Purple Petunia

Fall has been here for more than a week, and my flowers seem to be enjoying the cooler weather as much as I am.

Snow on Timp

A major event in the life of anyone who lives in Provo is when Mt. Timpanogos gets its first snowfall.  Rain swept through last week while I was in Dallas.  This morning my camera captured this.  Next spring we'll be drinking that.

Aquarium Visit

A little grandson took me to an aquarium this morning.

This facility is actually part of a large shopping center,

I was both surprised and pleased at the quality of the exhibits.

My two-year-old guide said, "Octopus!  Scary!"

Morning

Sometimes, a ray of sunshine makes simple things beautiful.

Loud! Boom! Wow!

Provo's two smoke stacks came down this morning.

I took my camera.

While I waited, my camera peeked inside one tower.  I showed the pictures to a kid next to me who had asked his mom if he could go inside before they blew them up.

Water began spraying to keep the dust down.

A kid on the other side of me counted 14 drones.

I didn't count the people, but the area I was in was filled, as were many lots around the stacks.

The sound of the detonation was enormous.  My heart is still pounding.

They came down in 5 seconds. I got 3 pictures, is all.
That's ok.  The drones got the best pictures, anyway.

And then it was over.

My, What Big Eyes You Have!

The combination of the morning sun and the hummingbirds was too tempting to resist.

I stood in a new spot, only about 4 feet away.

I was still as a statue for 3 minutes before the birds decided they were more thirsty than afraid.

I did not receive any extra instruction about photographing birds from visiting house guests this summer.

However, simply changing my location seemed to improve the quality of the pictures.

I used the sport setting this morning.  The bird wasn't actually falling, but it is a funny picture.

I was delighted to see the bright orange spot on this bird's throat.

The next bird had a different spot.

I did not realize the variety of hummingbirds that visit the feeder until I started photographing them.

This bird, with the green back, might be my favorite.

This was a delightful photography session this morning.

My new secret is to allow the camera to focus on one part of the feeder, not the birds.

The birds seemed perfectly happy to fly inside my focus range.

At this point, I decided my session was at an end.

Cooling Down

For awhile, my geraniums stopped blooming.  I wasn't sure if they needed fertilizer, or if the noise of the visiting grandchildren was deterrent to their happiness.  Kids are gone, and the temperatures are just a little lower, and my blooms are back.