Memorial Day 2016
We pause to remember those that have sacrificed their lives in service to our country. From Lexington to Shiloh, from Iwo Jima to Luxembourg, from Seoul to Saigon and from Baghdad to Benghazi, we remember those who did not return alive. God bless them all.
Some of the lower flower buds are opening on the big saguaro cactus out in front of the garage by the driveway. The big cactus sits by the point adjacent to the where the courtyard walkway meets the main driveway slab.
When I took this photo of her, she was preparing to photograph one of the saguaro flowers on the arm closest to my camera. She did get a pretty good shot of that lowest open flower posted at this link.
We have a lot of flower buds still to open and most of them will be pointing skyward. I was thinking about getting the extension ladder to climb up on the garage roof to photograph them from a high vantage point with the 75 to 300 mm lens for close-ups.
Click on the image to enlarge.
There is a giant agave flower stalk about five hundred feet down the road toward the pavement from our place. We have been watching it grow over a couple of months and now, with the top looming over twenty feet in the air, its flowers are ready to open.
I took my Canon EOS Rebel SL1 on our daily walk down the road and snapped this photo of the picturesque flower chandelier high atop the stalk. I actually had to take two images, above and below, and stitch them together to render the composite at the right.
Click on the image to enlarge.
This tiny Antelope Ground Squirrel is enjoying some of the leftover polenta from our recent Pork Stew dinner. It is our habit to distribute certain leftover food to the wash out back so the critters can come and enjoy.
I took this photo this afternoon using my SL1 camera and telephoto lens. The squirrel came close to me, within about fifteen feet, to get the tidbit. The birds and rabbits are more wary than this little guy, and generally keep a larger distance between us and them. Click on the image to enlarge.
We saw a brood of six to eight spring quail chicks with the parent pair up by the bird feeders on the little hill behind the RV Drive. These look scruffy as chicks, but will be molting into their mature feathers soon. Click on the image to enlarge.
Photo information:
Canon EOS REBEL SL1, 1/400 sec, F6.3, ISO 320, Canon Zoom Lens @ 300 mm
Happy Mother’s Day to a new grandma, Verna. This is her and Jerry in Palm Desert in February when he was just six months old. We will be out there again come June for another visit. Click on the image to enlarge.
