Yesterday my Mom’s friend John lent us his *new* John Deere riding lawn mower Series 100 (I didn’t catch the model but I think it’s the one pictured here). Let me tell you, this is one very *sweet* machine. I’ve been using my Dad’s older Sears Craftsman riding lawn mower, and by the time I was done with my Mom’s lawn (which is huge) my whole body ached such that I couldn’t even go to the gym the next day. Using the John Deere mower yesterday was like riding on a cloud and I could turn it with one finger if I wanted to. It’s much more powerful, uses less gas (important nowadays, huh!), has a wider mowing bed and turns better (not on a dime, but not wide either). We also used the mulch feature, so there weren’t piles of mown grass all over.
How about you, what is your preferred mower? I’m totally sold on John Deere now. Thanks to my Mom’s friend, who was very generous in lending me his new machine - how many people would do that nowadays?
I can see what kind of a summer we’re going to have. Everything so far is getting rained out. Today we had plans to hike at Watkins Glen State Park, and it was raining when we woke up, so we changed our plans to the afternoon at Letchworth State Park. And it was raining at noon, so we changed our plans to going to the big Barnes & Noble (two-story, tons of books) and Aladdin’s for dinner. Wouldn’t you know, while we were in Barnes & Noble the sun came out and it got really humid. So after we got done in Barnes & Noble (we came out with a long list of books on our wish list), we went to the Erie Canal Park near Aladdin’s and watched the birds and people.
We saw tons of ducks, some preening:
And we saw pigeons walking back and forth. Female pigeons looking for food, male pigeons displaying. And then we saw this poor white pigeon, displaying his arse off, and the female appearing to ignore him:
Gotta get me that girl:
Hey, come on, LOOK AT ME, I’m beautiful! We’ll make beautiful babies!
Poor male bird. He didn’t get what he was after, at least while we were sitting there.
The boat Mary Jemison was directly in my line of sight from where I sat at dinner.
Cruising on the Erie Canal really doesn’t do much for me. I’d much rather cruise on one of the Finger Lakes. I’ve done both, and believe me, lake cruising is much more interesting! Anyway, I sure hope all of my hiking plans don’t get rained out this summer!
Today the Onondaga Historical Association had a picnic for its volunteers held at the Beaver Lake Nature Center.
It was very nice, except it rained cats and dogs, no kidding. A tour guide came to get us at 3:00 for a walk in the woods and the sun was out for a few minutes, but then it poured again, so I don’t have much in the way of outdoor photos, even though this is a really cool place. So here’s some indoor photos, even though I don’t like the thoughts of dead, stuffed birds and animals, they’re there so here’s some of them.
Belted Kingfisher. I would love to see one of these in real life!
Really cool display of birdie eggs, part 1
Really cool display of birdie eggs, part 2
Pileated Woodpecker. Nice to see up close to really see how big it is.
Touchy feely table, part 1
Touchy feely table, part 2
During the three seconds that it wasn’t raining, I captured some photos from their herb gardens.
I had intentions of taking many more photos to finally make a decent blog post, but the weather had other ideas!
I’ve walked by my Mother’s and my own yarrow plants a million times, and have only noticed their beautiful color and wonderful smell:
Taken in summer 2006
But a couple of weeks ago my Mother asked me if I’d ever really looked closely at yarrow flowers. I haven’t - duh! They are *really* intense!
This is my second attempt at getting this macro, and it’s still not the best. I’ll keep trying. Or maybe I need a DSLR!! Hmmmm. . .
I am so sad for Tasha Tudor’s family today as she passed away today. My Mom and I went to see her in Reading, PA a while ago and she was a very wonderful storyteller and artist. Too bad this was before I had video on my camera, because what we saw was priceless. If you don’t know who I’m talking about, please check out her website here.
Time goes so fast, I can’t believe I haven’t updated my blog in a while. Some iris from last week
I totally love iris
I love watching them grow and unfurl their petals
To show us their beautiful colors
And if you look closely, they actually sparkle
And then there are poppies
Another flower I absolutely love. The petals are so soft and flimsy, and their centers are so cool
And then there’s my Mom’s kitty, who is shedding enough fur for another whole cat right now. Pet her and your hand is full of fur
She’s still a little sweety, and it’s still very hard to capture a good photo of her!
OMG the little boy at work that I mention quite frequently had the *cutest* little outfit on. Are you ready for this?
When I entered the room I discovered him on the floor. He’s always a little shy at first:
And I told him I loved his outfit and could he please stand up so I could take his photo, and he got all into it!
Besides the smile and general cuteness of this little boy, the cutest part is, are you ready for this? It’s way too cute!
Doesn’t this go off the cuteness scale? Not only the outfit, but the fact he actually posed soooo cute, too! P.S. And yes, I’ve mentioned previously that I love his little hands, aren’t they just the sweetest?
That just make me want to go awwwwwwwww. . .
4 cute little robin babies in a shrub at work.
Awwwww, aren’t they the cutest little beings?
