Two ponds, ten species. A trek through the freshly fallen snow yielded a delightful morning of birdwatching. Ringed-neck ducks (thirty or so), hooded mergansers (fewer than six), buffleheads (a pair), canvasback (four to six), pie-billed grebes (a pair), blue-winged teals (four to six), mallards (forty or so), Canada geese (three), a great-blue heron, and the resident goose at Martin Park. 

Around Wichita Falls

       For Gary Goldberg's photography class, both MyMrMallory and I engaged enthusiastically in the assignment he gave the students. Professor Goldberg sent us out into an autumn North Texas to make images of a town, any town. We visited several places, including Bugscuffle, and then opted in the end to make images of Wichita Falls.
      The Elevator Rock, pictured above, began as a grain silo, then transformed into a climbing wall. Nice article by Matt Ledesma here.

      An abandoned building, or so it appears, on California street, leans backwards.

A water tower stands by the railroad.

       On a wall that harkens to a happy age in the history of Wichita Falls, wild plants and foliage grow, framing the graffiti of the street artists. 

The abandoned road that leads to the graffiti wall. 

Moon over the skyline of Wichita Falls as seen from Riverside cemetery. 

Through the clouds today, MyMrMallory flew us to Fort Worth.

Mission: Lunch with Nancy and Julian at Joe T. Garcia's.

Approach chart opened and within reach. 

Radios and instruments set for our destination.

Into the clouds we took off. Aviators would say, "We took off into the soup."

At 5,500 feet, we flew above the soup. MyMrMallory mentioned 

his desire to order menudo at the Joe T. Garcia's. 

Meacham airport appeared underneath the layer of clouds. 

The city of Fort Worth stands in the background to the left. 

Pause for lunch. 

Delighted to see my friends again after two or three years, 

though Karl's passing still pains us. We feel honored

and joyful to have known him; and I feel 

honored to know my friends.

Returning home, we flew into clear skies over Fort Worth, and soon

spotted the line of clouds that would remain until we arrived 

at our airport. 

We held around the VOR while a King Air pilot negotiated ineptly around Sheppard's airspace. 

What a doofus, but thankfully he finally landed safely. 

Finally, ATC gave us instruction to land, but only four miles

from the runway and at 6,000 feet, I asked MyMrMallory, 

"Are you going to slip?" He chuckled and descended to 1,800 feet,

landing on runway 31 smoothly. 

       Speaking of friends, after landing, MyMrMallory then hopped into his helicopter to take B.J. for a ride -- a surprise for her arranged by Mac. Gretchen and Gibson asked me, "What is the surprise," I said, "Let me show you," and pointed at MyMrMallory, who appeared from around the hangars pulling the helicopter. Such glee in B.J.'s eyes when she learned about the ride. 

Leaves Standing

I used to press lovely leaves between the pages of a book; 

these days I preserve their beauty with digital photography.

I found these leaves standing up and backlit by the afternoon sun.

Butterfly Activity at My House

Most of the butterfly activity appears on two or three stalwart flowers,

all the more reason to focus on butterfly-attracting plants.

Sulphur butterfly on a rose in early December.

Butterflies known as dainty sulphur, painted lady, and copper, enjoy a meal together.

Copper butterfly content with left-overs.

A skipper and a painted lady.

And then they fly away.

Winter Butterflies

     What an unusually warm winter this year. Flowers and butterflies maintain busy lives in the warm temperatures, and I maintain great interest and love for them, happily chasing them around my garden, camera in hand.

White checkered.

Common mestra.

                           

Gray hairstreak, closed wings.

Gray hairstreak, opened wings. 

Gulf fritillary.

Red admiral.

Sulphur.

White checkered skipper.

Crescent.

Afternoon Ducks and Parhelion

     North Texas enjoyed (or not) warm temperatures this week. We still have water in every pond, some at full capacity, and plenty of grass in the countryside.

In the late afternoon, the sun, the clouds, the grasslands, and a road.

A parhelion.

A pumping unit bringing up oil.

Decades of erosion expose the roots of a tree in an area 

damaged by saltwater extracted from the ground during drilling. 

An oil product, perhaps paraffin, held together the clay soil during erosion,

leaving interesting formations.

A calf watches me as I capture the hooded mergansers in flight. 

Hooded mergansers.

MyMrMallory stopped the truck for me to capture some American widgeons.

    Speaking of birds, we had some very nice sightings during our afternoon visit to the countryside: Several Red-tailed hawks, a Northern harrier, a couple of American kestrels, many meadowlarks, about  ten Hooded mergansers, approximately thirty American widgeons, a solitary sandpiper, a Grasshopper sparrow, seagulls, and a Swainson's hawk.

Fall and the Barred Owl

     She is in there, somewhere in those trees, for the evenings. Comes in, wings spread, swooping into the branches now red or yellow or purple, bluejays trailing boisterously around her, and she perches, unconcerned about me.

Microscope Sequoia

Rummaging through a drawer, I found an old microscopic slide
belonging, perhaps, to MyMrMallory.
See Wikipedia to read about S. sempervirens. 

Such treasures one finds in an old home! 

So I brought out my (also old) microscope to get a better look at the slide. 

Mind-boggling to see such a tiny part of such a gigantic tree.

Calla lily