For Our Daily Challenge: Bricks

This spot in the sun and out of the wind may have been the warmest place available for this guy today, with temperatures staying below 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

Tags:   ODC Our Daily Challenge insects bricks

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For Our Daily Challenge: Favourite Time Of The Day

The “golden hours” around sunrise and sunset are excellent for photography, of course. But as the sun moves toward the southern hemisphere, I’ve noticed that the angle of strong midday sunlight can be nice for certain types of photos. This tiny leaf found its way onto a rug just inside the front door of our house, which has a southern exposure. I shot this photo on Friday at 12:40 p.m., as the sunlight streamed through the doorway. The strong, angled light enabled a nice detailed close-up of the rug fiber, and, to me, the sharp shadow cast by the leaf resembles the head of a dragon with its front leg raised.

Tags:   ODC Our Daily Challenge rugs fiber dragons multicolor

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We’ve still got flowers around, but I am no longer seeing butterflies. So perhaps it’s time to post a last image of one of these beautiful creatures for 2011, before the cold tightens its grip. This shot was taken on a sunny day just over three weeks ago in the gardens of Monticello, in Virginia.

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A spotted cucumber beetle makes its way across the back side of a sunflower blossom. This shot was taken at Friendship Park Conservatory, Mount Prospect, Illinois, where sunflowers and a few other flower types still seem to be doing well, despite the late October date. We haven’t had anything close to a killing frost yet.

Tags:   sunflowers nature insects beetles cucumber beetles flowers

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It was a warm, sunny October afternoon last week when we visited and toured Monticello, near Charlottesville, Virginia. The gardens surrounding the home were filled with Monarch butterflies. Here’s a shot of one of them.

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