjoyed this stroll around the garden today.

Join the Nature Friday Blog Hop

We are joining our Sorrell the Feline Boss of the Texas Branch of the LLB Gang for their Nature Friday Blog Hop. You should pop over to their blog to see all the other posts.

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Hooking on Hump Day for Feel Better Friends

Hi everyone it’s Cindy here. Today I’m joining the Hookin on Hump Day blog hop to tell you about my most recent Feel Better Friends (FBF) doll that I made.

Emmalynn

Emmalynn is a 9 year old girl with epilepsy and some other health issues. She recently received a VNS device that helps control seizures.

Emmalynn is pretty in pink

Emmalynn’s mother said that her favorite color is pink and that she is in and out of the hospital a lot. She hopes that a doll would be a great comfort for Emmalynn when she is having testing or when she is admitted to the hospital.

Doll and accessories for Emmalynn

I noticed in the pictures that were sent to me that Emmalynn was often accompanied by a stuffed Teddy bear so I decided her doll needed one too.

A perfect bear for a doll

I found a cute little Teddy bear pattern from AmigurumiToGo.com. Emmalynn’s bear has lighter colored paws and nose so I made that adaptation to the pattern. I love the way the bear turned out and think he is the perfect size for the doll.

Every doll needs a bear for a sidekick.

To go along with her fancy dress I made a pair of “Mary Jane” shoes for the doll.

Cute little Mary Jane’s for the doll with her pink socks.

The hair for this doll was made using Knit Picks Shine sport weight yarn that was first hooked into the scalp. I then styled it as close to Emmalynn’s hair as possible.

The last thing I did was to try and simulate this doll having a VNS device. I started with a small piece of wood that I covered with muslin and then sewed into the chest of the doll.

I also added scars where the surgery left scars on Emmalynn.

VNS scars on the doll

A VNS device is sort of like a pacemaker for the brain. The wood piece that is in the doll doesn’t really stand out but it can be felt just below the scar on the chest.

Emmalynn loves her doll

According to Emmalynn’s mom, “My daughter Emmalynn loves her Feel Better Friend! Thank you so much! You did an amazing job! And to make her teddy also. You made my little girl so happy!!!!”

Making Feel Better Friends dolls has been a great way to use my crochet skills for charity work. Right now FBF is in need of more volunteers to make dolls. We are an all volunteer organization and recently the number of requests for the United States reached a point that the leaders have had to shut down requests for the USA so we can catch up. If you would like to help please click here to learn how to become a volunteer.

You should stop by the Hookin on Hump Day blog hop to see some of the other projects people have posted.

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Selfie Sunday

Hi everyone. It’s Millie & Walter here. Another week has past so here are a couple more selfies.

I’m going for a serious look this week.

The shutter noise is disturbing my nap.

We’re joining The Cat on My Head for their Selfie Sunday blog hop.

You should check out the hop to see some of the other selfies. Today is the 5th anniversary of the Selfie Sunday blog hop!

Thanks for stopping by.

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Selfie Sunday – Fun in the Sun

Hi everyone. It’s Millie & Walter here. We can’t believe it’s been a week since our last post. This time we are coming to you in living color.

A boy and his ball

Keeping an eye on the birds

We’re joining The Cat on My Head for their Selfie Sunday blog hop.

You should check out the hop to see some of the other selfies.

We apologize if we haven’t been around much or commenting either. Our mom has been busy this week taking care of our Oma who got a new hip installed over a week ago. Oma is doing great with the help of our Aunt Colleen who is staying with Oma. The bottom line is mom has been away a lot and trying to keep up reading all of your blogs too.

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Selfie Sunday in Black & White

Hi everyone. It’s Millie & Walter here. We love doing selfies and it’s always fun to be outside but for dark colored dogs like Millie it can be difficult to stand out from the green grass. That’s why our dad used the infrared filter to process her pictures to turn the dark green grass white.

Am I running or just laying in the grass?

I love laying in the grass.

For Walter no infrared filter is needed but he still looks good in black and white.

I’m always happy when I’m laying in the grass on a nice day.

We’re joining The Cat on My Head for their Selfie Sunday blog hop.

You should check out the hop to see some of the other selfies.

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