Photo Mix

[One of my favorite necklaces. This was my mom's, but she let me have it years ago and I often get compliments on it.]
I'm back with another assortment of photos! I think this might catch me up, since I've rethought a few others that I had considered posting. No need. And it's a great time to get all caught up here now that a new month is upon us. I am kind of sad that June is over, but I love the feeling of starting fresh.

This morning I was re-thinking about how much I'd love to simplify my life, starting with my material things. There are so many things I have that I never/rarely use, and wouldn't even miss. But there are also feelings of obligation or memories attached to these items, so I have kept them and made things a little more complicated for myself in doing so. I don't know how to find the balance where I get rid of things without regret or having to re-buy it the next time I have company or something. So many of my posessions are there "just in case." But the accumulation starts to create clutter, and I struggle to keep up with housework as a result of all my stuff. There are too many dishes, papers to file, and hair and beauty products that do little to help in that department. And that's just the beginning.

I guess I don't have any solid conclusions or ideas on this, I'm just talking because the end of the month brought the topic to mind. :) Now for some pictures.

The other day I saw a lot of this going on down by the water. It's all very scandalous, but I went ahead and took a couple of photos because it's kind of interesting.


There are tons of fish in the lakes, and you can see them pretty well at certain times of the day. They range in size from pretty tiny to about a foot long (that I've seen). I guess this is a bluegill?

Not great pictures, but kind of interesting. This is one of the larger ones (10-12 inches). He just sat there a couple of inches below the surface of the water.

Actually they all do that. They just sit there, waiting for bugs or whatever. Sometimes you'll hear a little clicking noise from a fish grabbing a bug from above the surface, and other times a fish will kind of jump out of the water and create a little splash.

We had a bunch of rain recently, and I noticed tons of mushrooms coming up at work.

I also saw these baby squirrels at work! There were three, but one ran under the ivy before I got a photo.

The goslings are practically adults now, and they've gotten meaner. I already had to deal with the dad hissing at me when I walked by, but now they all hiss at me, the mallards and each other. Calm down! They are annoying me because I can't even walk within like ten feet (just to get by--I'm not even trying to get close to them, but the path is right there) before they are hissing at me. I've tried intimidating them by kind of jumping at them, but they come closer, so then I get scared and mad at them. These geese need to move back to Canada.

I couldn't get in close to any dragonflies, but I got some at a distance.

There are a lot of these, and I'd like to get in very close, but they are constantly on the move (as you can see). I was too slow here, but at least I got him in focus. This is the closest I've been able to get.

This looks like a dragonfly puppet.

Here are some more droplet photos I tried a couple of weeks ago. My second attempt didn't go as well, but I was able to try a couple of new things.

And finally, I went to the Seattle area last weekend and my friend and I went on a nature trail in Marymoor Park that was on the edge of Lake Sammamish (pictured). I don't know those people--we were just waiting for our turn to go to the end there and see some bird nests.

We saw several cute bunnies. For some reason I don't see them down here, but there are a bunch in the neighborhood where I stayed.

I showed this to some friends and they really liked seeing the detail, so I'm posting it here. I kept it fairly large on purpose. I had a great weekend! I love getting out of town and probably need to do it even more often. I tried not to make the weekend all about photography, though, so that's why I only have a few I want to show here. :)

I hope you're having a nice last day of June. I'll try to post a bit on my trip--I'm looking forward to getting plenty of photos of my nephieces!