The Moo Crew ;D

As Saturday was drawing close to an end, I went on a barn hunt. Instead, came back with a few pairs of "udderly" curious eyes staring back at moi.

Standing guard?? ;D

Bird Watching at Lake Okeechobee

"Ahhh!!! The bliss of solitude"

Three's a crowd??? Love the way they seem to be saying "Look there!!" :)

Red Heads ;D

This summer, my husband's journalist cousin was down from UK to soak in the Florida sun. An avid reader of the award-winning works of Miami Herald's Carl Hiaasen on South Florida's unchecked development and its effects on Everglades' ecosystem, he insisted we take him to Lake Okeechobee. This summer was one of the driest here and Lake showed the damage done by the intense summer and insatiable greed of man. The second largest fresh water lake in the country showed one of the record low water levels while I am assuming that grass on golf courses glistened. An embarrassment of riches??? It was on our way back from lake, when we met this red head. I was busy admiring her till her partner came towards me in what was clearly an aggressive stance, almost screaming, "leave us alone, will ya?".......I captured them on my lens and scooted :)

Update: The red heads are sandhill cranes.

Dog Day Afternoon!

Dog Day Afternoon!

Say Hello to Cinnamon! She's no ordinary dog and she isn’t just good at cuddling, she’s a life saver too. Met her and her owner a few afternoons ago and the lady had some stories to tell.

The faithful canine is trained to take care of the deaf and has been a companion to her owner who has hearing impairments, for the last 13 years of her life. The dog's aging now and it was so evident. It's a quiet dog and rested almost all the time we were there. 13 years for a dog is equivalent to almost 75 years of human life. Cinnamon's a grand old lady, really!!! And all through these 13 years, Cinnamon has come to her owner's rescue several times apart from helping her through her daily life. As she told us, "Whenever I have a bad day, she always delivers" :)

I have never owned a pet though I always badly wanted to ....right from a bunny to a pup, every summer vacations we (that's my brother and I) demanded one but in vain. I hope to own a houseful of them some day. :) If you own a four legged friend, don't forget to give her a belly rub tonight!

PS: I wanted this pic in Black and White but the reason for Cinnamon being named so would have been lost, so I retained the color.

A man's best friend.

The languid summers are here and now that textbooks have been done with and pushed to some remote corner of the shelf, my study corner de-cluttered, and teetering pile of papers put away for recycling....I seem to have so much more time on hands to stop and smell the proverbial rose. And if weather fairies continue to be as benevolent as they have been since Sunday evening showers, I get to stay outdoors longer and shoot to my heart's content. :)

This shot was taken a few Sundays ago when on our way to St. Petersburg (Florida's own St Pete's ..am not heading to Russia yet :D)we spotted this gentleman stopping by the highway as his car began to sputter midway. His canine friend does seem concerned, if you look closely. I wish I spotted them a few micro-seconds earlier than I did and this shot could have been so much better. I like it, nevertheless. :)

Fly like a bird!!!

These sea gulls were desperately trying to fly against the wind. In vain. Despite failing a zillion of times, they'd make a collective effort, every few minutes. Persistence!!! They'd shiver, fly a few feet, fail and give it a shot all over again.

I always get this yearning to fly when I see blue skies or birds in flight or even those undulating sea-waves...............For some strange reason the pic reminds me of Maya Angelou's words. Its beautiful, the way she's expressed the inherent desire for freedom in a living, breathing soul...........

The free bird leaps on the back of the win

and floats downstream till the current ends

and dips his wings in the orange sun rays

and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage

can seldom see through his bars of rage

his wings are clipped and his feet are tied

so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with fearful trill

of the things unknown but longed for still

and is tune is heard on the distant hill

for the caged bird sings of freedom.

The free bird thinks of another breeze

and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees

and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn

and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams

his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream

his wings are clipped and his feet are tied

so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill

of things unknown but longed for still

and his tune is heard on the distant hill

for the caged bird sings of freedom.

Mom's the wor(l)d! :)

.......That's the second time am using the title......the last time I did was for Mother's Day : http://mykodak.blogspot.com/2006/05/moms-world.html I must have almost forgotten about this pic as it was shot aeons ago when this camera was newly acquired......... The adorable 6-weeks old Tamani (that means "hope" in Swahili) was the town's darling.................Every afternoon he'd come out for a coupla hours to play in the sun and for public-viewing and we'd all go sighhhhh!!! It was such a wad of fun to see him playing in the sand and tho' it had its aunts and uncles around, it wud never leave his mom's side, nor would she move more than a few inches away from him ever!!!! :) I have a coupla more shots of him, which I would put up as soon as I can locate the CD they are on! It was a struggle to get to shoot him coz of the kids thronging up to watch the baby-elephant they all adored, am lucky I managed to get this one ............... Nevertheless, I was mighty thrilled with my brief date with Tamani :)

The curious one :)

It's amusing how these li'l rodents respond to a camera-toting human around................Some of them flit by even before u can catch a glimpse, others can't really bother about u, and then there are some like this curious li'l bushy-tailed chipmunk, who once done with her food, kept posing for the lens......She'd flit from one tree to another and still lookout for me :)

Hope is the thing with Feathers.............

......................that perches in the soul................. Emily Dickinson.

Cat-ch me if u can!!!!!!!!

This li'l thingie in the neighbourhood is as naughty as they come :) This was taken while its owner was frantically calling out for her, Dinah!

Li'l Quack!

Caught these fuzzy siblings a few evenings back near the campus pond. There were more than a dozen of them being taken out by Mama Duck for the evening swimming lessons. It was a sight to behold as their mom led them to pond and they went splish-splash happily into the water while mom swam as gracefully as a duck can :D The brood had 14 kiddos like these and all looked alike. Wonder if animal kingdom goes by names : Widdle, Waddle, Piddle, Puddle , Li'l Quack : heard of that story???? And then there was this Tom n Jerry episode with "the ugly duckling" :) they make adorable tales, don't they??? My fav. is the first one, whom i decided to christen as Li'l Quack, preening for the camera or is it just tickling itself. :)

The Moment! Captured!

Spotted the lady bug, while in Virginia, in its full glory strutting before the lens! :)

Coochie-coo!

A Sparrow! I never thought I'll end up spotting one here in US! :)