A memorial garden

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From 2012 to late 2021 we owned a house on Roaring Brook Lake in Putnam County, NY. My late wife was a very active member of the community’s garden club (she loved gardening). The garden club maintains a small garden by the entrance to the lake and a few years ago they decided to place memorial stones for lake residents who had recently passed away. One of those was my late wife, Eirah who now has a stone there inscribed with her name.

One of my daughters recently came to visit with her family and she wanted to take her two daughters to see the garden. So off we went. Above: Colorful sign by the garden at the entrance to the community.

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Echinaceas taken from our house in Briarcliff Manor years ago and donated to the garden club. They seem to be doing well. Eirah is no longer with us but the flowers remain.

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Another view of the garden.

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A bright yellow flower

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My daughter and family

Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Fuji XC 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OSS II

A wild and crazy garden

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15 minute walk

This garden is about a 15 minute walk from my house. I’ve often walked past it while walking the dog, but had previously not taken any pictures. I think it’s wonderful. No messing around with lawns for the people who own this house – just masses and masses of flowers. Of course I couldn’t go onto private property, but by looking up the driveway I could see the the rear of the house was pretty much the same.

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Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Fuji XC 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OSS II

Some macro photography

by Posted in Flowers, Macro, Nature, Wildlife & Animals Leave a comment
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It was very hot and humid today and I was a little frustrated. I’d been sitting in front of a computer for most of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Yesterday (Thursday) I had lunch with a friend but other than that I stayed home. I really wanted to get out and take some photographs. But I’d already taken the dog for a walk, was feeling a bit tired and didn’t feel like walking around much in the hot weather. Then it occurred to me that I could do some macro photography. I wouldn’t have to go far – just into the wooded area across the road. I’d be sure to find something – and indeed I did.

Above: A tiny wasp (or at least that’s what I initially thought it was). It really was very small (somewhere between 1/8 and 1 inch). Then the more I thought about it the more I started to think it wasn’t a wasp (the head didn’t look right for a wasp) so I did a bit more research. It’s a Hover Fly.

“Hover flies are true flies, but they look like small bees or wasps. They are the helicopters of the insect world, often seen hovering in the air, darting a short distance, and then hovering again. These beneficial insects are valuable tools in the fight against aphids, thrips, scale insects, and caterpillars.

What are Hover Flies? Hover flies (Allograpta oblique) go by several other names, including syrphid flies, flower flies, and drone flies. Hover flies in gardens are a common sight throughout the country, especially where aphids are present. The adults feed on nectar as they pollinate flowers. The female lays her tiny, creamy-white eggs near aphid colonies, and the eggs hatch in two or three days. The beneficial hover fly larvae begin feeding on the aphids as they hatch. After spending several days eating aphids, the hover fly larvae attach themselves to a stem and build a cocoon. They spend 10 days or so inside the cocoon during warm weather, and longer when the weather is cool. Adult hover flies emerge from the cocoons to begin the cycle again.

Read more at Gardening Know How: Hover Fly Information: Plants That Attract Hover Flies To The Garden.

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Dandelion Seeds

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Detail of a bird feather I came across.

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Pine Cone.

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Some kind of yellow flower. I don’t know what kind. I love the tiny bugs. I can see three of them. I didn’t notice any of them when I took the picture.

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Broken/hatched birds egg.

Taken with a Sony A77II and Minolta 50mm f2.8 Macro lens