Dragonflies & Damselflies

[+1 in a note above] Today was another Sunday Lunch Ride with Steve and a bunch of happy cyclists as we rode from Gold Hill out to the lovely little town of Rogue River! It's a favorite ride, and this is our third time going this way. Lunch was at a wonderful little cafe, and I was delighted when I found this damselfly sitting on one of our chairs! Everyone was careful to not disturb us while I took pictures of my little friend, and I ended up getting a bunch of keepers! This one is my favorite, what a cool little guy! :D (you can see a side view by rolling your mouse over the upper left corner of this image) William E. ("Bill") Vaughan (October 8, 1915 – February 25, 1977) was an American columnist and author. Born in Saint Louis, Missouri, he wrote a syndicated column for the Kansas City Star from 1946 until his death in 1977. He was published in Reader's Digest and Better Homes and Gardens under the pseudonym Burton Hillis. He attended Washington University in St. Louis. Wikipedia: William E. Vaughan

Yesterday Steve and I walked around one of our "country blocks", which is about 3 miles, and I took my camera with me. At one point, Steve said, "Janet, look! There's a dragonfly on the road!" Sure enough, he pointed it out in time for one picture before it took off after an insect! Gotta love the one-chance successes! :D

Last May, Steve and I planned to go on a photography outing with our local club. Upon arriving at the lake, we discovered that it was both freezing cold and extremely windy, so we drove home. On the way back, we decided to stop at a spot along the Rogue River for a photo walk. It ended up being a lot of fun and I managed to capture lots of cool subjects! I had been focusing on a lupine when I noticed something flying by. Peeking out from behind my camera, I saw this damselfly land, take off, and land again in the same place. Creeping closer, I started clicking away, and got several images before it flew away. However, it hadn't gone far and I saw it land on a stem of grass several feet away. This time I was able to get extremely close, and I finally figured out why. When it took off the first time it caught a gnat, and landing the second time it had a tasty meal to distract it while I got my pictures! Hooray!!

(+1 in a note) Steve and I went on a bike ride a few years ago and while we were eating our lunch, I noticed this damselfly who rested on a chair nearby. I was able to creep quite closely to get some nice pictures! Roll your mouse over the upper left corner for a portrait! :)

(+2 insets!) (please view large for even more detail!) We had originally planned to visit two other places on our Central Oregon Trip, including a two-day side trip out to the coast at Tillamook and a four-night stay at Detroit Lake State Park. Because of our transmission snafu, we ended up turning our four nights at L.L. Stub Stewart State Park to 11 nights and cancelling our other destinations. However, we did end up adding a different destination for our last five nights: Diamond Lake! We'd discovered this place on the way home from my birthday trip last year. We'd headed up to Sun River for a few glorious days of hiking and biking at the end of September and on the way back to Medford we had enough time to stop off at a spot along the way that we'd only driven past before. There was a 10-mile paved path around this beautiful lake which seemed like the perfect distance for a brief stop. That trail turned out to be one of the most delightful we'd ever had the pleasure of riding on and we wanted to return and repeat the experience. I'm happy to report that going around Diamond Lake again was equally fantastic on our second time around! During our stay we also went on another bike ride and a long hike, along with two days of fishing! The RV campground we stayed at was super too, with a wonderful forest setting and lots of birds and other animals to enjoy. I went out with my macro lens one morning and got hundreds of neat images as I strolled along. Part of my wandering took me down to a small, lazy creek clogged with logs which emptied into Diamond Lake. There I found all kind of cool subjects by the water, including damselflies! My main picture today shows my lucky close-up portrait! I have an inset which shows the whole damselfly. Unfortunately the light was low enough that I couldn't get a proper full-dof image but I'm still very happy that I got such a nice, crisp image of its face. This guy was so brave…I just kept creeping closer and closer until I stopped because I didn't want to scare it away. I managed to get a dozen pictures that were crisp, hooray! :) And what luck…today's Saturday Self-Challenge is all about things that fly or float! :D (I'm also sharing an inset that shows the creek so you can see how filled with logs it was! The creek really seemed more like a pond but there was a culvert which led under the main road there and emptied into Diamond Lake) Pam, it's wonderful to be in communication with you again--I've really missed our little back and forth conversations! Best of all, I'm so happy that you are so understanding that I won't be able to post pictures every day when I'm away. It would have been nice but you know how it is! :D *SENDING BIG HUGS YOUR WAY!* Explored on 7/8/19; highest placement, #1.