...this bud's for you!

...or so she seemed to be saying. I was having a blip-draught today. It is hotter than hell outside and the birds are all hiding (except the hummers) and not even the bugs were coming out to play. I was despairing of anything interesting and I'm always a little afraid to do a flower because there are so many extraordinary flower shots here. Maybe one of the cats? Phoebe gave me her best inscrutible look while Rocket gave me his thoughtful look. But if I blipped one and not the other ... well, you know how that ends.

So, back out into the sweltering heat I went with my backup camrea, my trusty 18-200 Nikkor lens and my NEW close up filters (Poloriod, slightly better glass than the Zeikos I've been using). I should mention that there is a "nice" breeze blowing - all that does is feel like a slap in the face with a wet towel. The humidity today is a pig.

Anyway, back to the story (yes, I know, it's not much of a story, but try to stay with me...) I was going to try for an interesting angle on the zinnia when I spotted it - a ladybug (or ladybird for those across the pond)! I love these little bugs, always have. And, Vodkaman, if you tell me they nip, I'm going to slit my wrists! But I digress. This little polka dotted marvel allowed me to take about 100 shots, at least 80 of which were blurry and this was one of my 5 favorites. Focus isn't perfect, but I like the zinnia bud in the frame. If you want to see a few other shots, they are on Flickr.
At the Edge of the World

Wings aloft!

Floating (my second favorite of the day)

I also got an interesting shot of a black waspy thing with an insect in its jaws. When I took the picture, I thought it had some dried grass in its mouth for a nest - it wasn't until I got the shot up on the my screen that I saw that it wasn't grass at all - it was lunch. I wish it was in better focus, but you can get the gist of it HERE

Thank you for all the hearts, stars and comments on my soggy hummer yesterday - I'm glad you liked that one as much as I did! I've never seen a hummingbird that wet before ... ever. It didn't slow her down one bit, either. Anyway, she made it to the front page of Spotlight today, so thank you all very much for sending her there.

The heat is supposed to break tomorrow, so I hope to get out to Kittatinny for a few hours...In the meantime, Happy Tuesday, Blippers!