EXHIBIT AT BOTANICAL GARDENS

We are still disorganized from our remodeling, but found time to go to an exhibit done by two of the photographers in my guy's new photography group. Chuck Murphy focuses on wildlife, including turtles, frogs, birds, and even snakes. Jena Johnson is an entomologist and focuses on--

You guessed it. Bugs.

This was the audience when we first got there.

And here is a corner of the display:

A closeup of an angry(??) bird:

Chuck did the presentation, to an audience that had grown so much chairs had to be added several times. (He joked that he made out-of-town family visit for support.) As he went into details about how he photographs his subjects, I was glad to learn they are all living creatures that were unharmed. If he catches them, he later releases them. Even the field mouse and snakes, all of which he relocated since they were in his yard!

And who could resist the cookies? They were an art in themselves! Yum!

PHOTO FUN

We're about to close on our house. Next week, as a matter of fact. Since the termite bond covered re-treating and repairing termite damage, all is fixed and we are good to go. So since we can't start on the work we want to do (replacing patio and bedroom French doors, remodelilng the bathroom, taking down wallpaper, et cetera), we've been kind of hanging around.

My guy got a new camera this past week so we went to the Georgia Botanical Gardens to try it out. He got some great pix, as usual.

There were several beautiful blue dragonflies and here's one on a pitcher plant:

Then he found some bees:

And when he leaned over to shoot a water lily, I couldn't resist taking a picture of my own. "Don't let me fall in," he said. Like I could stop him if he started to fall! And naturally my phone photo isn't nearly as sharp as the ones made with his new camera. But I thought it pretty entertaining!

I expect that once we close on this house, we won't have too much time for fun excursions for a while.

ARTS IN OUR NEW HOME

This is Lyndon House Art Center that we visited a few weeks back. Photography, painting, pottery, and other arts are taught and practiced here. My guy signed up for the photography group as he's anxious to find some friends to go out shooting with.

This is the view as we approached from the sidewalk on the street where it sits.

And this garden photo is taken from the side as we walk around to the left:

And going on around, here's the entrance to the actual art part:

The original house has a history but I won't go into it here. Suffice it to say that a lot of artifacts from the owners and some period furniture make it well worth touring. The artists' addition was thoughtfully planned and the entire structure is very impressive.

PS - My guy joined the association and we've already been to our first photography group meeting. I think he's going to like it here!

GEORGIA BOTANICAL GARDEN

Now that we are settling in, my guy is looking for places to photograph. We went this past week to the nearby Botanical Garden. Just a few pix:

At the entrance were several clusters of gardens including this water garden:

We went inside to a gift shop, then went through this greenhouse area before entering the actual garden:

Then once we were outside, there were acres of flowers. Here is a statue--called Peace--from one of the small area gardens:

Walking on up the path, we came to this vista where we could look down on all the plants:

And turning around, could look up:

So this gives you an idea of the place. These are not-so-great pictures from my phone, but the garden is extensive and we stayed maybe an hour. My guy is eager to get back with his good camera and tripod and spend the day.

It appears there will be lots of photo opportunities in our new home.

PHOTO SHOW AT ART GALLERY

My guy had some pix in the gallery show of black and white photographs. They had a reception Saturday night so we took a few pictures while we were there.

This guy looks entranced with the shrimp boat photograph. Wonder if it was his!

This is a shot of some of the attendees. You can't see it very well, but my guy's photo of a dragonfly is on the top left of the wall facing us.

These are, I believe some of the organizers.

As a side note: One of the organizers was coming in as someone was walking out with six photographs he'd bought. The organizer had to plead with him to leave the pictures up at least till Monday. The buyer wanted them right away!

But sales is what they're after, so it was a good night!

THE ALLIGATOR FARM

My guy is a photographer so we visit The Alligator Farm in St. Augustine FL frequently during their rookery season of April, May and June. Yesterday we went down for the first time this year. The birds were already there. Some were so close you could reach out and touch them.

  This first picture shows one of the trees with its birds.

This is an egret displaying. For those of you who, like me, are non-birders, I believe it means he's puffing up his feathers, trying to make himself as attractive as possible to the opposite sex so he can nab a mate. Good luck with that, fellow!

And here's a favorite. I've never seen such vivid colors on a roseate spoonbill. A couple of them were nesting in a tree about ten feet from us. Beautiful!

We couldn't leave without a picture of alligators. These are American albinos. They looked like statues when I first went by, then one finally moved and stepped on the other's snout. Thought I was gonna see a battle but they both went back to sleep.

We'll be going back in a few weeks. My guy likes to catch the birds nesting, then see the little babies pop out of the nests, then follow them as teenagers. He'll be busy till probably the first part of June.