River Concerts start this week!

The River Concert Series at St. Mary's College of Maryland starts on Friday, June 20th at 7pm.  The tent is up on the green along route 5 in St. Mary's City as usual.  We're excited and hope to see some of you there!  Check out http://www.chesapeakeorchestra.org for information.  I'm hoping to see some of my photos in this year's concert program.  Enjoy the music.

Ten Minutes with a Dragonfly

Jim called me over to view a swamp darner dragonfly stuck in the window of our garage, trying to get out.  

We wanted to let it loose, but also hoped to photograph it.  It had pretty green stripes and blue eyes.  Jim put it in a mesh bag and I took it outside.  I temporarily put it in a plastic container with lots of open air and ran for my camera.  I took a few mediocre shots then decided to let it loose using a long stick. 

 I poked the stick into the container and the dragonfly clung to the stick for 10 minutes!  It could easily fly away!  I took advantage of the time and gently moved the stick in a many directions while the dragonfly posed for me before flying away.  I moved it in front of the driveway, the lawn, and the garden and changed the angles.  Very cool!  Here is one of my best shots.

Raiders and Invaders "Attacking" Soon in Leonardtown

Come enjoy The Raiders and Invaders Festival on Saturday, June 7th from 12-6 pm at Leonardtown Square and Leonardtown Wharf in St. Mary's County.  The event focuses on the War of 1812 in Southern Maryland and also includes many of the historical attractions in the area.  This is a one time special event.  There will be lots of opportunities for fun, music, artisans, old time crafts, theater, storytelling, wine, rum and cider tasting, cars, kids events and more.  The full event takes place Friday through Sunday.  For more information visit http://www.raidersandinvaders.com

We will be a vendor in Leonardtown Square, so please stop by and say hello.  We will be featuring our photos and photo crafts of St. Mary's County.

Annapolis Windows for April St. Mary's County Camera Club Competition

The April Camera Club Competition theme was windows and doors.  We went to Kent Island to see the boat show with our friends Tommy and Angela.  Afterwards, we decided to visit Annapolis for dinner.  I suddenly realized that I would have a little time to find some window and door photos for the coming competition.  There are some lovely back streets with colorfully painted houses not far from the State house.  I asked Tommy to stand in front of this clever Trump L'Oeil painting of a bicycle by a window.  I asked  him to pose with his hand on the bicycle seat, like he was part of the painting.  The "wisteria" were very pretty and made me think of the scent I love.  I don't normally photograph other people's art work unless I can change it to make it more unique.  I would be happy to credit the artist if I knew who it was.  Please comment if you know. The photo won third place in the competition.  

Here are a few of the other interesting windows and doors I photographed in gorgeous colors.

This last one was interesting because it showed a door IN a window IN a door.  Fancy that!

May Day at Historic St. Mary's City

Historic St. Mary’s City celebrated the coming of spring on May 3^rd at 11AM with a dance around the May Pole near the St. Mary’s River, for visitor’s and staff.  The colorful satin ribbons were delightfully woven at the end of the dance and were slowly unfurled by the staff, preparing for a second dance at 3 PM.  Visitors also participated in crafts and colonial games.

For some reason, I always wanted to watch a May Pole Dance.  (I must have read too many British novels!)  I wish I could have figured out a way to take pictures and dance at the same time. It looked like fun.

The Private Osprey War 2014

I captured some somewhat unusual video footage of a male osprey attacking the pair on our nearby osprey nest.  Six short videos totaling about 3 minutes of footage have been pieced together.

The attacking bird was extremely aggressive.  He actually picked up a bird by the claws (not shown) and tossed it into the water, stomped on the birds,  and tried to knock them out of the sky.  One bird was cut on the leg.  Meanwhile, the nesting pair tried to build up their nest, even carrying a large stick that had fallen into the water to add to the nest.

The private war was quite exciting to watch, but I kept hoping that none of the birds would be critically injured. (and I don't think they were)  I am wondering if the birds were fighting over the nest or the female.  The nest is quite popular and there might be a shortage of good nests nearby. 

The female is the larger bird with a sort of brown necklace of feathers.

Please comment if you like or if you notice anything interesting about the behaviors of the birds.

Cherry Blossoms at the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C.

 Jim and I spent a lovely day in Washington DC photographing the beautiful Cherry Blossom Trees at the Tidal Basin on the Potomac, the circular basin surrounding the Jefferson Memorial, the FDR Memorial, and the nearby Washington Monument.  I hoped to be there just after sunrise, by getting up a 5AM, but that was much too late. 3AM might have worked or an overnight in town.  The weather was gorgeous and I tried to capture some of the curves of the basin and the trees, as well as the paddleboats.

Most of the Cherry trees along the Tidal basin are single white flowered Yoshino Trees, with some single flowered pink Akebono trees.  We took a $1 shuttle to East Potomac Park to view the many other Japanese Cherry trees:  Weeping Cherries, Kwanzan, Autumn Cherries (double flowered), Takesimensis, Afterglow, Sargent, and Okame.  The park has a golf course and picnic area.  The West Potomac Park also has some different cherry trees along the water.

Here's a few photos from our memorable day.

             Tidal Basin Panorama

                          Japanese pagoda

     Washington Monument with Paddle        Boats

                       Looking up!