My Daily Visual Diary.
Click on an image to see the rest of the photos in that gallery.

8/31 Bull Thistle Seeding
As soon as the last flowers finished blooming the whole plant died and now the seeds are flying away.

8/30 Outdoor-Indoor Reflections
Was trimming some of the hedge in front of the window and I looked up and saw this. Love this kind of reflective shot. Here, not only can you see inside the house, but through the other window and see the bedroom wall of the house.

8/17 New Lights on Bridge
Apparently there are some colored lights too, but they didn't have them on tonight.

8/17 Charlevoix Harbor North Side at Blue Hour
The large boat is the Emerald Isle - The Ferry that runs to Beaver Island.

8/16 Looking Out on Lake Michigan NearFishermansIsldApproachingStorm-sm
This was near Fisherman's Island and looks like an approaching storm, but didn't materialize. We were looking for a nice sunset, but too many clouds.

8/16 Sidewalk Sales Downtown Charlevoix
Busier than usual for a summer day because of the sidewalk sale days.

8/15 Tansey at Lakeshore in St Ignace
Haven't seen this much tansey growing in a long time--especially in an isolated area.

8/13 Last Daylily Group To Bloom
By now the deer have forgotten about daylilies so this plant is usually spared. I really like the color.

8/12 Monarch Larva Last Instar
This one should be making a chrysalis soon, but I think the birds got it.

8/10 Purple Loosestrife
These were growing between the parking lot at the Kalamazoo Farmer's Market parking lot and the railroad tracks that run nearby. It seems like it was sort of a swampy area.

8/6 Gnarled Old Tree at Ritters
Almost looks like an old pine from out west, except it's covered with lichens.

8/4 A Different Daylily
Had a big thunderstorm this afternoon and lots of rain. Should hold us for a few days. Now the sun has returned and everything is sparkly.

8/3 Indian Strawberry
This is the flower--notice the center almost looks like the tiny strawberry that is produced. The vine is a low creeping vine and a common lawn weed.

8/3 Indian Strawberry
It's a common lawn weed. Has yellow flowers (next picture) and is often called "Mock Strawberry." These berries are about 6-7 mm in diameter. Used extension tubes on my MIL Camera (Samsumg)

8/2 Know The Truth
Old Christian Science church in downtown Kalamazoo is being torn down. It has been vacant for several years, and was sold to the KIA, which is going to use it as "green space."

8/1 Reflections In Polished Post Cover
Nice visit to Kalamazoo Air Zoo this afternoon. All of their support posts are covered with a polished steel covering which is round. Give great reflections of things around you. We had just gotten off the Ford Trimotor plane which is the predominant light object in back of us.

7/31 Trumpet Vine at Meijer Gardens
Nice day at Meijer gardens with Peter. These vines were in multiple areas. Have interesting looking seed pods.

7/30 Tiger Swallowtail
Finally got a good picture of one. This one was more patient with me getting close.

7/29 Tobacco Hornworm
Found this on our tomato plants. It's a tobacco hornworm because it has seven diagonal stripes on it's side, and not eight sort of 'L' shaped stripes as the tomato version does. Both feed on the same plants.

7/28 Tiger Swallowtail
This lady (I think it's a female) wouldn't let me get very close, and didn't have a good camera with me.

7/26 Reflections And Refractions
There's a double reflection of my hands and phone at the bottom from a tall stem glass, and multiple refractions of images in the table and people around it in the lower stem and base.

7/25 Overlander Bandshell In Central Park
This was the Glen Miller Big Band. And what a beautiful night for a concert in the park.

7/24 Two Bugs Making More
Don't know what they are, but were very busy and didn't bother with the camera being close to them.

7/22 Dragon Fly
I think this is called a 'Skimmer.' Lots of them around this year. I was surprised it didn't fly away--I was only about 5 or 7 inches from it, with my phone camera.

7/21 Hybrid Daylily
This plant was originally from White Flower Farm a few years ago. Every year since planting it's just had one or two flowers and the deer have usually gotten them. This year we sprayed the blossoms heavily and this beauty has bloomed for a week or more so far, and looks like it may go a few days more.

7/20 Pink-Striped Oakworm Moth
This was a dead one I found alongside a path. Some bird probably got to him/her.

7/19 Wines In Barrels
These are in the cellars of the St. Julian Winery in Paw Paw, Michigan. Nice tour with a very knowledgeable young man.

7/17 Butterfly Milkweed at PSC
Leaves are not like the common milkweed, and the flowers are not the same color as the butterfly milkweed.

7/15 Bouncing Bet - Full of Blooms
Grows in large bunches and colors a field white for mid summer on.

7/14 Insect Eggs Or Virus On Milkweed Leaf
These are not Monarch Butterfly eggs, which are like slightly truncated football shape with tiny vertically oriented stripes.

7/13 Dragon Fly & Flora
Out walking with Dixie--one area has lots of different flowers--and lots of milkweeds. Saw this large dragon fly, but didn't have a good camera with me. This is just a cell phone camera, so couldn't get close enough.

7/12 Loon In Flower Bed in Bronson Park
There are multiple topiaries around in the various flower beds. Very neat looking.

7/11 First Real Crop of Blueberries
And they are so delicious. Had them with pancakes the next morning.

6/29 Unknown Fungus
Looks like a slime fungus, but not moist on the outside. I couldn't find any references to it. We put some different compost and straw on the garden this year--possibly came from that.

6/27 White Petunias
They were blooming in a large planter outside of Franco's Pizza Restaurant. Delicious pizzas also.

6/23 Tree Damage by Deer & Humans
It's amazing these Northern White Cedars are doing as well as hey are. The deer damage occured a couple of winters ago. The brown lower areas are a recent application of herbicide.

6/21 Japanese Spirea Close Up
Got a new toy today--two automatic extension tubes for my Samsung camera. They seem to work well, along and together. This is a shot of the Pink Spirea we have blooming all over the place. Each of these little flowers is about 1.5-2.0 mm in diameter. The full size is much better than this chopped down version.

6/20 Olgas Lighting
Went out to eat and for shopping. At at the new Olgas. It's a real fast food place in every sense. Interesting lighting, sor of indirect over out booth.

6/18 Crown Vetch
Just starting to bloom, but lots of buds. The hillside will soon be a field of purple/white color.

6/13 After Heavy Rain
Lots of rain this year. The lakes are all up and some overflowing their banks. This Monkey flower did pretty well after last nights heavy downpour.

6/11 Common Vetch More Vigorous
More blossoms this year after the ground being torn apart last early Spring.

6/5 Beaten & Battered
First butterfly this year, but looks like he had a near death experience. 🙂 But, it seemed to be flying perfetly normal.

5/30 Hot Air Balloon
Saw it just as we were leaving choir practice tonight. Very light winds out too.

5/22 Viburnum
Fewer blossoms than previous years--possibly from the severe cold spell we had in January.

5/19 Petal Fall After Storm
Heavy rain and some wind combined to knowk most of the petals from the ornamental cherry trees in PUCC parking lot.

5/17 Male Flowers of Spruce Tree
This is actually the same tree I pictured on the 6th of this Month. This is what produces the copious pollen that some people are allergic to.

5/18 Setting Sun Patches On Canada Balsam
Only in Springtime can we get this effect, when the big oaks off to the west cast a dappled light on these balsams. Just love the colors it produces.

5/14 Red Maple Glowing In Late Afternoon Sun
Bright reds that seemed to glow when backlit with the late sun.

5/9 Yellow Mustard
This is a native wild mustard, not like the invasive white flowered Garlic Mustard.

5/7 Ornamental Apple Blossoms
Everything is blooming late this year. So much rainy, cloudy, cool weather. These buds are very slow in developing.

5/5 New Posts & Rails
This fence was falling apart because the posts were rotting just below the soil surface. They've been in there probably 30-40 years.

5/4 Silver Dollar Flowers
Don't know what the real name is--have always called it Silver Dollar plants, because the seeds look like silver dollars.

4/28 Grandfather Clock Back Home
It hadn't been cleaned and adjusted in probably 30 years, so he needed work.

4/22 Vinca Blooming Strongly Now
Great ground cover--green all year round here, and such pretty purple flowers in the spring.

4/21 Forsythia Flowers
Very few blossoms on most of them around here. I think it was the severe cold spell we had this past winter. Most are down low near the ground (where protected by the deep snow).

4/19 Scilla
Found these blooming in a neighbors side yard. I think the ones we have blooming in our yard are the same thing--I've called them something else which probably is wrong.

4/15 Cold But Sunny Outside
Our begonia just loves this spot, and is producing so many more blossoms this year as a result.

4/14 "It's Mine"
And you can't have it. Dixie loves this little green toy. So seems to be protecting it here. It of course fits in with my green theme.

4/12 Pretty Green But Not Grass
Everybody seems more aware of the plight of the bees that are being killed with common weed killers. So, the moss is having a better chance. It stays nice and greed in the middle of winter, too.

4/11 Honeysuckle Creating Green Haze
Always to start budding very early, this year is later than usual, but now far enough along that it makes a green haze to the bushes.

4/10 Daffodils At PSC
Ours haven started blooming yet--probably another week if we get some warmer weather. The area where this one is blooming was in a very protected sunny area

4/9 Small Unknown White Flowers
Another new one to me. And, I have not been able to find out what it is.

4/6 Colors Of Italy
With bicycle parked against the building - an Italian (very much so) Pizzeria around here.

4/5 Trailing Arbutus ??
This is a new plant to me. I'm not sure of the identification, but I think it's a Trailing Arbutus. Found it right alongside the sidewalk this afternoon. I need to get a macro lens to get a good image of the tiny flowers that are only about 4 mm wide.

3/31 Flower Arrangement Rose
And yes, there's green in it. Very beautiful rose in church this morning.

3/30 Veggie Burger On a Lettuce Bun
Nice green from the lettuce. Even the plate decoration has a little green in it.

3/27 Now Anxious For More Green
I'm going to do a green series of images with green--until everything is green outside.

3/ 25 Ornamental Crab Apples Still On
Usually the birds strip these trees in the fall before they migrate. Guess they missed this one--there was a lot of trees with heavy loads of berries for them.

3/23 Francos Pizzaria Wall Decorations
Small little place, but does big business and has delicious pizza as well as other Italian specialties. My other favorite is their spaghetti with their tomato sauce on it. Makes my mouth water just typing about this.

3/22 Dixie Showing Fur Puppy Faces
They are best viewed in a thumbnail sized version--right near the junction line of the black fur with the white spotted fur. She just had a bath yesterday (one of her most hated activities).

3/20 Water Drops Everywhere
Drizzly wet day today, so all the trees have water drops hanging from the branches. This spruce tree has multiple ones on each needle tip. Used a 10+ close-up screw on filter type lens.

3/19 Red Snappers
These are plastic rods with a 'U' shape that grips fabric to hold on the long arm machine. Saves having to pin the quilts to the leader canvas.

3/18 Repeating Patterns in Bifold Doors & Stacked Tables
Liked the way the two different lines meet, forming sort of a contrast of parallel lines.

3/16 Graupel Dusting This Morning
Late winter is the time we usually get this kind of snow--when there's warmer air overriding the cold air at the surface.

3/14 Pipe Fittings Junk Box
Never know when you'll need something you've saves for 20 years or more. Some are old, some new--just left over from a project or job.

3/13 Snow Finally All Gone in Woods
Weather suddenly warming up, and had a warm rain most of the day, making the lichens plump and bright green on most of them.

3/12 Ice Crystals on Leaf
Getting to be sugerin weather--clear cool nights and warm sunny days. Not many maples around here, but it will be starting soon up North.

3/11 Antique Hand Made Wooden Hammer
Made by my Grandfather. It's probably around a 100 years old. The head looks like black walnut and weighs 2.5 lbs. His initials (Otto Dovenmuehle) are punch embossed on the head which you can see in this picture. Don't want to get a finger in it's way.

3/10 Prince of Peace Lutheran Church Cross
At a concert of the Kalamazoo Singers this afternoon at Prince of Peace.

3/9 Wall Lighting in Miller Auditorium - Nice Repeating Pattern
Had tickets for the KSO tonight. Nice lighting in the auditorium during programs.

3/8 Old Colandar
Working on photographing antiques. This is an old aluminum colander with lots of lumps and bumps. This image was made using a single small LED flashlight. The reddish glow is from a string of Mini Christmas Lights above on the ceiling.

3/7 Melting Ice Edge
Weather finally starting to moderate a bit. Saw the big overall face profile while walking late this afternoon, but then after I checked it on the computer saw about 5 more, so it got the nod for today's picture.

3/6 Throw with Repeating Pattern Face
This is the throw we keep on the couch and open occasionally for Dixie. She knows if it's open she can lay on the couch. If it's not there she stays off. We had some sunshine this afternoon and it was glancing across the wrinkle on this throw creating an interesting pattern.

3/5 Squirrel Prints
Lots of squirrels around, and looks like most have survived the winter this year in spite of it being so cold and quite snowy.

3/3 Tip Of The Iceberg
Slides and negatives waiting to be sorted and some digitized and some tossed. I wonder if I'll ever get them all done.

2/28 Repeating Patterns
Am going to look for repeating patterns for a few days, since the weather will be SOOOOOoooo uncooperative.

2/27 Before And After Weaving In
Part of a sleeve for a heavy wool sweater, showing the inside with multiple lengths of yarn, waiting to be woven in and secured at the bottom of the image. At the top is how it looks when all is tucked in.

2/26 Deer Damage To Small Cedar Tree
It's totally destroyed, but probably wasn't real healthy to start with.

2/25 Terrible Wind Storm Yesterday: Damage-Blown Against Fence
With heavy snow for a short while and wind gusts up to 60 mph, it blew everything against this fence in the cemetery.

2/22 Opening Set of "Doubt, A Parable" at Farmers Alley
We had great seats--just inches away from the stage. Super well done production with all professional actors.

2/21 More Begonias
In spite of our worse weather this year we seem to be getting more sunshine, and our begonia has responded with several bunches of new blooms. Great to see on a gloomy day when it's snowing outside.

2/20 My Nearly Abandoned Painting Tote
Haven't painted in a month or more. Need to get back in business.

2/18 Another Pipe Organ in Kalamazoo
Attended a High School choral concert here--2nd Reformed Church. They didn't use the organ though.

2/17 Very Very Fine Snow
It was impressive how fine the snow was that was falling when I was out with Dixie for afternoon walk. It was about the diameter of fine sand. Difficult to show, except compare it to the sand grains in this asphalt.

2/16 Special Pinholder
It has a magnetic base in it, so it can be attached anywhere on the long arm machine. It's filled with corsage pins.

2/15 Ah-Green Forest--Where Is It?
Was so nice to see green trees and shrubs. It wasn't in a botanical garden either. Anybody know where.

2/14 Sunset in City Of Wires
Too pretty to miss as we were traveling, but one street has wires crossing and paralleling the street all along. Lucky I took it then as it didn't last long.

2/13 After Big Snow
Then followed 5-6" of snow which coated everything made everything pretty in a different way. This was taken in the same area that yesterday's was--just a real camera instead of a cell phone.

2/12 Freezing Rain Aftermath
Had about a quarter inch of ice on everything. Made for very slippery walking. But it sure was a fairy land tonight.

2/11 Distant Space Object Thule
Just didn't have a good shot today, so tried putting some Sumi ink on water. It half floats and some sinks to the bottom. This shot shows both.

2/10 Corduroy Close Up
Was looking at my camera and noticed this on the screen--like the texture of my pants.

2/9 Teaching Them Young
Noticed this half full drink glass on a child's booster chair near our table at a restaurant tonight.

2/8 Old Twin Lens Camera
Was dusting off this display camera -- a 120 roll film that still works. It filles a void in my shots for today.

2/5 Three Faces
This was a tissue I had been holding and the sneeze was going away, so I put it down. Looking at it a few minutes later I saw one pretty good sized face mask. Then in the computer saw two others. I have marked those with a small number below each face. If you still don't see them e-mail me and I'll show you the outlines.

2/4 Foggy In Woods
Warm breezes over cold snow yields fog. Almost looks like I have moved the camera vertically, but no, it was very still. Temperature has increased almost 50 deg. in the past 5 days.

2/3 Darkside of Our Beautiful Snow
All our beautiful snow turns a grayish brown anywhere within about 35-40 feet from a road, sidewalk or other shoveled place when it starts melting.

1/31 Frost Inside Dish Cover
This was stored in the refrigerator in the garage--it's been off for a month or so.

1/28 Last Ornaments Putting Away
Downstairs in my studio. Good project for today--with heavy snow all day, and falling temps.

1/26 KSO Logo on the Stage at Miller Auditorium
Went to KSO (Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra) A marvelous concert of Tchaikovsy (Violin Concerto in D Major and the 5th Symphony) The violinist was a 16 year old who won the Gold Medal in The Violin Competition at the Stuhlberg Festival. She blew everyone out of their seats at the end of the 1st movement.

1/25 Fake Flowers
In my studio. Always bright and cheery--even on a miserably cold dreary day outside.

1/23 Frosty Squash
Old 'no-good' squash has been outside on our porch table all fall and winter so far. This morning it warmed up and was very moist, so the frost formed on the super cold squash. (Was down near zero before it started warming up last night.)

1/22 Freezing Rain
Moderate freezing rain while out for Dixie's walk this afternoon. All on top of a new snow cover.

1/21 My Favorite Restaurant Ceiling
Everything exposed, but very dark. Makes for interesting image. A group of rom from church get together once a month.

1/19 Begonia To Brighten a Cold Snowy Day
Blossoms are starting to get paler than usual--not enough sunshine. They'll pick back up in the Springtime.

1/13 Frosty Cold Sunrise
Crazy weather we're having this year. Often times we don't see the sun all through December and January.

1/11 Red Sunrise
First one we've had in a long time. Really intense for just a few seconds. Had my phone handy.

1/10 Paper Decoration Manipulated
This is a paper decoration, made by radial accordion folding paper that had some black circles marked on it. I manipulated the photo multiple times, getting some bright colors in in.

1/9 Large Fused Glass Plate
Interesting piece of glass--looks greenish with transmitted light, and here with reflected light the colors of the individual pieces show different iridescent colors.

1/8 Quilt In Sunshine on Back of Couch
Caught a few seconds of sunshine hitting this quilt and noticed the sparkles off the gold thread used to quilt it. Unfortunately it only shows a hint of that.

1/6 Clock Weights
These are from the grandfather clock I made almost 50 years ago, and it's been cleaned and serviced only once before, and has stopped running correctly, so will have it cleaned, and possibly rebushed.

1/5 Portage Creek
Wow, three days in a row with full sunshine and mild temps. This is in the Portage Creek Bicentennial Pathway park.

1/3 Golden Sunset
Beautiful day today, especially after yesterday. Went for a short walk this afternoon.