roadside Blues

 

People look at you like you have lost your marbles when you jump out of the truck when you are waiting for the pilot car in the middle of road construction. When you go clambering up a steep road cut with a camera and get down on your hands and knees, they are sure they are watching an escapee from some asylum. But the hillside was covered in sawsepal penstemon growing in rock strewn soil, and they were this gorgeous sky blue. I just had to.

new Citizens

 

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending the Naturalization Ceremony at Mt. Rushmore National Memorial for 158 brand new American citizens! An awesome setting for these joyful new Americans. They were all ages, young, old, those serving in our military, many ethnicities and cultures, coming from 58 different countries on 6 continents. It really does give pause to think of the journeys they have made and the lives they came from. 

candles on the Prairie

Nature celebrates the Solstice by lighting candles on the prairie...the yuccas always bloom just as official Summer begins. Pollinated by night flying insects, I want to go out at dusk and see just who those creatures are.

tree pruning Services

And this would be why my trees look like they do. Broad daylight marauding. She travels with the doe with the gimpy leg, I am pretty sure she is one of the Terrible Twins from last June, the big sister of these two born this year. Her twin is hanging with another teenaged buddy, both of whom are "button bucks" with tiny antlers in velvet about the size of the end of your thumb.

 This is the third year in a row that this doe has had twins, it is the only pair I have seen so far.

hoop Dancer

You start with the hoops, you dance to the drum, you create the world to honor all the races on the Planet.

 Main Street Square.

World renown Native Hoop Dancer and flute player, Kevin Locke shares a message of unity and respect through his dance.

iron Horse

life size creativity with repurposed materials, he looks as if he should have a mounted knight and be off to a joust.

crane's Bill

 

The seed pod, it's the reason Pelargoniums and Geraniums are sometimes called Crane's Bill.

self Portrait

Waiting for the traffic light on Mt. Rushmore Rd and Main Street, Rapid City, SD, USA, 1st day of Summer 2013.

next Gen

Fast food

sensational Sauropod

 

I really think STEGOSAURUS should mimic the coleus colors, very reptilian funky.

it can only Be...

pincurls on my cucumber plant!

it's a Monday

The day's business....

an Invite

Shell-leaf penstemon  44N 103W

Welcome, Bees! Here is a convenient airport for you, refreshments will be served.

a silvery Bee

In celebration of the beginning of Year #5 of this blog, I gifted myself with a silvery Bee.  andahiveofsilverybees.blogspot.com was a challenge, cast by my tech saavy children, sure that the technology would baffle dear OLD mom. It was so they could critique and help me improve my photography skills. It has turned out to be all that and much more!
I have indeed improved my photography skills. I am never without my Sony Cybershot (although sometimes I am without a card in the camera-grrrr), I often have the Pentax. I take pictures every single day of something. Sometimes mundane, sometimes silly, sometimes profound, sometimes just something that caught my eye. I can't draw a straight line with a ruler, and my portaits are stick figures, but with the camera, I have found an art form to practice.
I write better, edit myself better, and best of all, I have made the acquaintance of blogfriends all over the country. Awesome, clever, caring, talented people I would never have gotten to know otherwise.

yes, can i help You?

You appear to be an annoying paparazzo* who is interfering with my lunch, move along please.

{*it's correct, I looked it up :o) }

ah, Scrabble

Anybody need Scrabble tiles, I know where there is a whole fishbowl full for sale. No cheating, though and adding "good" ones to your game. :o)

headed Upstream

What's not to love about a leafy path wandering through riparian woods on a June day?

 

Things like this are waiting for you along the way.

prickly yellow Roses

Always faithful to Ma Nature's schedule, the "picky yellow roses" open the first week of June. They are blossoming here, if I call the folks at home in northern NY, I know the ones there are open too. In a couple of days the bush will literally be humming with bees and perfuming the entire yard.
This particular bush was a present from a friend, came to SD from Chadron, NE, as just a little stick. It is the offspring of an old rosebush that may be nearly 100 years old. Best feature...the deer leave it alone! Favorite feature, my 89 year old father, who is an afficianado of wearing "buttonhole flowers" on his suitcoats, sports them in June and has for as long as I can remember (which is a long time). :o)
Known as Harison's yellow, the cultivar has been sold since the early 1830s, having originated as a chance hybrid in the New York City rose garden of George F. Harison . I don't know anyone who has actually bought one, they are always hand-me-overs from friends and relatives.

a walk in the Woods

in the morning, along the Creek, under sunny skies, with birdsong as the soundtrack, is good for the spirit.

i wanna Know...

If this is a duckling...

Why isn't this a goosling???

betty boop Curls!

Peruvian daffodil

Miss Betty Boop

today's palette is GreenRapid

Rapid Creek, late May, showery afternoon