River running at Great Falls on the Potomac River...

Went to Great Falls National Park on the Maryland side of the Potomac River the other day... wandered out to Great Falls Overlook to try to capture some fall color along with the rapids... found some kayakers running the river and got quite a few shots... here's one... I've posted an album which you may view as a slide show of this guy and one other kayaker running the rapids.

Busy beetle type bug... not sure what he is...

But he clearly has been eating away at my daisy mum leaves as evidenced by the holes on every flower he has already visited... here he is making a fresh hole in an otherwise perfect flower... dining!

Mr. Lincoln... lovely red rose in my garden...

Thought I'd posted an earlier version of this a couple of months ago but just discovered I had not. Mr. Lincoln, one of the best of the Hybrid Tea roses, grows in my garden (it's a struggle because I'm very bad about doing what the roses need in this area) and is probably my favorite rose... both for the lovely, rich red color and the incredible fragrance... a fragrance so marvelous that one cut blossom can spread a lovely smell throughout the entire house!

But, I digress... in getting some of my images ready for my photography show (see sidebar at right) I've discovered minute flaws (white flecks on the petals of this rose, for example). So I've been working with Adobe Photoshop Elements to correct some of these minor defects and this is the result.

Fall brings the promise of spring to my Dogwood...

I started a "Dogwood Project" in the spring and posted daily photos of my dogwood on Flickr as the buds gradually opened, flowered fully and then faded away as the leaves appeared. But as spring turned to summer, other interests intervened as did a lot of travel and I neglected photographing my dogwood until recently when I noticed that the fall colors were turning the leaves... and buds promising spring beauty had already formed!

Face plant... Bumble-bee going after pollen in Aster...

Couldn't resist taking a few photos with my macro lens today... am so far behind everywhere that I had no business doing so! But fall is in the air, the asters are blooming and the bees are busy doing their thing...

Since I'm quite far behind with posts going back as far as my Australia and New Zealand trip in July/August, I will TRY to post more than one photo a day to this blog...

BUT no promises since I must also concentrate on choosing images and getting them printed and framed and all the other details that go with having a photography show at a local gallery in February, 2010... which will creep up on me before I know it I'm sure!!!!

Crabapples against a brilliant blue sky... Red Lodge, MT!

While wandering around Red Lodge with Mike's cousin Tom and his wife Helen, we saw this crab apple tree (at least I think that's what it is) and I couldn't resist capturing the red and green against the brilliant blue Montana sky.

Scenic Sawtooth Mountains reflected in Lake Stanley near Stanley, Idaho...

I've been remiss in posting of late... on our return from our western trip, a local Bethesda, MD gallery invited me to have a show of my photography in February, 2010. I'm alternately excited and totally stressed... excited about the honor of being invited and stressed about figuring out which photos, how to crop, how to print, etc. I have been going through everything I have trying to narrow down to 30 to 40 BESTS and have neglected taking new photos... except when we traveled Oct 1-5, 2009 for the Walkway Over the Hudson Bridge Opening ceremonies in Poughkeepsie, NY... there will be more on that on my vacation blog when I find a few moments but I haven't even finished the saga of our western trip on the vacation blog!

In the meantime, here's another view of the majestic Sawtooth Mountains reflected in Lake Stanley... looking at this photo makes me want to return to Stanley, Idaho and visit this lovely spot once again!