Butterflies, Birds and Flowers

I was going to title this post Birds and Bees, but thought about the weird audience that might show up from google searches, so I thought better of it! 

I took a quick trip to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum last week.  I had heard that the hummingbirds were migrating through and didn't want to miss it.  I'm glad that I took the time to go.  Lots of butterflies, and lots of hummingbirds!  I'll let the pictures do the talking...I picked my favorite four.  

The day after my trip to the Arboretum the weather to a turn towards fall.  Frost warnings last week.  It's a little early for that!  The frost didn't hit my backyard, my flowers are fading but still hanging in there.  Cone flowers in the backyard.

Asters in the front garden.  I crop out the weeds.  I probably should take the time to pull them, I'm sure the neighbors would appreciate that!

A tiny cosmos in the front garden.

Geraniums by the garage.

On Saturday Eric and I headed to Canterbury Park for the final races of the season.  We mostly wanted to see the Indian Relay Races...I'm glad that we went...what an action packed few minutes of fun!  The other races were good too.  I didn't bring my camera in, but I did take a few photos on my cell phone.  This one was taken when the horses were walking in for the 10th race.  Hoof prints and long shadows.  It was a cold but sunny day at the track.

Sunday was spent at my mom's.  We have been trying to finish up painting her garage.  So close, just the garage doors left.  I took a minute to spend time with the horses.  And flowers.  Weeds actually, but when they are pretty I call them wild flowers.

I hope you can see pretty flowers in the weeds that you come across today.  Thanks for stopping by!

Mostly Sunsets

A few flowers this week, but mostly sunsets.  I really do love cosmos and how they sway in the wind.  Except when I'm trying to take a picture of them, then I want them to stay still!

The fall flowers are in the grocery store already.  Along with the Halloween candy.  Too soon.  I've heard that some stores have Christmas decorations out already.  Way too soon!

The sunsets seem to become more orange this time of the year.  This one was taken from my brothers driveway on Saturday.

Another one from my brothers place, this one looking more towards the south.

Sunset was pretty there on Sunday night as well.  It got more orange a little later, but we needed to head home and there wasn't a chance to get a good shot of it!

Tonight's sunset was the best one yet.  I took my camera to Eric's softball game to see if I could get a shot of the super moon rising.  It was cloudy to the East, so I didn't get the moon...but the sunset to the West was glorious!  Orange sun light with ducks on the lake.  So beautiful.

Sometimes I'm really happy that I have my camera with me!  I hope you've gotten to catch a sunset or two along the way.  Thanks for stopping by!

Just a few Flowers

When I caught up with my photos of the day from last week I realized that I've been in quite the rut for the last few weeks with flower pictures. Petunias specifically.  I guess that's ok since my blog is Pat's Patunia Patch!  These lavender petunias were at the golf course where I play with my ladies league.  I should just say lady friends since the 4 of us are the main ones to show up!  Taken with my cell phone.

Pink petunias in my front yard.

White petunias in my backyard.

An iridescent purple petunia in my backyard.  They are getting pretty leggy, I'm guessing there won't be too many more weeks of petunia pictures!

The following picture was taken at the cabin an hour and a half after the sun had set.  We could barely see where the river was.  I adjusted my camera settings and balanced my camera on a shoe that was sitting on a rock to see what would happen.  I like how it turned out.  Camera setting stuff if you're interested in that sort of thing.  Canon 7D with a Tamron 18-270mm lens.  18mm, f3.5, ISO 1250 and exposure time 30 seconds.  Yes, should have had my tripod and a lens that let in more light, but sometimes you have to just use what you have.  I would have never guessed that there would be so much color in the sky so long after the sun had set.

Ok...back to the flowers. Or weeds.  Let's go with flowering weeds and leave it at that!

We were planning on painting my mom's garage on Labor Day.  The rainy morning delayed our plans.  It happens.  There's always next weekend.

Tuesday was golf day again.  It was also a very Monday like work day.  That meant that my photo of the day was taken with my cell phone at the golf course.  Again.  Oh well, it's good not to think about your golf game too much when you're golfing.  Isn't it?

And finally, one of my favorite flowers is starting to pop up in the garden.  I don't know what they were waiting for, but I always love it when the cosmos start to bloom.

Thanks for stopping by to smell the petunias.  We'll have to wait and see what's blooming next week!