Red Squirrel...

Emergence...

A heavily cropped shot of one of our flickers emerging from his nest...

Indigo Bunting...

Meg snapped this new addition to our local bird population. He's a beautiful color but seems to be carrying a bit of a beer belly!

Sittin' Pretty...

This guy did not seem flattered or even amused that I wanted his picture. He did sign the consent form though...

Bountiful Hosta...

Every year I'm astonished at the way the hosta burst forth and reach for the sun. This fellow was digging the late afternoon sun yesterday.

Split Leaf Offering...

Night Sky...

Baby Chipmunk..

Moonset...

Dark beatiful moonset tonight...

Bright lady...

Found a couple of these guys (gals?) on the rugosa roses yesterday. Their color seems almost too vibrant for their surroundings!

Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes...

Live Music is Better. Bumper Stickers Should Be Issued. Looking forward to seeing Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes tomorrow night.

Huddled Hosta...

Serene Sunday Sunset...

It was a shockingly drab day today that surprised me with a very colorful finish...

Tow Away Zone...

I don't get to the city much...

Bluets in the lawn...

After the Storm...

Sunrise...

Flicker...

We have a pair of Flickers drilling out a nest nearby. They are shy and don't tolerate people well which makes me covet a real telephoto lens...

Morning Mist...

More Crocuses...

Tried for a soft telephoto kind of look here. I've been playing with some black and white conversion programs and couldn't help myself.

Morning Daffies...

Night Barn...

Evening Sky...

We had a beautiful sunset last night with some unique cloud formations...

Morning Moon...

This gnarled old tree still seems to enjoy the first rays of the sun.

Morning Barn... redux

Early Crocus...

These early crocus - our first this year - are truly a spot of color and beauty in a very slow moving spring season here in VT.

Evening Light...

Dog Chapel

We visited Stephen Huneck's Dog Chapel in St. Johnsbury today. It sounds a little strange - a chapel devoted to dogs (and cats) but it is incredibly lovely and heartwarming. Here is a shot of some dogs outside the chapel.

Fern...

Maple Skyline

Speak of the devil...

Not one hour after posting the tree picture below, we looked out to find a Pileated Woodpecker making a new hole in the very same tree! We looked it up and it was almost exactly a year ago that he (or one of his brothers) first visited us.

This picture was taken with a shutter speed of 1/200th of a second - his head is moving!

Tree

I love this old maple tree behind our house. It's gracefully reaching the end of it's long life. A pileated woodpecker has gone to town on it in a couple spots making small (actually some are quite large) homes for other smaller creatures. If we are very very lucky we'll get a family of flickers to nest in it.

Morning Barn...

Morning shot of one of my favorite barns with the moon about to call it a night...

Cardinal Zin...

Another spotting of a cardinal in the area... Hope to see more of them through the summer.

Snow Rider...

A cyclist taking on yesterday's snowstorm...

Spring water...

The Union Village covered bridge on a cool March morning...

Snow Fence, Interstate, and Sky...

Deva and Buddha...

She is a most amazing cat...

Happy Birthday Patrick...

My nephew Patrick would be 28 tomorrow were it not for the attack on the USS Cole in October 2000. I wonder what he would be up to on his birthday; I bet it would be fun and probably a bit of trouble! I miss you Pat.

Take Off...

Another shot that didn't get to the photo contest - I love this picture of the cargo plane lifting off the flower...

Spring? Baseball?

A shot from last Spring in South Royalton showing a small part of the beauty of Spring baseball in New England...

Cat in a Winter Window...

Summer Sunflowers...

In the last week, we've been busy trying to find pictures from the last year to submit to the local paper's photo contest. A number of our favorite pictures unfortunately didn't work well in the required 8x10 aspect ratio so I thought I'd get some of them up on the blog. These pictures were taken late in the summer and late in the day on in a beautiful field of sunflowers.

Winter Cardinal

We have caught quick glimpses of a cardinal or two lately. Today in the snowstorm I was able to get close enough for this shot. This appears to be a female but we think we've seen a male as well. Hope that they stick around this summer!

More Deer...

This beauty was munching on the remnants of last summer's brown eyed susans...

Busted!

I managed to get this shot through the window though she seemed to have a bead on me as well...

Morning Finches

There are hundreds of finches who visit us through the day, enjoying the black oil sunflower seed we put out every morning. They generally fly away in droves when we open the door to go out. These brave souls tolerated our presence enough for quick snap in the dull morning light.

Vermont Church...

I took this shot this past weekend of one of my favorite spots around here: the church in West Fairlee Center.