Happy Monday!

Wishing everyone a great day and a happy new week!

"Live a life more traveled."

A view of the Three Sisters swoopy peaks and Sybil Head on the Dingle Peninsula.

"Life is short, take the trip."

 "We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone."

Comments off, enjoy your day!

Saturday's Critters # 506

  Welcome to Saturday's Critters!

Hello and happy Saturday!

 If you love all God's creatures like I do and also like to blog about them and take critter photos this is where you can share your critter post. Link up your post and share your critters, join in with my critter party ! You can share any kind of critters the real ones, pretend ones, statues and paintings, a new or old post!

I think I will be forever behind sharing photos, these are from our backyard, morning walks at the bike trail, local parks or on the local fire roads and to the reservoir. 

1. Hashawha Nature Center, one of my favorite local parks. They have a great trail system, going by lakes, streams and large fields. On this day hubby and I saw a cute young River Otter, it saw us and went into hiding so no photos. Below: Slider Turtle, Red-winged Blackbird, Eastern Kingbird, possible Rat Snake, another turtle, Song Sparrow, Eastern Bluebird, Mourning Dove, waterlilies, lake and trail and some Queen Anne's Lace. 

2. A pretty Red-winged Blackbird perched on a nearby bush.  They were very vocal in this one area. 

3. A Great Blue Heron, common to see at our local reservoir.  

4. Another morning walk to the lake, it is a short walk just down our street to the fire road trail and to the lake.  On this day, we saw the usual Great Blue Heron and Canada Geese, a Mourning Dove was standing on one of the rocks next to lake, a view of the lake and a Belted Kingfisher in the usual spot. 

5. We watched this Green Heron fishing, it found a small fish you can see on the bottom right photo. 

6. I am seeing 4-5 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds zooming around my yard and deck.  I caught this one sitting on the feeder, looks like a female. 

7. Backyard birds, the female Eastern Bluebird, Cottontail bunny, Fritillary Butterflies and a Blue Jay. We had something sad happen with the Bluebird house and nest, I was happy to hear the babies inside making noises one day and just a few hours later I look out the window and see a rat snake sticking it's head out of the nest box. We made the snake leave the box but it was too late to save the babies. 

8. These images are from our walk on the local NCR bike trail, in the mosaic are photos of the trail, a Belted Kingfisher, Acadian Flycatcher, Gray Catbird, Red Shouldered Hawk, Song Sparrow, Box turtle, Eastern Phoebe. 

9. Red Shouldered Hawk, there are a couple of Tree Swallows that kept dive bombing the hawk.  

10. The Red-shouldered Hawk did not seem amused at the dive bombing Tree Swallows , I caught 2 blurry Tree Swallows flying at the hawk's head. 

I hope you enjoyed my birds and critter photos. 

Thank you for sharing your critters and post!

Thanks to all my visitors and for your past and present comments. Stop back to see any replies to your comments. I appreciate everyone who loves and respects wildlife. Thank you for linking up a critter post.

Here is my linky:

I am linking up to Heidrun's Mosaic Monday  I hope you can stop by and visit Heidrun and check out the Mosaic Monday post. 

Happy Monday!

Wishing everyone a great day and a happy new week!

Torc Waterfall, Killarney National Park, Ireland May 2023

" Listen to music played by nature."

"The earth has it's music, for those who will listen."

 "We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone."

Comments off, enjoy your day!

Saturday's Critters # 505

Welcome to Saturday's Critters!

Hello and happy Saturday!

 If you love all God's creatures like I do and also like to blog about them and take critter photos this is where you can share your critter post. Link up your post and share your critters, join in with my critter party ! You can share any kind of critters the real ones, pretend ones, statues and paintings, a new or old post!

I still have days of Ireland trip photos , lots of birds and critters to share. 

1. May 12th, Dingle Peninsula, Top row are the Pied Wagtail, Blue Tit, European Shag, Northern Gannet. Bottom row: Northern Fulmar, Eurasian Magpie perched on a sheep, Hooded Crow and a Grey Heron.

2.   The Northern Gannet is seen off the Dingle coastline. We were at Slea Head Drive when this Gannet flew by. 

3.  These rocks were a nice spot for the European Shag to hang out. 

4.    I get easily distracted by birds, especially when this European Magpie that landed on this sheep.

5.   Dingle farm animals are the goat, sheep, donkey, hog, sheep dog, lamb, cow, sheep with lambs, cows and horses. 

6.    One girl from our tour group went on a horse trail ride up in the mountains. We dropped off the rider at the horse farm for her trail ride. They were pretty horses, many saddled up and ready for a ride. 

7.  I thought these horses were beautiful, they were very big. These Irish horses are called Galineers Cob (thanks to YAM) or Gypsy Vanners. 

8.    Back in Dingle, I found a Grey Heron by the marina.

Thank you for sharing your critters and post!

Thanks to all my visitors and for your past and present comments. Stop back to see any replies to your comments. I appreciate everyone who loves and respects wildlife. Thank you for linking up a critter post.

Here is my linky:

I am linking up to Heidrun's Mosaic Monday  I hope you can stop by and visit Heidrun and check out the Mosaic Monday post. 

Happy Monday!

Wishing everyone a great day and a happy new week!

The Dun Chaoin Pier was a beautiful view. A stop on the Slea Head Drive.

"The more grateful I am, the more beauty I see." Mary Davis

"To live will be an awfully big adventure."

 "We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone."

Comments off, enjoy your day!

Saturday's Critters # 504

  Welcome to Saturday's Critters!

Hello and happy Saturday!

 If you love all God's creatures like I do and also like to blog about them and take critter photos this is where you can share your critter post. Link up your post and share your critters, join in with my critter party ! You can share any kind of critters the real ones, pretend ones, statues and paintings, a new or old post!

Still behind sharing outings and photos, back on June 28-29th hubby and I visited the Shenandoah National Park, we were able to stay in one of the Big Meadows Cabins. It is nice to be right in the park early in the morning, It is a great time to see the early birds and lots of deer. 

Prayers for the people and first responders in Maui!

1. Below deer seen from our hike on the Limberlost Trail, Eastern Bluebird were seen at the Big Meadows.  Middle row: Song Sparrow, Indigo Bunting, Eastern Phoebe, cute fawn. Bottom Row: Eastern Towhee, male and female American Redstart and an Ovenbird with 2 juveniles. 

2.   This deer walked towards us while we were hiking on the Limberlost Trail. 

3. A female Eastern Bluebird  was seen from the Big Meadows trails. 

4.  At a distance we thought the red spots on this plant were berries but a closer looks the red spots were ladybugs. 

5. Adult Ovenbird is feeding one of it's young, I noticed 4-5 of these birds hopping around on the ground looking for food. 

6. The next morning before breakfast at the Big Meadows Lodge we took a short ride on the Skyline Drive. Looking for critters and birds.

Top row is a Cedar Waxwing, a family of deer, two bunnies. Middle row: more deer, Dark-eyed Junco, Hooded Warbler, White-breasted Nuthatch, Scarlet Tanager in tree, Chestnut-sided Warbler, adult Black and White Warbler feeding young and a Scarlet Tanger on the ground.

7.  There was an early morning fog in the park, we were seeing a lot of deer this morning.  

8.  After breakfast and checking out of the lodge we slowly started home with a morning walk on the Limberlost Trail. It is a great trail for seeing the birds. I luck out seeing the Hooded Warbler. 

9.   The Black and White Warbler with it's young. 

10.  The Scarlet Tanager male was on the trail feeding another bird when we got close.

11.  Now we are back on the Skyline Drive heading out the park, we made a stop at an overlook when this Chestnut-sided Warbler starting singing in a nearby tree. 

12. Below are some of the wildflowers we saw in the park along the Skyline Drive and at the Big Meadows. 

13.  The Canadian Wildfires were causing hazy looking skies all the way down to Virginia and the Shenandoah National Park. The moon in the bottom left looked clearer than the sun that was setting. 

I hope you enjoyed our visit to the park, the deer and birds, the skies and wildflowers. 

Thank you for sharing your critters and post!

Thanks to all my visitors and for your past and present comments. Stop back to see any replies to your comments. I appreciate everyone who loves and respects wildlife. Thank you for linking up a critter post.

Here is my linky:

I am linking up to Heidrun's Mosaic Monday  I hope you can stop by and visit Heidrun and check out the Mosaic Monday post. 

Thankful and Simple Pleasures

 "All is well, that's my new philosophy."

On Monday Aug 7th we had a bad storm, our power went off, cable and internet was out. Our neighborhood had many trees come down blocking the roads. Luckily nothing fell on our house, one tree in our yard snapped off at the top and fell on one of our rhododendron bushes. I am thankful all is well now. Power came back on Aug 9th and the Cable was back on early morning Aug 10th. 

I am thankful we made it home safely from our visit with our grandchildren. It was a scary ride, high winds and heavy rain, we had to take many detours due to blocked roads and trees down.

I am thankful for the road crews, the crew of workers on the power lines and cable lines. I am thankful for my hubby, working on keeping our generator running. 

Also, I am thankful my doctor prescribed Doxycycline after being diagnosed with Lyme Disease. A lot of my symptoms are gone now.

I am thankful for calm and peaceful days.

I am thankful all is well!  I hope you are well too. 


Live simple and be happy!  😊 Spread joy & happiness!

Happy Monday!

Wishing everyone a great day and a happy new week!

"Live each day like it was your last"

Ireland May 2023

"Life is like a road trip, enjoy each day and don't carry too much baggage."

"We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone."

Comments off, enjoy your day!

Saturday's Critters # 503

 Welcome to Saturday's Critters!

Hello and happy Saturday!

 If you love all God's creatures like I do and also like to blog about them and take critter photos this is where you can share your critter post. Link up your post and share your critters, join in with my critter party ! You can share any kind of critters the real ones, pretend ones, statues and paintings, a new or old post!

I am sharing some more of our Ireland photos. On May 11th we visited the Cliffs of Moher and we also went to a private sheep farm.

1. My mosaic images are various views of the Cliffs of Moher. We were able to spend a few hours walking the cliffs, checking out the tower and the visitor center. 

Click on images for larger viewing.

2. The Razorbills one of the many sea birds on the Cliffs of Moher. The Razorbills a type of Auk, they are white and black and there is a white line on the face and bill. 

3. The Black-legged Kittiwake also seen in high numbers on the cliffs. They are white with gray wings, black legs and a yellow bill.

4. The Northern Fulmar was also seen on the cliffs, they are gray and white with a pale yellow thick bill. 

5. The cliff walls were covered with sea birds, I believe these are Common Murre. The Common Murre or Common Guillemot is a black and white sea bird.  They have a thin dark pointed bill. 

6. I wished my camera was able to zoom in closers to all those tiny dots. There must have been thousands of sea birds on this sea stack. 

7. Later on the same day we visited a private working sheep farm. It was neat to see the dogs herding the sheep. Hubby was able to bottle feed one of the lambs. The donkeys, dogs and sheep all seemed very friendly.  

8. Lambs being bottle fed, hubby's hand is in the front wearing his gloves. 

9.  The sheep with their farmer's colors.

10. The herding dogs seem to run with smiles on their faces, they love their jobs. 

11. The herding dog is waiting for instructions. 

12. The dog at work moving the sheep. 

13. Time to pet the cute donkeys. 

14. Some of the farm with a view of the bay, some fiber art using the sheep's wool, an old caravan,  a sample of sheared sheep's wool. The lambs are adorable, a closeup of the sheep black faces, some penned sheep and the lambs inside waiting for their bottles. 

Thank you for sharing your critters and post!

Thanks to all my visitors and for your past and present comments. Stop back to see any replies to your comments. I appreciate everyone who loves and respects wildlife. Thank you for linking up a critter post.

Here is my linky:

I am linking up to Heidrun's Mosaic Monday  I hope you can stop by and visit Heidrun and check out the Mosaic Monday post.