My Third of an Acre

I finished! I posted a photo a day, for 365 days, from my yard. I"M NOT POSTING HERE ANYMORE, but will occasionally reblog at my main blog, CelestialPhotography. My other blogs are MischiefandMay (original cat pics) OccasionallyBirds, and CelestialMacros

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Ok, I haven’t posted here in years, but decided to check for flagged posts.  There were more here than on any of my other blogs.  Here’s a selection.  Really laughable.  Also I wanted to make sure that @staff had to review all of these 

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The blue jay’s departure

Yes, I thought yesterday was the last day of this blog, and I was wistfully (ha!) looking at my archives when I noticed that I started this blog on Sept 24th of last year.  Which means, since last year wasn’t a leap year, that I must have misnumbered my posts at some point.  Since I made that mistake, I thought it was fitting to post one last photo that was a “mistake.”  And so, somewhat anticlimactically, I make my departure.

365 + 1?

Please join me at my main blog, CelestialPhotography.

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My year-long project is finished.

I did it.  I managed to post a photo every day that was taken in my not-very-big suburban yard.  I found lots of details and tried to make them interesting and occasionally beautiful, and I discovered a lot of things along the way.  Here are my top ten finds:

1) I now know the names of most of the plants in my yard.

2) I need to plant more flowers that will attract butterflies.

3) I really like to take photos after frost and rainstorms.

4) If I had spent as much time gardening as I did looking for photos, my house would probably be on the town’s garden tour.

5) If you see something interesting, shoot it.  It probably won’t happen again.

6) There are still photos here I hope to make.  (Still waiting for that owl picture.)

7) I have seen 6 kinds of woodpeckers in my yard!

8) Weedy patches often make better photos than cultivated gardens.

9) I’m starting to get the hang of this macro photography thing.

10) No matter how many times you visit a subject, there is always another picture to be made if you look hard enough.

The photo community on tumblr has been very welcoming.  I’m thankful for the friendships I have made along my journey.  I’d like to give one last shout-out to a few of the people that have provided steady support since the very early days of this blog:  bluelunaphotography, crosstimberlake, maramarella, fatchance, artsinmyheart, ands0thest0ryg0es, and sonlight972.

I hope everyone here will join me back on my main photography blog, CelestialPhotography. I will be taking the lessons I’ve learned here over there, and will be posting more nature photos and more often (but not daily!)

Thank you for spending time with me at my third of an acre.

- Celeste

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Masked visitor

The jays were making a commotion in the back yard like they do when there is a hawk or owl around, so I grabbed my camera and headed outside.  I didn’t find a raptor though.  The raccoon only peeked out of a hollow before settling back in, and the birds eventually lost interest.  The picture I took then was not very good (my son thought it was of a squirrel.)  But at dinner one of the cats started acting like there was something particularly interesting outside, so I rushed out again and was able to get this.  This is one of several common nocturnal mammals that I was hoping to be able to photograph as part of this project.  Others include fox, opossum, and skunk, although raccoons are the only ones I have ever seen in my yard.  Even after a year, there are still new things to be seen here.

365/365                              THE END

Thank you for coming along on this ride.  Please join me back on my main photography blog, CelestialPhotography.

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I’ve really enjoyed taking macro bug photos the past year.  Here is a just-molted cricket on dewy leaves, left, and a orb weaver spider, (Neoscona crucifera,) right.  (Not the same web as yesterday.)  I paired them side-by-side because I know some people might not appreciate a giant spider on their dash.  Feel free to click to enlarge.

Anyone think that I should start a bug blog?

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(This is my 400th post, which includes bonus photos, thank yous, and protect the creator posts.)

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The web we weave

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Red-banded Hairstreak butterfly (Calycopis cecrops.)  A better photo than the one I posted a few weeks ago (#329.)  This is a very small butterfly, about 1 inch or 30 mm.  Those “hairs” on the rear wings never stop moving, giving the impression that they are antennae, which confuses predators about which end they should be attacking.

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Nourish and protect.

Blackberry thorns after last night’s downpours.

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Raindrops on roses...

It finally rained, after almost a month.

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Shadows through the canopy

The porch lanterns hang down while my husband finishes painting the railing that they were attached to, making interesting shadows on the stucco.

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Aging beautifully.

Single dried oak leaf hydrandea blossom.

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Heart of gold

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European Paper Wasp (Polistes dominula) looking like a mini alien on the sedum.

I know I’ve posted an abundance of bugs lately.  I usually try to mix up my posts, but it hasn’t rained in a few weeks and everything is brown and wilted, and the insects seem particularly active as fall approaches.  (And the sedum is just covered in pollinators, which guarantees me a photo.)  

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Pearl Crescent butterfly (Phyciodes tharos) on the sedum

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The last of the tomatoes

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Love the eyes on this Eastern carpenter bee (Xylocopa virginica) that I found on the sedum.

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European honey bee on virgin’s bower (clematis virginiana,) a wild vine that is taking over the borders of my yard (and a good part of my town) right now.

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