bird watching

A Picturesque Camping Trip

/ Quilly / 36 Comments

Once again we tripped off to Vancouver, B.C. with a group of students from UW’s Friday Harbor Labs.  This time it was the ZooBot class (a Zoological and Botanical survey of coastal sea life).

This is Megan.
Megan
Megan teaches the Zoo part of ZooBots.  I took this shot right after the class returned from the beach and caught Megan in the act of exchanging boots for shoes. Megan is just as fun and energetic as this photo implies.

This is the classroom.
Waves

This is the class.
class

Somethings to study.
sealife 2

Some more things to study.
sea life

Of course it wasn’t all work.
Kamp Kool Kids

When in camp we roasted hats.
roasted hats

Roasted socks.
roasted socks
Played games.
cards

Celebrated a birthday …
party
… with cake …
cupcakes

… and music …
music

… and dancing.
dancing

We also ate.
ate
Megan’s friend brought us a bucket full of fresh crab.  I am sure that somewhere in all the crunching and slurping we remembered to say thank you.

And of course I found time to take a few pics:

wildflower

Wildflower

dancing grass

Dancing Grass (growing from a rock)

more scenery

River Tree

seedy

Seed Head

fiddle fern

Fiddlehead Ferns

crab

crab

anemone

Sea Anemone

gull

Gull

berry soon

Berry Soon

grass

Grass

Botany Bay path

Botany Bay Path

Botany Bay steps

Botany Bay Steps

Botany Bay lower trail

Botany Bay Boardwalk

furry trees

Furry Trees

greens

New Growth

stellar jay

Stellar Jay

Turkey of A Day

/ Quilly / 11 Comments

Right now I am exhausted.  We landed at Logan Airport in Boston after over overnight flight in which I may have managed 4 hours of semi-concious sleep.  We rented a car and drove to Cape Cod.  Yes, I have some photos.  I’ll share them when I am not too exhausted to make sense.

We ate breakfast at a friendly restaurant named Friendly’s, then Amoeba took me sightseeing.  I saw some sights.  I got sand from the Atlantic Ocean in my shoes and socks — a bit of salt water, too.  I also collected a pocket full of sea shells and a cute nugget of pink granite.  I wanted to pick ALL of the pink granite up, but Amoeba said he is not carrying a suitcase full of rocks home. I do wish he was a little more reasonable about such matters, but I love him anyway.

We went to Scusset Beach State Reservation and Amoeba showed me the end of the Cape Cod Canal.  I collected a couple of really great photos there.  We also met a local named Tom.  I was really surprised to learn that he keeps a harem.  I didn’t think such things were legal in this country.  Still, looking at him you can clearly see why the ladies find him irresistible.  He is quite a looker!

Tom Turkey

The Muffed Target #20

/ Quilly / 10 Comments

The Muffed Photo Meme is sponsored by Thom “Bite Me” Robinson, and can be found every Tuesday on his blog, Thom’s Place 4 Well, Whatever. Believe me, this meme really fits in his “well whatever” category:

Each Tuesday post a completely crazy, messed up photo — one you would normally delete. The subject matter isn’t important — did you take a picture of your thumb? The lens cap? The wrong half of great Aunt Betty? (Really, she usually has a head …) Or perhaps you’ve got a shot of your own nose hairs taken while you were trying to determine why the flash wasn’t working. Whatever your photo goof is, we want to see it!

So, let’s all expose our photo flubs. You show me yours and I’ll show you mine!

Note to self: When photographing a partridge quail in a pear spruce tree, if shooting through the living room window, turn off the flash.  That “white mist” is actually the glare of the flash off the window.