Who We Are

Sunday, November 03, 2013

Serene Scenery Sunday

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me, Zim, here with Serene Scenery Sunday.  On Wednesday, Dad and I kept an eye on the girls so Mom could go on a photo shoot at Tuttle Creek State Park with her birding buddy Beth.  It turned out to be more of a friendly foliage foray, with a couple bird surprises thrown in.  Anyway, she shot close to half a million photos and uploaded the best ones to this set on FlickR.  I chose the ones I liked best from there - but still had a hard time limiting the number of shots.  I have a lot for you, so I'll cut the chit-chat way back and let you slip into the Zen of Zim Zone.  Ready?

They saw lots of yellow:

IMG_9450Tree

And lots of red:

IMG_9451SumacSeedPods
Sumac seed pods

This tree was growing right out of some rocks:

IMG_9452TreeInRocks
Click here for a close-up of the rocks and trunk

It was foggy and rainy, so they got some cool "atmosphere" photos:

IMG_9481FieldTreeFog

The fog was so thick coming over the dam, you couldn't see all the way across!

IMG_9505FogOverDam
Facing WSW down 18 toward the dam

The road into the park:

IMG_9508RiverPondRoad

Bittersweet and Rough-leaf Dogwood teaming up for quite the color punch:

IMG_9513BittersweetAndDogwood

Another foggy field:

IMG_9518TreeFieldFog

Here's a view looking up into the canyon:

IMG_9533CanyonView

When they were on the road above the canyon, they saw some Ring-Neck Ducks down in the water! Mom didn't want to hike through the mud to get closer (I know - crazy, right? I would have jumped at the chance!) but she was thrilled to see one of our migratory birds back and to get a foggy shot of them. (Click here.)

Mom is always thrilled at the sight of a Great Blue Heron and caught this guy in flight:

IMG_9537GreatBlueHeron

In addition to all the super-saturated colors, Mom also loved seeing vignettes like this:

IMG_9543IllinoisBundleFlowerPods
Illinois Bundle Flower pods and grasses

Beautiful, isn't it?

Here's a bank along the River Pond:

IMG_9553RiverPondLeaves

This hawk was watching over things very carefully:

IMG_9568Hawk

A Yellow-Shafted Flicker posed for Mom:

IMG_9575YellowShaftedFlicker

Mom took several pix of one of her favorite inlets at the River Pond.

IMG_9579RiverPondInlet

IMG_9581RiverPondInlet

IMG_9588RiverPondInlet

This American Sycamore Tree has HUGE leaves:

IMG_9593AmericanSycamore

And finally, the pièce de résistance!  Guess who's back in town?

IMG_9548BaldEagle
American Bald Eagle

THE BALD EAGLES!  That was the best shot Mom could get that day, but now that they're back, there will be lots more photo ops!

Thanks for letting me share Mom's foggy pix with you; we thought they'd help you find a little serenity.  Mom said her get-away to Tuttle Creek helped her find her Zen of Zim Zone -- but I could tell she was really happy to get home and enter the REAL Zim Zone!  I hope our photos helped make your day a little more peaceful!

Play bows,
Zim

11 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:03 PM

    Zim, your mom took wonderful pictures. It easy to find the zen zone. Congratulations regarding your new sister, Maggie. Nana and I have had fun reading about her.

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  2. Hi Zim, I am now officially jealous of all the beauty in your area. I would love to go hiking, picture taking and hanging out with her-as well as sewing. What beautiful shots she got-I love the reds. I'm hoping that our Bald Eagles that winter here will soon appear. Hope you have a wonderful day today.
    Hugs and wags, Noreen & Hunter

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  3. Fog always helps with serenity! The colors are beautiful, but Zim, I'm sure you're right - you bring your mom way more serenity!

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  4. Those were all beautiful but she sure saved the best for last. We had a wind storm yesterday so there are no more leaves on the trees. Now mom and dad have some work to do getting them off the lawn.

    Millie & Walter

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  5. Oh Zimm....those were the most relaxing pictures for us EVER!!

    Our Mama got WAY excited when she got to the last one though, she has been waiting to see bald eagles ever since we moved to Northern Cali....and hasn't seen one yet, she was so happy to at least see someone else got a pretty picture of one!

    Thanks for sharing!
    Smileys!
    Dory and her Bro's

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  6. Beautiful pictures!
    I love all of them!
    I hope you all had a great weekend!
    Kisses and hugs
    Lorenza

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  7. Mom did an extraordinary job capturing fall. Those colors are beautiful
    Lily

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  8. Amazing beautiful color and the birds are so peaceful. Thank you for sharing the beauty.

    Loveys Sasha

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  9. Despite the fog they are great. Love the yellows and purples. Have a marvellous Monday.
    Best wishes Molly

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  10. Oh my goodness! Each picture is more beautiful than the last one! We are feeling very serene on Monday!

    Love ya lots♥
    Mitch and Molly

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  11. Stunning colours, thanks for sharing Kiersten :)

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