Dragonfly and I

~ The Rose in the Ivy ~

~ The Smiling Dragonfly ~

~ Blue Dragonfly ~

As I walked the grounds of Garden's Keep to capture images of the final beauties of Fall, a small but vibrating noise reached my ears. Curious to find its source, I decided to follow the faint sound. Rounding the corner of Dragonfly Cottage, I approached the sunbathed greenroom, its west wall still neatly rolled back from summer to allow the heat of the sun to escape. Here the vibrating sound became quite clear though steadily lessening.

Stepping onto the greenroom floor I paused to listen. One minute, then two, and the sound came again, this time quite near. A quick t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t, as if a cellophane bag was beating against the walls of the greenroom. My gaze went directly to its source, and there against the transparent wall I beheld a very beautiful, blue and teal dragonfly, who was quickly tiring in his unsuccessful attemps to fly free of the strange room he had ventured into. As he settled on to the last remaining rose to rest, I carefully approached, camera poised, ready to collect images I had desired for quite some time.

After what seemed like many moments of blissful camera clicking, I realized this delicate creature may never find his way out. Ever so slowly, I extended a hand until my fingers touched his thin black legs. Cautiously he hoisted his exhausted little body up to clutch my hand, then very carefully we went together into the open air. Many moments more we stood together, he slowly vibrating his slightly tattered wings, I mesmerized by his beauty, as the golden sun slowly set. It was time for him to be free, and as night was approaching I carefully placed him high onto a secure branch at the edge of the wood, hoping he would be safe and well until morning light gave him warmth to fly off into the autumn sky.

Forest Ablaze...With Color!

~ Forest Ablaze ~

~ Majestic Maple ~

~ Forest Ablaze II ~

Realizing that many of the area trees were nearing their peak of Fall color, we decided to spend this past Saturday traveling the northern Minnesota countryside in search of Nature's most spectacular colors. Here and there we found reds and some golds...but late Sunday afternoon, as our family was preparing our Faire site for winter, we discovered a small hillside ablaze with an amazing display of orange, peach, yellows, gold, and reds. The beautiful deep blue sky that peeked between the stunning leaves of maple, birch, and aspen allowed rays of golden sunshine to set the hillside on fire with color. This hillside was beautiful, bright, and truly glowing!

~ And...such a short distance from home. ~

:0)

Late Summer in Two Harbors

~ Two Harbors Lighthouse and the Crusader II ~

~ Two Harbors Breakwater ~

                                                                                          

~ Moon Rising at Lake Superior's Agate Bay ~

Late summer images from an evening of fond memories in Two Harbors, Minnesota.

~ I hope everyone had a beautiful summer. ~

Early Morning Walks

~ And When the Door Opens ~

~ Bumble's Morning ~                                              ~ Deep Enchanted Forest ~

~ Prince, Early Morning Lookout ~

Morning strolls never are lonely at Garden's Keep. With hardly an effort from our clan, they can even become quite amusing!? For as soon as the heavy wooden cottage door opens, our eager troupe of loving cats quickly gather, usually in quite predictable fashion.

With Carbon, the stout, golden eyed jet black short hair, strolls are taken very seriously, and feels his duty is to stay close (very, very close) to his human's feet, ready to sound the alert if anything is alarming, staying with one until he feels he has delivered his human safely back through the cottage door (unless of course something shakes his courage, such as the neighbor's dog)...Dutiful Carbon.

Fuzzy, a solid grey, green eyed long hair with feet the size of half dollars and a face containing an ever present cheshire smile, is the silliest of cats. For him a walk is a slow meandering saunter with an occasional sit down. His amazing attention too is focused on his human's feet, so when they stop to enable his human to view a newly opened flower, check for a potential agate in the gravel, or listen to beautiful morning bird songs, he absolutely must bound to and stand on them, front feet on top of one, back feet on the other, smiling up with his cheshire smile and purring all the while...Silly Fuzzy.

Bert, with long silky black hair and gold eyes, is adopted grandfather cat to all. Older and wise, the only disturbance he may receive from the cat clan as he strolls calmly along is an occasional lick on his cheek, rub and cat tail hug on his neck, or a shadow walk as they plaster their body next to his (no space between) walking in step with his...Wise old Bert.

Bumble, the beautiful blue eyed, seal point shorthair earned his name when very young. Sleeping very soundly as a kitten, his brother and sisters would rambunctiously play around and over him. Only slowly awakening when bit on the ear by little kitten teeth, his creamy, fat, fuzzy body looked like a Bumble from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Now mature, Bumble is the well rounded easy going cat, calm yet playful, gentle, and respectful, who loves to find the perfect spot to pose for a good portrait. Strolls for him are family/clan time, with an occasional investigation into dark holes in long grasses or short grasshopper chases...Beautiful gentle Bumble.

Tigger, green eyed, grey tabby striped shorthair prefers to spend her time watching strolls from the perfect vantage perch indoors. She loves her humans, but on her time, and without the cat clan near...Queen Tigger.

And Prince, ah yes...Prince. The golden green eyed, light grey, tabby striped youngster who is still finding himself. Proud kitty is he, quickly striding up to any and all, then dashing off to chase a little leaf, an animated bug, and up a tree to sprightly leap off in the joy of life...Energizer kitty is Prince.

Such is a well attended, always entertaining morning walk with the Garden's Keep cat clan...a stroll through the pasture is a tale for another time.

   

Welcoming Wildlife

~ Little Sandpiper ~

~ Friendly Spitting Mallard ~

~ Golden Evening Whitetail ~

This past Sunday we took a leisurely family trip to Two Harbors, a small town on the Lake Superior shore north of Duluth, to view the area where my great great grandfather's homestead once stood, and to gather images of a fishing vessel the Crusader II, built in 1939 by my great uncles and christened by the Crown Prince Olav of Norway during a visit.

On our pebbled beach stroll we were immediately received by a most pleasant little Sandpiper who nimbly strided beside us. When she finally decided to depart, a friendly Mallard hen quietly glided up within arms length to say hello, as if greeting us back home.

 The sun was setting as we gathered back into our vehicles to head for Agate Bay, and as we rounded the corner, two Whitetail deer calmly gazed up through the golden glow of the evening sun, then slowly and silently glided from view.

The Beauty of Lake Superior

~ Beach Swirls ~

~ Moss Scape ~

~ Gentle Evening Waves ~

~ Future Beach Rocks ~

Lake Superior holds such an amazing and beautiful variety of color and shapes in vegetation, rock, and water.

These early evening images were taken all no farther than a 25 foot radius after I gazed out at the lake to view beautiful gentle waves in teals and greens lightly capped in white. A slight turn to the right revealed swirls of dark blue and black as the water lapped onto a large shadowed shore of stone. At my feet were pebbles large and small in nearly every shape and color dappled in rainbows and slightly distorted from the water's ripples, pebbles waiting for the next Lake Superior gale to create giant waves that would carry them onto the clean washed beach. A final twist to the right found massive grey stone shelves carved and shaped by the water, wind, and ice of time, softly decorated by hardy miniature grasses and ferns, golden lichen, and gorgeous green mosses that thrive next to little reflective pools of water left by rain and waves.

Dragonfly Cottage

~ Orange Ruffled Daylilies ~

~ Marshmallow Blossoms ~

~ Dragonfly Cottage at Garden's Keep, home of De La Renaissance creations ~