Frozen in Time

Making sun tea the way my mom taught me. Today I learned that not everyone drinks “Sweet Tea”. More specifically, today I learned that Iced Tea and Sweet Tea are not necessarily one and the same. I actually have never called it “sweet tea”, but having been raised by a Texan and the son of two Texans, I was raised drinking sweetened iced tea, and I thought that was the norm. However, today I found out that that’s a Southern thing, and a lot of people do not sweeten their iced tea! Who knew? Furthermore, I found out that “Sweet Tea” is sweetened either before or after it is brewed but before it is chilled and served. I don’t quite do it that way - I add my sweetener to my glass when I pour it (which probably keeps it from being quite as sweet as the other way would make it). I also found out today that my best friend is NOT a fan of sweetened tea. (Good thing I don’t sweeten the stuff in the jug, huh?) So what about the rest of you? Sweetened or unsweetened? Sun tea or not?

Taken May 31, 2008.

I know this Common White Butterfly is blurry, but we’ll call it motion since at least the flower is in focus. We see these all the time in our yard, but they usually don’t stay still long enough or let me get close enough to get a picture.

Here’s another shot where he’s in focus…

Taken May 30, 2008.

Today LG and I went to the library to sign her up for the summer reading program. My favorite part of the visit was letting her walk through the aisles and randomly pick out books to check out. She picked some pretty good ones, too!

Taken May 29, 2008.

As I was watering some of our trees tonight, I looked up and saw this scene. The photo doesn’t do it justice, but the afternoon sun was shining softly on my little oasis in the desert.

Taken May 28, 2008.

See that little brown rock turtle? He lives in our rock garden along with the other two. The brown one, though, is special. When I see him, I think of a vacation with my mom and dad when I was a kid and buying him as a souvenir. I think of him resting on my dresser for all the years I lived in at home. That rock turtle reminds me of the warmth and comfort of home and mom and dad and being a kid. And I wonder what trinkets LG will have someday that will take her back to her childhood.

Taken May 28, 2008.

Links to some of my favorite pictures from other blogs for Week 21:

peeking out

Eight

I’ll fly away…

salakuhle

don’t go chasing waterfalls

a sacred trust

Well, my photo of the day was not the photo I had planned, but sometimes things fall into your lap, so to speak, and take over your plans!

I’m doing this a little differently today, because my real photo of the day is at the end of the post, but I need to tell you little story (complete with photos) first.

The weather today was again lovely, so this morning before Mike took off to do some work, we were all out in the yard. Mike headed out to the fence at the edge of the front acre because he wants to plant trees there and needs to plan how to water them until they get well-established. So off the four of us went (including Melody). I was doing what I do - taking pictures - and they were wandering a bit. Then I saw this bird. And I was curious as to what kind of bird it was because although I have seen them in the neighborhood, I’d not seen one in our yard before. So I started taking photos of her that I could use to look up her species once we got back inside. She wouldn’t let me get close enough to her to get a shot without using full digital zoom, so I apologize for the poor quality.

She kept walking farther away from me, but looking back at me to see if I was following. Then she did this curious thing with her wing…

At that point I realized she was trying to distract me, but from what? I didn’t see anything anywhere around that looked like a nest. Finally, we all went in and I got online to see what I could find. I think I’ve told you this before, but WhatBird is a fantastic resource for identifying birds. Mike thought she looked like some sort of piper so I went that route, and I found out that she is a Killdeer. And that funny thing she was doing with her wing is called a “broken wing display” which they use to distract you from…their nest! I also found out that their nests are usually on the ground in plain sight, but that their eggs are colored so as to look like rocks and be camouflaged. So back outside we went so that I could find that elusive nest. When we walked back out, she was sitting on her nest, so I had a good idea of where it was. As soon as she realized I was coming that direction, she got up and took off running (they do fly, but not much, mostly they just kind of glide across the ground). I kept walking closer, and she started in with her broken wing display again. I told her I wasn’t going to hurt her eggs, I just wanted to look. And lo and behold…

I never would have noticed them if I hadn’t been looking for them, and I’m surprised we didn’t manage to step on them since we didn’t know they were there, but they survived our trek out to the front acre intact.

And now, finally, my official photo of the day…

I didn’t actually do a macro shot, because I didn’t want to get too close and freak her out too much, but I did crop this one in a lot to get a better detailed shot.

I looked out the window throughout the day and I could see her way out in the yard just sitting on her eggs. She’s a very good mommy! And I can’t wait to see the babies!

Taken May 26, 2008.

Running late this morning, sorry!

In honor of Memorial Day today in the US, this week’s topic is Memories. So you could post a photo of something that has memories attached to it or something that brings back memories or something that makes you remember someone or something, or whatever you think of!

A shot from my cameraphone, so not the best, but we went to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull after church tonight.

No spoilers, but I give it a thumbs up for the Indiana Jones part and acting, and a “say what?” for the storyline itself. I didn’t hate it. I laughed a lot. I clapped at the end. Mostly it was just good to see Indiana Jones on the big screen again. So if you’re a fan, I’d say go see it.

Taken May 25, 2008.

The weather was so nice and cool and overcast and beautiful today, that we spent most of the day outside in the yard trying to soak in as much as we could to save for the hot days ahead. I was working in my garden. Mike was moving cactus to new locations. LG was running around being “free years old”. Mike decided to buy another lemon tree because he doesn’t think one will be enough to provide all the lemons we need for the lemonade that he and LG are addicted to.

Mike told LG that when he was little, he liked to play in the holes that his dad dug, so they decided to sit in the one he was digging for the lemon tree.

While they were working on that, I noticed that the other lemon tree had baby lemons! This will be the first year that it produces lemons, so that’s kind of exciting.

Here’s a shot of one of the barrel cacti. You can see the blossoms in all different stages.

And the day wouldn’t be complete without a random shot of barbed wire. Right?

Taken May 24, 2008.