Blooms and Fungus Amungus

Common sulfur flutterby feasting on thistle (above). Below, wild onion in flower.


A lot of fungus this year.... since it's been relatively wet....

Above, the morel of the story (sorry).
Above and below red cup fungus.... very tiny... about the size of your pinky fingernail... likes the forest floor... most of these shots were taken along Indian Mound Trail.



Above, American Hover Fly getting takeout. Below, the beautiful symmetry of dandelion seeds.


Above yard clover very closeup.... below, same for thistle....
These bottom three were in a neighbor's yard.... don't know what they are but I like them.

New Niece Has Arrived-Welcome Erica Riann Heath

Hyper is another Uncle as Donna and Jeremy Heath welcomed new daughter Erica into the world Tuesday afternoon... a little over 6 pounds and 18 inches... she joins her brother Justin and sister Taylor.

I left these pictures large enough to download... so help yourselves family....

Hyper had named her Muffy prior to birth..... but Erica is nice too.... so I'll go with that.

Below.... eyes are blue for now at least.

Below ... Aunt Rachel holds her .... Trevor in the background.... doing their wedding in July.

Above.... cousin Madison was pleased to say the least.... her Mom Amanda is expecting in August.

Mom and baby get to go home Thursday....

In Remembrance and Celebration

After lunch at Ponaks' with The Kid and The Boyfriend (hers) I headed over to Liberty Memorial. Good crowd on hand to tour the Museum and see the exhibits of military vehicles and equipment.

Above, Vietnam era guide explained the gear used at the time.... same stuff that Hyper used.
Above, lots of vets on hand to give personal remembrances of what it was like.....
Below... the WWII scooter and motorcycle display was very popular....




The Walk of Fame is in place now.... divided up by conflicts and services.







Trips to the top of the Memorial were extremely popular... the line was even longer when I left.


Above, the Kauffman Performing Arts Center is coming right along.... due to open in 2011.
Above, looking south, below the fountain from above.

Looking west into KK..... while a little warm it was a beautiful day.... the clouds were gorgeous.
On the way back to the car the Scooter crowd was even bigger.

Moon Rise From Kaw Point

Friday night was the last time the moon would be full-full... from now on it will start losing its roundness. Above is the dusk view of the skyline with the relatively newly installed metal sculptures of Lewis and Clark. The Kaw River is on the right and the Missouri is on the left. Both are high and moving fast from all the spring rains.
It's a view that lends itself to black and white as well as color... above and below the skyline just after sunset.

Above...taken at 9:45pm..... the moon rose at 9:44pm and made its first appearance (below) at 10:10... preceded by a decided glow around the building. Fortunately what few clouds there were dissipated before moonrise.

The moon is very bright in relation to its "surroundings" and the only way to get detail in it is to sacrifice outlines and shapes in the buildings.... above is such a shot.
All these shots, except the last one, were taken with the 70-200 f2.8 zoom at F16... I varied only the shutter speed in capturing the images and it ranged from 2 seconds to 8 seconds at ASA 800 on the Nikon D3. A tripod and cable release were used to make sure everything was perfectly steady.


Fiddled with the color balance on the one above. Others are pretty much as seen by the naked eye.

Above shot was taken with same settings as before but using the 24-70mm zoom... it was a parting shot on the way back to the parking lot. The park is easy to find... just take the Lewis and Clark Viaduct (appropriate) west and take the Fairfax exit... then look for a sign on the right with an arrow saying "Kaw Point". You travel through a shipping yard parking lot to get to it... just follow the signs.