Male Cardinal and Autumn Bokeh

Just before the death of flowers,

And before they are buried in snow,

There comes a festival season

When nature is all aglow.

- Author Unknown

Male Cardinal - 09-25-11- Deerfield Trail - Blacksburg, VA

Wasp - Discovery in a Dangerous Spot

The greatest discoveries have come from people who have looked at a standard situation and seen it differently.

~ Ira Erwin

I am calling this a wasp - but the truth is - I really don't know what this is. ID Help is appreciated.

A Little About my Camera and Lenses:

My Camera: Nikon D7000

My Lenses: Nikon 70-300mm f4.5/5.6G ED IF AF-S VR Nikkor Zoom Lens

and Nikon 105mm f2.8G ED-IF AF-S Micro Nikkor Lens

Carolina Wren in the Autumn Forest

Forests, lakes, and rivers, clouds and winds, stars and flowers, stupendous glaciers and crystal snowflakes - every form of animate or inanimate existence, leaves its impress upon the soul of man.

~ Orison Swett Marden

I always hear these little wrens before I see them. They have such a beautiful voice.

Click HERE to hear it.

Squirrel on a Branch - Happiness on Your Heels

Everyone chases after happiness, not noticing that happiness is right at their heels.

~ Bertolt Brecht

Squirrel from my walk - 09-24-11 - Deerfield Trail - Blacksburg, VA

My happiest moments are spent outside - breathing deeply of nature.

And A Big SHOUT OUT to SNAPPY DI - Click HERE to see the wonderful gift I won.

Thanks Snappy Di! I LOVE it!

Butterfly Chrysalis

Kiss your life. Accept it, just as it is. Today. Now. So that those moments of happiness you're waiting for don't pass you by.

~Unknown

What a thrilling find! Seen on my walk 09-24-11 - Gateway Trail - Blacksburg, VA

Delicate Pink

Never say there is nothing beautiful in the world anymore. There is always something to make you wonder in the shape of a tree, the trembling of a leaf.

~Albert Schweitzer

Green Shield Bug - The Climb

Always continue the climb. It is possible for you to do whatever you choose, if you first get to know who you are and are willing to work with a power that is greater than ourselves to do it.

~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Droplet Duo

Each moment in time we have it all, even when we think we don't.

~ Melody Beattie

Hummingbird Dance

On with the dance! Let joy be unconfined.

~Lord Byron

They weren't really dancing but it sure was FUN to watch.

Crafted By Nature

The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity... and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.

~ William Blake

Green Heron and His Reflection

Once you really commence to see things, then you really commence to feel things.

- Edward Steichen

Green Heron - 09-17-11 - Izaak Walton Park - Christiansburg, VA

Lessons from the Journey

The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.

~Don Williams, Jr.

Hummingbird in the Flowers

For today and its blessings, I owe the world an attitude of gratitude.

~Unknown

Hummingbird see on my walk today - 09-17-11 - Izaak Walton Park

Christiansburg, VA

Ladybug and Nature's "Bling"

Dreams come true; without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them.

John Updike

Can you tell I LOVE Ladybugs?! I keep searching (and clicking away) for that perfect ladybug shot. I haven't got it yet - but I'll keep trying - and dreaming of that perfect shot.

Cardinal - Profile in Red

Focus on your potential instead of your limitations.

~Alan Loy McGinnis

Ladybug - Strolling Along The Lace

If your mind isn't clouded by unnecessary things,

This is the best season of your life.

- Wu-Men

Ladybug strolling along the aging Queen Anne's Lace

God Bless America

While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,

Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free,

Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,

As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer.

God bless America,

Land that I love.

Stand beside her, and guide her

Through the night with a light from above.

From the mountains, to the prairies,

To the oceans, white with foam

God bless America, My home sweet home

God bless America, My home sweet home.

~Irving Berlin

One Great Brotherhood

Above all things let us never forget that mankind constitutes one great brotherhood; all born to encounter suffering and sorrow, and therefore bound to sympathize with each other

~Albert Pike

Autumn Leaf found on my walk - 09-04-11- Pandapas Pond - Blacksburg Virginia

Mockingbird - Berry Bonanza

Life is a field of unlimited possibilities. ~Deepak Chopra

Monarch Caterpillar - Seen through the Leaf

Monarch Caterpillar seen through the Leaf - Munching on the Milkweed

~ A Closer Look ~

The greatest quest in life is to reach one's potential. ~Mychal Wynn

Bee covered in Pollen

~Such AMAZING Creatures~

~A Closer Look~

I know no subject more elevating, more amazing, more ready to the poetical enthusiasm, the philosophical reflection, and the moral sentiment than the works of nature. Where can we meet such variety, such beauty, such magnificence?

~James Thomson

Caterpillar - Woolly White Wonder

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.

~Albert Einstein

This caterpillar seen 09-03-11 - Pandapas Pond - Blacksburg Virginia

Eastern Newt aka Red-spotted Newt

Keep close to Nature's heart...and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.

~John Muir

My first encounter with a Newt on land Seen 09-04-11

Gateway Trail, Blacksburg Virginia

More info on this Newt found on Wikipedia - Here

Common Buckeye Butterfly

Like a great poet, Nature knows how to produce the greatest effects with the most limited means.

~Heinrich Heine

Tufted Titmouse Posing for Me

Let the world know you as you are, not as you think you should be, because sooner or later, if you are posing, you will forget the pose, and then where are you?

~Fanny Brice

Bunny Rabbit - Listen

If you do not express your own original ideas, if you do not listen to your own being, then you will have betrayed yourself.

-Dr. Rollo May