Please Make Sure and Wipe Your Feet

I wonder how quickly a millipede family wears out a welcome ... mat. It sounds funnier if you say it out loud, but then again, that's not saying much.

I took this on a walk up to the top of Castle Rock the namesake of the city just south of Denver, before you get to Colorado Springs.

Duct Tape Takes Wing

I checked out a book from the library called Ductagami: The Art of the Tape by Joe Wilson. Cute book with instructions to make wallets, baseball caps, shower curtains, etc. It has fun retro graphics and clear instructions, but no traditional forms! Here's my addition. It has about a 9 inch length and 9 inch wingspan.

I think that this crane would make an artsy contribution to my girl-cave-garage-workshop. Okay, it's not really a shop, it's more like a push cart.

Feather in Cat Tail Dander and Algae

Mucking about in another local puddle. Many birds were congregating such as red-winged blackbirds, ducks, and thousands of starlings. The sun was setting and the wind was blowing the downy seeds of the autumn cattails into the water.

Bleeding Hearts in High Contrast

Not taking as many pictures. Weather? Illness? Preoccupation? Brooding?

Ghosts of Fall, Raindrops and Cracked Concrete

Our maple tree dropped its leaves once they'd lost their ruby luster.

A selection found the driveway at the end of their fall.

The stone was cold, the air was wet and snow fell.

The icy weight cast autumn shadows, the color of dried blood, on the cracked concrete.

The leaves were gone and raindrops were falling by the time I saw the evidence.

Gravid-tas

I finally got my praying mantis shots in. She's a gravid female, very gravid. She had a very calm manner, not as curious as other mantises I've known, nor was she aggressive at all. Quite a regal bearing all in all.

We were due for a significant temperature dip, so I brought her inside. She wasn't so sure about this until I dumped a number of feeder crickets into the terrarium -- then everything seemed to be to her liking.

Triops

A few pictures of Rowan's Triops. I think they're about an inch long head-to-tail here. The top image may show some eggs there. The images are a bit fuzzy due to the plastic habitat; I need to get another mini-glass aquarium for pictures.

Fall

All the pretty colors are here again.

So-o-o-o Cute!

I find the cutest critters at the outhouse/port-a-potty/restrooms. This little thing even has flirty eyelashes.

Aged Scotch (Tape)

We've been participating in the informal community clothing, furniture and decorating swap. We got some useful modular foot-by-foot-by-foot storage cubes for a kid's room from the Millers, whose son also goes to DCS Montessori.

I de-crayoned a blue cube and then went on to tackle the leftover scotch tape. The more boring the job got, the more interesting the bits of removed tape appeared.

I have to admit, used is the way to go. Since I enjoy repairing, I may have an uncommon viewpoint. Perhaps I should buy, refurbish and sell.

Flying Saucer

If it isn't a flying saucer, I'd then say it resembles something that says, "Feed me, Seymour!"

Aspen Leaf in Dehydrated Slimy Algae

We visited Barr Lake State Park today. We didn't have a lot of time, but we were able to take a little walk around. From the boardwalk, we could see sections of the wetlands (we called them swamps until the government people came) in which the water had receded. I don't know that this could really be called a traditional autumn picture. I stepped in, sat in, and cleaned this stuff off myself and the kids; funny how something so icky could look so interesting. Even after discovering its unique texture and goose-poop additions, it was still interesting to look at.

The school year has started. I'm not sure what Rorschach-ian interpretation would be given to my associating this picture to this event.

Incidental Discoveries

I found these pretty yellow flowers. I like combinations of buds and flowers and sweeping stems.

Upon taking a few shots, I paid enough attention to detail to see the yellow crab spider in the center. These spiders do a great job of matching their host plant's color, so I didn't feel too oblivious.

When I'm on the other side of the camera, the flower and the spider take up the frame, encompass the view. Later, I get some perspective and realize just how neat it was that I found what I found.

Chewing the Words

Scarlet Globe Mallow (Sphaeralcea coccinea)

I keep saying the name of this flower, but the images that appear in my imagination have nothing in common with this flower. The flower is fuzzy, orangish, low to the ground, and looks nothing like a thing I'd bring to a campfire. This was taken early in June.

Raindrops on Roses

A neighbor's yellow rose in the drizzle of our weird-weathered July.

Yesterday we decided to walk in the drizzle to a local pond (perpetual puddle with lots of bugs). I became cold very fast. Sweatshirts, rain ponchos and umbrellas weren't enough and we all came home for hot drinks.

Nonplussed Trophy Fish

Another July 4th picture. This is part of a sculpture by James Christensen that is in front of the library mentioned last post. I really like his artwork because of the strange proportions, odd combinations of elements that meld so nicely together, and the fine detail given to detail.

Water Hazard

I was supposed to be returning library books ... very overdue books, but then I saw a pair of cormorants in the water hazard of the Lone Tree golf course across the street. I am very lucky in that my children are patient with me (or that they have Nintendo DSes and Dolls) and hung out while I took a few shots.

Primative Adobe Effects

The fuzz and glow in this picture is from the blades of grass in front of the plane of focus, the sharp focus comes from an unbroken line of sight to the drops.

This was taken around my birthday (the 3rd), my last birthday that starts with a three. Hm. I keep thinking I should feel old.

Wet Flowerworks

July the 4th threatened and delivered rain until just before sunset. This wet, gone-to-seed, dandelion might have been the only fireworks we saw that day.

Macaroni

It's the fourth of July, so here's a plume moth. It's late in the evening, so here's the map through the wetlands of conscience: the moths are named for the feather-like, that is, plume wings. Yankee Doodle stuck a feather in his cap and called it Macaroni. I think it's a quite dandy moth actually. Many in the Roxborough park that day. Neat-o. :)

Waterfall Monochrome

This is part of a playground set that's been installed in the middle of our recreation center's indoor swimming pool. There are a few water features that the kids can turn on and off, aim or dump onto fellow swimmers.

I like photos that look as if they are from black and white film.

A Fruit Loop Miracle

The boys' shout made me stop inhaling my two-thirds Cheerios, one-third Fruit Loops breakfast. "LOOK LOOK LOOK!" Stopping, I followed the direction of their gaze and I looked at my cereal. Then I looked back at them. "MO-O-O-OM! IT'S Standing UP!" Oh, I see. Hm.

I took a picture in acknowledgment of the amazing phenomenon. Then, unceremoniously, I ate the miraculous Fruit Loop. The boys thought that was very funny because I wasn't acknowledging the gravitas of the situation.

Jasmine announced, "I like the Cheerios."

Neighbor Flowers

I haven't been much of a gardener of late ... that is, the past few years. But my neightbors are. These are our right-hand neightbors' flowers. These folks are quite the home improvement gardening pair; we've known them for about nine years now, so I don't think they'll mind me snapping a few shots.

We saw these flowers as we passed their house. We were walking in the rain, so the rainwater in the gutter was more interesting than the flowers for Jasmine. Ordinarily she'd have stopped; Jasmine really likes the color yellow. It's easy to see and pleasantly common. I'll admit, I've always liked blue. I wonder what causes us to have a favorite color and what that choice says about us.

Purple Umbrella

It was about to rain at Roxborough State Park. Many of the Harebell's sheltered bees. The flowers face toward the ground; perfect shelter for a bee. The bees hid early, a full hour before the rain actually hit. I can't say I blame them. We had our rain coats and ponchos out about then too. Mountain rain is like a water balloon. We had a nice downpour for a little bit, the middle third of our mini-hike, and by the end we'd returned to partially blue skies and some sunshine.