I am surprised to see that my roses are still putting on buds!

Not only putting on buds, but also blooming!  This seems unusual to me, although this is the first year we’ve had roses in Wisconsin.

Many hopefully buds – I have this feeling they are going to get nipped my frost!

I will miss the blooms of summer, good thing I took a few photos to remind me during our white out.

I’ve already had enough of winter, can spring start today? lol

My parents have quail and while we were visiting I kinda fell in love with them. Too bad they’re probably dinner by now. The ones with beige on their heads are girls and the ones with white are boys.

Inquisitive lil fellows.  Every time I went to the cage one of the girls would run like crazy, zipping this way and that – I was tempted to tuck her in my bag and bring her home.

Each time I helped mom care for the quail we passed by these huge hibiscus blooms! Dinner plates! That’s my mom’s arm – see her hand is entirely covered – huge blooms!

We have a volunteer pumpkin plant by our front porch. It looks like the seed came from a small white pumpkin we had last year. They are really cute – and little but I don’t think they’re going to make it. – Actually it snowed pretty much all day yesterday, so now I know they won’t make it – I did manage to snap some photos of our pumpkin before I picked it.

Dennis and Haden got me a couple of roses for Mother’s day and they have been blooming like crazy all summer!  They’re still full of buds, but ummmm, SNOW!  Yep, we had snow – October 12th – that’s the earliest we’ve ever had snow.

One of our little potted flowers on the back patio where I spent most of the summer blogging.

There’re some flowers in the woods across from our house too.

Well, there isn’t now, but there was last month when I snapped these.

And many kinds of fungus.

Doesn’t this look like some sort of sea coral?

I see this as a spiral staircase.

A bugle. Wonder what sound it would make.

An orange on a stem?

A Ferris wheel for ants.

And a fairy’s umbrella.

I get delighted to have an opportunity to walk a path, any path. It can be one I’ve never walked or one I’ve walked many times. There’s always something new to see. A bee on a flower.

A huge dandelion.

Is it still called a dandelion when it’s the size of a softball?

Spiderwort is a favorite of mine.

I love the chaotic way it grows! No surprise there!

{These were all taken with the point and shoot – some days I just don’t feel like carrying the big gun for several miles.}

Macro Monday is easy to play, snap a macro (or any close-up) photo, post it on your blog and come back here and sign Mr Linky. Don’t forget to visit each other.

Do you ever take risks while taking your macro shots? When I played with the poppies a while back my husband had the brilliant idea to pose my wedding set on one. I was terrified of losing it in the mass of flowers. But he carefully planted the rings and stood nearby.

He even put his own ring with them for a couple of shots. I just can’t decide if I like this one, or the one below more. . .

The wind blew them off once, but he found them – thankfully!

And I got courageous and asked for him to plant my snake ring for a few shots. People may think I’m odd but I love this ring!

I saw a snake ring on a woman’s hand and liked it, but typically they are wrapped around the finger differently than this one is, and more often they’re silver. It took me some time to find the ring I liked, and I bought it on ebay about 10 years ago. Gold with ruby eyes, I’ve never seen another like it.

Don’t we all want to be a little unique or quirky?

Wildflowers are sprinkled in the woods and fields to bring joy to our lives. The sweet Columbine!

Lupine is a true treasure to seek. The rare Blue Karner Butterfly feasts from its pockets, I have yet to see one.

The Karner blue butterfly is a federally endangered species living in a narrow band from eastern Minnesota to New Hampshire. Wisconsin is home to the largest and most widespread populations. As a larvae (caterpillar), they feed on only one plant wild lupine (Lupinus perennis). Lupine grows in dry sandy soils with full to partial sun. As a butterfly, the Karner blue feeds on just about any wildflower available. The more flowers the better the habitat is.

But for today, we’ll have to settle for a different winged creature.

And a spider.