This week guest host Cee of Cee’s Photo Challenges has challenged us to show images of one single flower.
This is a fun challenge for me because I spend a lot of time in my butterfly garden and enjoy capturing images of the flowers.
This year the zinnias are growing like crazy. In addition to the seeds I planted there are volunteers coming up all over the place from the seeds spread naturally from last years flowers.
ZinniaZinniaZinnia
This gardenia is the only bloom from my three gardenia bushes in another flower bed.
This week Tina has chosen “The Long and Winding Road” as our challenge. During our travels we have driven on so many long and winding roads I wasn’t sure which ones to include.
As I thought about how to approach this challenge, my mind kept going back to our 2013 RV trip to Alaska. There were many long and winding roads during our journey but I decided to focus on just one.
Exactly seven years ago today we were in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada at the start of the Alaska Highway (also called the AlCan). Before returning home we would travel on every mile of this long and winding road.
The United States military began construction of the Alaska Highway in 1942 to provide an overland route to Alaska. The approximately 1400 mile road from Dawson Creek, BC to Delta Junction, Alaska was completed in 8 months and 12 days.
Mile Zero of the Alaska Highway! in Dawson Creek, BC
As you can see from the photo above, like many other travelers, we posed for a picture at the famous sign marking the beginning of the Alaska Highway. (The actual location of mile marker 0 is in downtown Dawson Creek, BC). There’s more about our stay in Dawson Creek at Mile Zero of the Alaska Highway.
Part of the road was paved, part was gravel, and part was under construction. There were frost heaves and pot holes, some marked with signs and some not. Sometimes we would go for miles without seeing another vehicle. We stopped at pull outs for breaks and never had a problem finding campgrounds or diesel fuel.
Gravel section of the Alaska Highway in the Yukon
The Alaska HIghway in the Yukon
We drove slowly and enjoyed the wildlife and magnificent views.
Moose on the Alaska Highway
Alaska Highway
Alaska Highway
As I worked on this post I thought of how empty this road must be this summer with the U.S./Canadian border still closed. I remember the campgrounds, restaurants, and stores we stopped at along the way in Canada and Alaska. These businesses have a short season and depend on summer travelers to make it through the rest of the year. I hope that they will be able to make it until next year when hopefully people will be traveling again.
I am so grateful we made this trip when we did. I still dream of returning to Alaska. Next time we will not be towing our fifth wheel along the Alaska Highway. Instead, I see airplanes and ships in our future.
This week’s challenge comes from guest host Sue (Mac’s Girl) at The Nature of Things. She has asked us to feature hobbies or interests we have enjoyed over the years or something new we have discovered during this time of staying at home.
During this time of staying at home each day consists of a few of these activities: Reading, cooking, walking and photography. A major outing is an occasional grocery store run.
Reading
I’ve always loved to read and I have really enjoyed having the time to read more than usual. These days I get most of my books digitally from the local library and I often have four or five books on hold. My favorite recently read book is Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate. As you can see from the next photo, I’ve just about worn out the cover for my IPad and my two favorite books have been read and reread many times.
Favorite reads
My favorite place to read
Cooking
I’ve had a lot of time to spend cooking and baking during the shutdown. I’ve enjoyed using fresh produce from my favorite produce stand whenever I can.
Fresh produce from my favorite produce stand
Walking
Before the shut down I walked on the days I wasn’t going to water aerobics or going to the gym at the local YMCA. During the shut down my main exercise is walking. For a while the beach was closed and most walks were in my neighborhood. Now that the beach is open, I walk on the beach at least once a week.
Early morning surfer
Horseshoe Crab
Photography
I’m always looking for things to photograph. Recently my garden has been full of birds, butterflies, and blooms.
Ruby Female Throated Hummingbird
The Tybee Island Lighthouse is across the street from the parking lot for the beach. I was excited when I saw the flag flying Friday morning in honor of Memorial Day Weekend.
Honoring America’s fallen heroes for Memorial Day weekend
Please take a moment this Memorial Day Weekend to remember all of our fallen military heroes who gave their lives for our country.
This week, Patti has asked us “show how cropping helped to improve an image and create a desired effect.”
I enjoy wildlife photography and even though I usually use a zoom lens the animal or bird I am photographing is often too far away to get a good close up. I crop many of my wildlife photos in order to make the animal the focal point of the image.
Here is the before image of a Ruby Throated Hummingbird at a feeder. The hummingbird is the focal point of the shot but he is too far away to see his face clearly and there are too many distractions around him.
Original Ruby Throated Hummingbird
After cropping the photo, I was able to get the desired effect of a closeup of the bird without all of a extra space around him.
Cropped Ruby Throated Hummingbird Male
All this spring I’ve been watching a pair of Painted Buntings who come by my feeder almost daily. This week was the first time I was able to get some photos of the female. In the original image she’s too far away and I didn’t like having the bird bath in the shot.
Original Female Painted Bunting
After the crop, the female Bunting is the star of the show.
Cropped Female Painted Bunting
The before picture of a Blanket Flower in my garden is ok, but the bricks and mulch take away from the vibrant colors of the flower.
Original Blanket Flower
When I cropped the photo into a square, the colorful flower takes center stage.
Wandering Dawgs 