Summer Hummer

hummingbird

In the spring I put out the hummingbird feeder that I purchased last year, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the tiny birds. Weeks went by without a sighting. Friends of mine had been commenting on Facebook that they had yet to see anything at their feeders either, despite following the instructions on how often to change the sugar water solution. I wondered what was going on weather-wise that the birds were not making their way to St. Louis. Finally on July 17th I saw my first one. Now there are several who come to feed, including a much smaller juvenile.

Last Sunday I went to the Missouri Botanical Garden with someone from my Women in Focus group. It was a beautiful morning in St. Louis with a cooler temperature and low humidity. There was a nice breeze as well, which isn't necessarily a photographer's friend. We had a good time while she worked with me on going 100% manual with my camera settings to try and capture a water droplet. I can't say I was totally successful, but I learned some things about my camera so that was worthwhile. All the water lilies were in bloom, and I am a huge fan of those. We wanted to play around with our lens balls a bit, and that certainly resulted in a lot of strangers coming up to us to see what we were doing!

Missouri Botanical Garden

After grabbing lunch we drove over to Horseshoe Lake in Madison County, Illinois. I had never been there before, though I had seen a lot of photos on Facebook that were taken there. It is a nice lake, and many people were there fishing, having picnics or just taking walks along the lake. We even saw a woman walking her dog with a bow and arrow on her back! When we stopped to talk to her, she explains that she fishes with a bow and arrow. The arrow is attached to fishing line, and she reels it back in after each use. I never knew such a thing existed.

Horseshoe Lake

Friday there will be a camera crew at my house filming a show. Morbid Curiosity is a "made for TV series of short Horror/Drama stories" which air locally through Charter Communications. For this particular story they were looking for a Victorian home, and ours fit the bill. The first part of the show  is set in the 1920s, and that is the portion that will be filmed Friday. The second part is present day, and will be filmed in our back yard at a later date. There will be murders, ghosts and mass casualties! It will be very interesting to see the making of a show. And to watch my neighbors' expressions when a "For Sale" sign goes up in my front yard, albeit on a temporary basis. Hopefully all the ghosts will leave when the filming crew does. Stay tuned...