Cool Moon

At 5am on his way out the door to work, hubby ran back in the house. "Wanna see something cool?" he whispered. "Take a look outside!"

It was awesome, worth crawling out from under warm blankets and into the freezing air. Hubby was talking about the ring around the moon you see here.

I don't have a wide angle for the camera that does super in low-light, and forget the tripod. As it was, by the time I grabbed my camera, the scene had changed. Thought it still was worth sharing. --LKR

Not Quite Full...

I was out testing my camera when I captured this shot. It's not quite a full moon, but pretty close. The date for this month's full moon, according to Moon Phase, is Saturday, May 9th. --LKR

More White Fluffy Fun Stuff!

Mom was in for quite a surprise, she was. Running out the door in her shoes, holding me by my collar, she shrieked. "Waaaaait! Wait a minute! We're going back in! I need my boots!"

Well, we needed more than her boots, we did! My chain was buried under about 2 1/2" of snow, it was, so she slipped what Mom says Nagypapa called "necklaces" over my head, attached to my leash, and off we went. She grabbed her camera, of course, she did, and out into the white fluffy fun stuff we went.

Even at her age, Mom ran around the yard with me, she did. But she didn't want to for long. She does like the white fluffy fun stuff, she does, when it's falling and looks so clean and pure, she said. But not when it's mucky sloshy and slushy, or black or gray like it gets in NYC, NJ, and Chicago, she said.

It's the cold that really bothers her, it does. She told me if we ever move, she's praying it's to the tropics, she said. Wherever that is, I say.

Mom spoiled us when we got back inside, she did. After putting up water for hot chocolate, she gave me leftover rice stuffing from Thanksgiving that "needed to be eaten or thrown away", she did. I ate and was filled. I had been snacking all day, I had!

Turning on the gas fireplace, she handed me my bony bone, she did. I chewed chewed chewed, while she sipped her hot chocolatey drink. It was fun with me and Mom together until my kitty sister Rocky came out of hiding, jumping into Mom's lap. I had to one-up her, I did! I can't let my social order slip in my pack, I can't, so I tried to get into Mom's lap, too!

But I am too big, and Mom won't allow it, she won't. My brother Charlie used to curl up in her lap, he did, even when she was eight months pregnant with my sister Lizabeth. I'm only slightly larger than Charlie, I am, but Mom insists I don't know my size and am not mindful of my paws like all her other poochies.

Other poochies? She's comparing me to other poochies? Excuse me, please. I have to work on one-upping them too, I do! --Mister Poochie

There's Fungus Among Us!

All of these mushrooms were found and photographed on our property, but there were even more! I used my fun-to-use Canon S3 IS and my daughter's sharp little Nikon Coolpix L4 to capture these images. Both cameras do a nice job with macro, however since I don't use a tripod, they're not as sharp as they could be. Thought they were interesting enough to share.

Just a reminder: many wild mushrooms are poisonous. --LKR

This big, beautiful mushroom on the left flattened out in a matter of days to look like this on the right. I've never really studied fungi to see how much they can change over the course of time. Found this very interesting!






The conical trio on the left did not want to stay in focus in front of the lens. I would have dusted off my trusty old Pentax K1000 if a) I had any unexpired film for it..., and b) if any of my lenses had been cleaned. They used to take regular trips down to the Jersey shore with me, and as a result, have a bit of gritty sand in them, especially the telephoto.







This mushroom always freaks me out when I first stumble upon them. They are rosier in color than others, and smoother, and just look too close to flesh! The way they pop up out of the ground, concealing their stem, adds to my initial alarm. It just looks wrong, you know? Over time, they turn brown.