thank you . . .

Sue and Karenika!!

Sue for suggesting the 9TS and I head for Washington Oaks State Park and Karenika for her gently nudge to use my 50mm lens. Thank you both because I am so amazingly excited.

We headed up to the park after lunch. I had not been there since . . . maybe 1973 or 74 and the 9TS had never been. I had literally forgotten about it. But the 'rocks' were phenomenal. A treat for the soul. The 9TS and I played mountain goat on them. So much fun. But as exciting as that was, I'm going to skip over them for the moment and fast forward to the state gardens.

I really wanted to try my 50mm lens since Karenika has such lovely shots on her blog and shared that tidbit with me. We were a little early in the season to really see many blooms but we did see a group of people staring up into a tree. People with cameras. Cameras with big lenses. The ones so big you carry your camera by the handle on its lens. BIG.



You know we had to stop and look. Finally, after one sweet, sweet lady let me look through her tripoded lens, I could see what the flurry was all about.

This guy was hanging out with his kidlet.



Obviously, my shots are not the equivalent of hers and the rest of her camera club but I needed to try.

And so I got this:



and this:



and this:



Don't ask why there is a cactus up in the branches. I have no idea.

Finally, we pulled ourselves from the tree and went in search of flowers. I found this:



which became this:



and this:



and now this:



and finally this little critter:



and was a very happy camper.

So once more, thank you Sue and Karenika for a very nice afternoon!