Lens Artists Photo Challenge #399 – Stuck in Place

Egidio has given us a challenge to help us “unlock new inspiration in our photography.” His challenge is to stay in one place for 30 minutes to an hour. We can use the cameras, lenses and cell phones of our choice but we can only walk 10 or 15 steps in any direction to capture new images.

I’ve been in a rut recently with my photography so this challenge really motivated me to get out and have some fun with my camera. I’ve been watching the birds at our bird feeder from our deck but have not been inspired to take any photos until this challenge.

I chose a place in my back yard where I don’t usually sit. I had a great view of the bird feeder and the back yard. All of these photos were taken with a 400mm zoom lens. While I waited for birds I zoomed in on some random things.

Today is Memorial Day in the United States. Memorial Day is a day of remembrance to honor U.S. Military personnel who died in service to our country. In honor of this special day I will start with an American Flag from a neighbor’s back yard.

My neighbor always flies an American Flag. It’s especially meaningful this Memorial Day Weekend as we remember our fallen heroes.
This time of year the Holly Berries are green, not red.
At last I saw a Female Painted Bunting.

Later, this Male Painted Bunting showed up at the feeder.

This Eastern Grey Squirrel was watching me watching him.

I’ve been wanting to get out to take photos and this challenge was just the inspiration I needed. Thank you Egidio!

I really enjoyed all of the different vibrant colors you showed us for Ritva’s Choose a Color challenge. Thank you to everyone who joined the challenge.

Many thanks to Egidio for this week’s challenge. If you would like to join the challenge please be sure to tag your post with Lens-Artists and include a link back to his post Lens-Artists #399: Stuck in Place.

Be sure to check back on Saturday, May 30 at noon eastern time when Tina will be your host for the challenge.

If you don’t want to miss any of our challenges you may want to think about subscribing to the Lens-Artists team members websites: Tina, Patti, Ann-Christine, John, Sofia, Anne, Egidio, Ritva, Beth.

For information on how to join the Lens-Artists challenge please click here.

Lens-Artists #97: Pastimes

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.

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Favorite reads

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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.

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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.

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Early morning surfer

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Horseshoe Crab

Photography

I’m always looking for things to photograph. Recently my garden has been full of birds, butterflies, and blooms.

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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.

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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.

Many thanks to guest host Sue (Mac’s Girl) for this weeks Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Pastimes

 

Adventures with Grandkids

One of the greatest joys as a grandparent is seeing our grand children’s excitement as they experience new adventures.

Our daughter is visiting us this week with her two children. At 12 and 10, they are our two oldest grandchildren. They live 400 miles away, surrounded by the Appalachian mountains, so coming to visit Nana and Papa near the beach is always an adventure for them.

Horseshoe Crabs on the beach
Horseshoe Crabs on the beach

On Memorial Day, we beached our boat on a deserted barrier island after a boat ride through rivers and narrow winding creeks surrounded by salt marsh. The adventure brought back fond memories for our daughter and made new memories for the grandkids. It is a ride we took on many weekends when our daughter was growing up and we are so happy we could share the experience with her children.

Riding through the salt marsh
Riding through the salt marsh

We had the island all to ourselves
We had the island all to ourselves

This is my contribution to the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge: Adventure