Well, what do we have here?

I very nearly missed the Greed Dude (Katydid) in the pot of salvia by the back door! Hard to think that a bright green, rather large insect can blend into a bunch of bright red flowers...

This is probably the last shot you'll see from the rental macro as I have to return it tomorrow. (With a little tear in my eye...) I won't be making any decisions on whether to purchase one until I get back from vacation next month. Odds are heavily towards it, but I need a "cooling off" period. This was taken using the D90 and without a monopod - I was pretty happy with how well the lens performs on that camera body. Easier to handhold than when it was on the D600 body.

Hubs left this morning, which left me feeling a bit sad and out of sorts. It's not going to be a particularly fun trip for him, as both of his parents are in declining health.

As always, therapy for me is going out with a camera which is just what I did. I was able to get out for a short bit this morning, then again this afternoon. Good for my soul. And, I got some interesting shots, 7 of which are posted HERE on Flickr. One of the highlights of the day was seeing a very tiny spider shedding it's exoskeleton, something I have never seen before. Very, very cool.

My runner up for today was Scar, the garden chippie who I am going to have to rename "Scar-lette" because she appears to be pregnant! This is the chipmunk who was viciously attacked by one of the neighbor's cats while I was standing 10 feet away. Since then, she doesn't come out of her garden burrow when I am out - but today she ventured out and took peanuts that I left on the ledge for her. She's got a wound on one of her hind legs (no doubt from the attack) but she seems to be very mobile so I won't attempt to trap her. When I first saw her on the patio today, she was mixing it up with one of the hillside chippies - a big chase all over the patio before the invader ran off. That's my girl!

Tomorrow my last walk of the summer with my nature group - we are off to Allamuchy State Park where we hope to see some fall warblers and other migrants. I will probably try to tote Big Daddy along because I'm sure if I don't, we'll see an albatross or a flamingo or something. :)

Hope everyone is having a good week!

xxoo
Debbi