Friday, June 30, 2023

[Don]

Last day of the month y'all. And the year is already half gone too.

I did an overnight motorcycle camp last night, just up the road at a Corps of Engineer campground. It was probably a bit too hot to be tent camping because it wasn't too pleasant. I at least needed a battery powered fan for the tent to help with sleeping. Also determined after the second time camping with this tent that I am too old to be crawling in and out of a tent, so I think I am going to upgrade to something just a wee bit larger - one that I can actually stand up in.

Camp all set up, time to relax and enjoy a good book by the lake.

Some Georgia "red clay" and a mushroom near the campsite.  Night moon on a walk after dark.

First light - time to cook breakfast, break camp, and head home.

[Dave]

Nice set of photos, Don. I especially like the night moon shot.

Boy, I sure can relate to your comment. It has become unavoidably clear to me that I am too old to: [insert a depressingly long list of things here] anymore.

While on the return leg of my early morning walk I happened to spot a large bird flying towards me, and the slow wing-strokes immediately told me it was a Great Blue Heron. Once it passed some trees that were obscuring it from view I fired of half a dozen shots in burst mode, and got lucky that this one was reasonably sharp. The morning cloud cover dampened the normal colors so I amped them up a bit. That, plus a crop & rotate and a little sharpening for posting resulting in this - one of the very few sharp shots I've managed of a bird in flight...

   

Wishing you all a good weekend.

[Man From Ironbark]

Nice campsite Don. Seems strange in a country that has more than 300 million people, that one can find a spot with no people in it. I like the cloddy moon clouds. The red soil is striking against the green. While the fungi is making a meal of the tree, something is having a meal of the mushroom.

Dave, that is indeed a sharp shot of the heron. Burst mode. My DSLR won't do any of that with lenses that were made in the 70's.
I'll buy a good digital lens if I win the lottery.

[Luv2shoot]

Good afternoon guys.

I hear your comments about getting old and it is the pits.  I now have a "walking stick" that I picked up from the woods around the campground that I use when I take my camera for a walk. It is for getting those LOW shots when I get down on my hands and knees and have no idea how I am going to get up from that position.

Yeh, Don, that pup tent is a far cry from the Hilton, or even a RED ROOF INN for that matter.  Wasn't the ground hard?  Soon you will be packing enough stuff to have a side wagon or a little trailer. I bet your bed never felt so guy as when you came home.
I enjoyed your journalistic captures, especially the one with the book and the lake in the background.  It looks so relaxing and calm.  What did you have to eat?  You usually share a picture of that with us, maybe a mushroom burger?  The moon shot is very cool too.

Hi Peter, there are lots of places in this country where one can go to be alone and that are as picturesque as where Don is at.  
Good to see you, friend. 

Dave, yes, getting a bird in flight is quite difficult.  But sometimes it happens serendipitously, like this:

[Man From Ironbark]

Serendipitous indeed Lorell.
I've called this a congregation of choughs but it appears the correct term is a chattering of choughs.

All the plants/trees in the image were grown from seed by moi.

[Don]

Good afternoon all. Nice to see a bit of activity.

Lorell, I actually slept on a low cot with an air mattress, so wasn't hard at all. For dinner I cooked a small steak, fried some potatoes and asparagus. I need to upgrade my small skillet though. I don't think my bike would pull a trailer even if I was inclined to try it (I'm not). Usually it's the big Harleys and Hondas that are pulling them. Would be nice to have all that room though. All photos were with my phone, no other cameras with me.

Good composition on the GBH Dave, flying into the photo instead of out. I too have been lucky at times using burst mode. I don't use it too often.

Peter, this campground if about half way between our town and Atlanta. The Army Corps of Engineers have a lot of campgrounds, all on lakes (of course). And the price is very reasonable compared to others, even state parks. We like them because they are "rustic", not a lot of extra amenities that we don't need. Plus we get 50% off with our senior pass. Can't beat it.

I had to look up a Chough and discovered it is cousin to a crow. Probably pretty smart too.

[Dave]

Nicely patterned birds, and well captured, MFI.

Thank you Don. I learned quite some time ago to have birds flying into open space ahead of them. Except for those in some Oriental cultures, our eyes tend to view a photo (and a written page) from left to right, and I flipped the GBH photo horizontally to make that happen.

[Man From Ironbark]

Yes they are very clever birds. Very much so a community bird as it takes more than the two parents to raise each chick. They even steal chick from other groups so that they have more recruits to feed babes.
The white-winged chough (Corcorax melanorhamphos) is one of only two surviving members of the Australian mud-nest builders family, Corcoracidae, and is the only member of the genus Corcorax. It is native to southern and eastern Australia and is an example of convergent evolution as it is only distantly related to the European choughs that it closely resembles in shape, and for which it was named.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-winged_chough

[Luv2shoot]

Peter, your grounds are beautiful. There is no doubt that you are very proud of what you have done to surround yourself with beautiful flowers and trees that make it inviting for creatures such as the coughs to come and visit.

[Man From Ironbark]

I do enjoy the fact that I built it and they came. I don't see the grounds as mine even though I inhabit them. Caring for country is an aboriginal perspective but many white men have said things like "We didn't inherit ownership of the land, we simply borrow it from our children".
In reality we should be paying up with interest.

Which is basically how I see it. Give back something because the earth gave you your life.
I'm not really all that interested in pride.
More like my signature, glad that happiness is something you don't have to seek or pay for. It comes free as part of being. A bit like system installed software. Don't have to download an app for it.