I had my ducks in a row Thursday morning when I left the house at 7:10 a.m. My destination was Heritage Park because I was going duck hunting. Oops … let me clarify that – I was going DUCKLING hunting and looking for photo ops of those tiny, feathered dumplings.
I follow the City of Taylor’s Heritage Park “Photo of the Day” on Facebook. About ten days ago, one of the regular photographers posted a photo of how high the water level was at Coan Lake, the park’s man-made lake and hubbub of activity in the historical village area. Coan Lake is a mallard magnet and there are Canada Geese there as well, but mostly ducks. You may recall my photos, not all that long ago, of mallards huddled and shivering on the ice, or paddling in the frigid water near the covered bridge that crosses Coan Lake. The photographer remarked on how many ducks and ducklings were there that day. So, I aimed to see those cute-and-fuzzy ducklings while they still were soft and downy and before they turned into teenagers.
I had method in my madness for arriving there so early (and not just because it was a work day and it is about a 12-mile round trip during rush hour for me). There is a gentleman that makes a daily trip to feed Coan Lake’s mallards in the early morning. He takes a large bag of cracked corn for them, and, just like Parker comes running to meet me when I get to Council Point Park, these ducks paddle over and/or fly down to see him as he tosses the corn onto the ground near the lake. So, I hoped to get to Heritage Park to hang out and wait for this guy and get some pictures.
When I arrived, the sun had just burst on the scene, but it was still a little shadowy at the park since the plentiful trees have leafed out. The many flowering trees made a parade of frothy pink and delicate white blossoms and these Redbud trees were just exquisite.
Oh no! The mallards were MIA!
Much to my surprise, not to mention disappointment, unbelievably, not a single mallard duck was in the water! The water had receded from the level seen in the photos a fortnight ago, but amazingly there were no waterfowl at all. Even the usual contingent of Canada Geese were at large, nor was there a single Cormorant, who always looks like a “flasher” the way he holds his wings outstretched. Needless to say, if Mr. Corn Man showed up, he’d turn on his heel and head back to his vehicle … if he showed up at all.
But, it’s such a picturesque venue, I knew I’d capture some images besides those pretty Redbud blooms, so I set off.
As many times as I visit Heritage Park, I usually come home with the usual photos of the Little Red Schoolhouse, covered bridge, gazebo, old log cabin, and the old mill.
Barn swallows were dive-bombing.
I did see barn swallows swooping and dive-bombing all around me. They were not collecting flies or grubs, but hanging around near ground level grabbing nest materials. They were pulling dried grass strands with their beak, then flying off to their destination, the rafters of the covered bridge.
So that was my next destination as well. Last year, I was able to get a few shots of the nests and young ones from the rafters of the covered bridge, but I saw no nests in the rafters and just a whole lotta swooping going on.
Dodging barn swallows was definitely not on the agenda and I may have been disappointed to have the duck families MIA, but I took it in stride and decided to get my steps in with a stroll around the village, then I planned to head to the track that encircles the park to get some serious steps in later.
It was blissfully peaceful and quiet, just a few walkers, some walking their pooches. I never carry peanuts when I visit here because I’ve never seen squirrels nor have I seen cardinals, blue jays or blackbirds, the usual peanut-scamming-and-enjoying suspects at Council Point Park.
Heritage Park Petting Farm.
I meandered over to the area in back of the petting farm. Bathed in the early morning light, the ramshackle old buildings with their gaping holes, long since patched up with old signs, and a rickety fence looked inviting for taking a few pictures.
Behind all the faded red paint and tired-looking fence was a gorgeous lilac bush. It was huge and set against the blue sky up top and the old white fence to the left, it made a beautiful picture. I knew I could not do it justice, even if I tried, but I told myself that an artist sitting here with easel and paints would enjoy trying to recreate that sight.
Hmm – just like these two Robins, I was on the fence for a few seconds …
… so, should I go closer to check out the lilacs, or was this private property? I didn’t see any “no trespassing” signs, no gates to unlatch and absolutely no sign of life anywhere, so I decided I must get a whiff of that large lilac bush. I thought of my pitiful lilac tree and bushes at home, still sans leaves, let alone blossoms.
The scent was intoxicating, like the finest potpourri. Well, I wish I could make a scratch-and-sniff sample for you to enjoy. I hurriedly snapped another photo, then scurried back onto the pathway again after a refreshing pause.
With a quack-quack here and a quack-quack there.
I returned to the path just as a pair of ducks decided to announce their presence by quacking before landing near the water. They gazed at one another and at me as if to say “well this is what you came here for, so take our photo already!” So I did. They posed, I clicked, then they plopped into Coan Lake for a quick swim.
They flew off and a seagull landed on the lookout point and I guess I took too many shots of him as he flew up to the covered bridge.
I saw a sparrow or two …
… and a Mourning Dove.
The Goose Family.
Before I finished one complete trip around the village, yonder, across Coan Lake, I saw them – the goose family which was recently featured on the “Photo of the Day” for Mother’s Day.
There they were, Mama Goose, with seven goslings toddling after her, and Papa Goose bringing up the rear. I decided my trip to this venue was not in vain, and thankfully I would not just be posting photos of the gorgeous trees and bushes that dot the grounds, the historical buildings and farm, but could include the Canada Geese and their offspring as well.
[Can there ever be too many baby animals or birds to ooh and aah over? I don’t know … you tell me, because the day before at Council Point Park I came home with a slew of images of goslings, Robin hatchlings, a young Heron and the usual pals along the perimeter path. I promise you some cute photos once I sort through them and work around this severe weather we are having tomorrow.]
The parents and their goslings were hanging around the Little Red Schoolhouse, more specifically underneath a small memorial tree. At Heritage Park, the memorial trees are done differently – the plaque is larger, more raised up off the ground and has the info about the loved one plus the species of tree beneath that.
The warm sun must’ve baked onto the memorial stone as several of the goslings sat there, sleepy-eyed or snoozing away.
Mama and Papa Goose were never far from their offspring.
I took dozens of photos, trying to get the goslings to look at me, but it was difficult as they were either on the move, grazing or napping. These were my favorites.
I didn’t get too close so not to anger the gander, however a dog got a little too close to the goslings and the gander hissed then flapped his wings and the dog quickly retreated.
It was an enjoyable morning getting my steps done and goose-stepping with the goslings. I’ll leave you with this quote:
Everything flourishes in the nourishment of our appreciation; plants, people, the Earth, moments. When we live with that appreciation, we flourish. ~ Kristi Nelson
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
What a beautiful park!! There must be lots of weddings there. I’m glad you got some ducks in the end:)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes it is really beautiful there AJ. I will try another park tomorrow – we don’t have ducklngs at the park I walk every day. Saw one family one time but I can’t get close enough to the water to see them or photograph them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh that’s too bad they aren’t at your regular park though I suppose it gives you a good excuse to try out other parks:)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes and I took advantage of those three sunny mornings in a row … I have to go through the other pictures tomorrow, and winnow them down. I couldn’t go last weekend as they had the “Relay for Life” Event there at that Park. It lasts all day (10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.) and goes through the Park. It used to be two days long, but this year they shortened it to 1 day – it is for cancer. I will try somewhere else tomorrow and I’m still on the lookout for swans carrying cygnets on their back too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes I try to avoid anywhere there is an event!
That would be so cool to see swans and cygnets
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve been trying to get swans and cygnets now for three years in a row … hopefully I am successful soon! Some of the parks have Little League now on Saturdays and the “wildlife” stays away as there are so many people, cars and action.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh I don’t blame that wildlife at all! I’ll keep my fingers crossed for swans and cygnet sightings this year for you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I went looking for ducklings – last time now as it was a different venue and it was so swampy and that was before the torrential rain that we having going on right at this minute – it is pouring so hard and we have severe weather coming later. I never thought to take the rainboots as I can walk on the boardwalk and a paved path – or so I thought. The boardwalk was fine, the sidewalk not so much – pools of water and nowhere to walk. I saw lots of fishermen this morning and that was about all and got home before it started to rain …. just a drizzle, nothing like we have now. Time to build an ark. I have some more baby pictures but don’t know if I can do the post due to the stormy weather. And now it is rumbling out there and we may have a potential tornado watch like the other counties do. Going to read comments and get off here I think.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh my! That weather sounds horrible. We are expecting rain starting tomorrow but hopefully nothing like that! Sorry you didn’t see any babies:(
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m monitoring this second storm. They say it is diminished and maybe only 40 mph winds – it was supposed to be 60 + mph winds for us in SE Michigan Detroit area (and possible tornadic conditions for the northern burbs, not me).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh my that does not sound good!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m following two weather folks on Twitter and have the news on to hear the latest. They are saying it is diminished but not out of the woods yet.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well I’ll keep my fingers crossed it diminishes more and disappears. That must be scary to live with that hanging over you
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you. I keep bopping between the two weather guys on Twitter. I’m tempted to shut down and just forget about it that way – at least now that it’s cooler it will be better, not as damaging – we went to 81 degrees earlier … that fueled the bad weather, but it is across 12 states in the United States … all battling potentially severe weather. We never had all this volatile weather before the last few years and climate change issues.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Precious gosling photos! My favorite is the one of the two goslings with their beaks together. 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
They were so sweet Rebecca – little balls of fluff. The gosling pics I took the day before at Council Point Park will not be as cute subjects as they are much taller and bigger. These guys kept nodding off in the sunshine as they huddled on the memorial stone. That was my favorite picture too because it reminded me of the classic swan pose beak-to-beak. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lovely photos!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Anne – glad you liked them. The goslings are so sweet toddling around after their parents.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is easy to lose oneself when one is with nature. I would lose myself too if I lived there. For me, baby animals are like the children whom I can enjoy watching growing up as my own have grown out of my house and hearth.
The downy ducklings are the cutest. The gander is scary. The school house and the mill and the white fences are all ” Anne of Green Gables” types.( not that I have seen them)
Susie
LikeLiked by 1 person
It sure is Susie. This is such a beautiful park and I picked a great time to go with all the flowering trees in bloom – they never bloom for very long and we are having a few bouts of severe weather later today (afternoon and evening) and the high winds will no doubt make the blossoms scatter everywhere and it will look like it is snowing petals. I was happy to get a close-up look at the goslings – they sure were sweet. The day before I took a lot of pictures at Council Point Park where there are three families of geese now, but I was not so close and these goslings in this post were a little younger, so they were yellowier (as opposed to gray), fuzzier and much more downy looking. So sweet. Yes, the gander is scary and he will chase after anything that he deems could harm his offspring – people or animals . I have a picture from Wednesday of a goose attack and even the goslings were hissing (quite funny to see that … but they were all facing the interloper and hissing in unison). This little village does look like “Anne of Green Gables” which I, too, read as a child. There was a movie or a series based on those books. I think I saw the movie when I was young, but not the series. I always enjoyed those books. Yesterday at Heritage Park they had an open house to tour three of the historical buildings for free – mill, schoolhouse, log cabin and an old house that is now a small museum. Maybe the church as well. It is an old church and was moved to the park from another locale. I did not attend … the park does this twice a year, the rest of the time the buildings are closed, but you can peek in.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Gorgeous pictures Linda, as always. That lilac tree was lovely – wonder why it was out so much, when ours are still shriveled – must be in a sunny spot? I especially loved the one of the goslings sunning themselves on the warm memorial stone!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad you liked them Joni. I have more from the day before where there were three sets of goslings and baby robins and I’ll try to get it done today depending on the two severe storms we will be having. I don’t like working on the computer in a storm and I still need to sort through them. Lots of baby robin pictures as well. It was a baby boom at Council Point Park. I knew you’d love that lilac bush … it was huge and it is in full sun and smelled heavenly. My lilacs are just pitiful … no leaves at all – I forgot to look at the Miss Kim for leaves. I was looking at the ones that always bloom, or used to. We are getting to 81 degrees today, which helps fuel up the storms, but that should guarantee the leaves will pop open … I’ll look when I come home from walking. I am sure the sun beating down on the marble stone made it toasty and they had sleepy eyes, or in some cases their eyes completely shut. The one gosling was running around by himself. I am sure they tire easily as they’re not that old.
LikeLike
Heritage Park is so beautiful!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is Diane – the historical village is so colorful and Coan Lake is usually a magnet for waterfowl … I don’t know where the ducks went. Any time I go there are from 50-100 of them there at any time.
LikeLiked by 1 person
So cute hope to see more of the goslings as they grow.
LikeLiked by 2 people
And they grow fast Andy. I was at Council Point Park the day before and was amazed how quickly they had grown in the space of not even a week. They lose that yellow downy look and start to look sleeker and more gray coloring and they seem like they are all legs and canoe-shaped bodies.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow looks so gorgeous now…
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes, the flowering trees make it look just beautiful. We have high winds and severe weather coming in later today and I suspect it will look like it is snowing petals there at the park.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow such amazing beautiful photos!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you Marian – glad you enjoyed them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh Linda – what a wonderful post! The photos were stunning and all the bird cuteness clutched at my heart. Those lilacs, I swear I could smell them too! Spring is such a wonderful time of the year, isn’t it? Last week, I had to head out to the big city of Richmond to have my car maintenance. After the car work, I headed over to a strip mall to do some shopping – there were several pairs of geese, with their nest, and the partners standing vigil over them. It was so nice to see, just as I was leaving a mom came by with her 13 babies, completely stopping traffic in every direction – I was enjoying the whole parade and I thought of you. xo Kim
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you Kim – I am glad you enjoyed it. Those babies were so sweet and the parents so protective of them. I stood back far enough to admire them but the Mama goose got riled up when Rover came sniffing around. Just like that she was wing-flapping and he took off running. Spring was in full force at this park with all the flowering trees and glad you could smell the lilacs as they were just awesome and the smell was so fragrant. I like seeing when the geese are crossing the street and everyone must stop for Mom and her babies waddling behind her. They grow up so quickly too – I was working on some pictures I took at the park where I walk every day – lots of babies … the robins hatched, a baby heron was fishing (unsuccessfully) and more goslings but not up so close as before and they have lost their initial fuzziness and are darker and leggier now. We have severe weather coming in, so I may have to delay the babies post until tomorrow. Spring as we know it here in SE Michigan has finally arrived … it sure dragged its feet getting here. Right now we have torrential rain and high winds so it must look like it is snowing petals at this park where the flowering trees were. It has jumped to 81 degrees and this morning it was hot and humid like you described in your last post. Whew!
LikeLike
Sounds like such a beautiful day out and about. I like the rebellious streak in you going close to the lilac bush it sounds like the reward of the fragrance was worth it. ❤
I am so glad the little family of geese crossed your path too bless them. ❤
LikeLiked by 2 people
We had three mornings of sunshine in a row Zena and I made the best of it and went looking for some nice pictures to go with upcoming posts. We have torrential rain right now and severe weather later, so I feel like I have to get out and enjoy and embrace the sunshine while it is there, as it sure is not around much anymore. I decided to take my chances with that lilac bush and I did not do it justice with the picture as it was even fuller behind and the smell was heavenly. I’m glad that little family crossed my path as well. They were tired and the sun-warmed stone was perfect for them to bed down for a nap. 🙂
LikeLike
So sweet ❤. I hope hope the rain will pass soon.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Those goslings are sweet little balls of fluff.
I hope the rain passes too soon Zena, although I have to admit that when I hear the weather woes across the U.S. these days, not just flooding but terrible tornadoes, I realize I should not complain as much about the rain.
LikeLike
I want to be transported to that park and walk along with you! I can’t pick a favorite picture – I do love the one photo of the two little beaks together, though. Looks like a heart shape. I love how you used your big lens, got lots of Bokeh going on, and how you captured lovely composition all around! Great job!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you – glad you liked the photos and I think you would love Heritage Park Shelley – that historical village, lake and those fountains would have you walking and clicking away for sure. I liked that gosling picture too as it reminds me of the classic heart-shaped swan pose, beak-to-beak. they look so fuzzy and cute there. I had to look up Bokeh, new word for me and yes I did have that going on, in part because I used the big lens and also because I used flower mode and sports mode for some shots … next weekend for the long holiday, I will hunker down and try to learn some basics on manual settings. I have told myself I will do this next weekend even if it means foregoing a post or two and I will have to take my pictures both on automatic and manual as I’ll hate to miss a shot because I didn’t do the settings correctly.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, that park is lovely. I’m sure I would enjoy it. Those goslings are ADORABLE! I’m sure once you get the hang of manual setting, it’ll come second nature to you. I only use automatic when I absolutely need to get a shot and the lighting is changing too fast for me to adjust on the fly. I look forward to seeing what you learn!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I just replied to a comment by Ally Bean that she admired my patience and eye for taking those shots for the “Baby Boom” post and I told her I’d like to learn more about the camera and get shots like yours. I have to admit that I stood there for a long time to get those shots of the babies and their upturned beaks. I waited for worm-feeding sessions and in between – it was cutting into my walk big time! You would enjoy Heritage Park Shelley – the track around the park is just a paved path for walking and biking – it is the historical village that you’d be clicking away. Right now we have a long weekend with much unsettled weather, so I will be hunkering down to learn more about the camera … my nose will be poked into “Canon EOS T6 for Dummies” … I despair over this silly weather. They said yesterday we had two days of rain-free weather. Last night I ran errands, uncharacteristic for me as I never go out after work, even when it’s light … crime is bad enough during the day. But, my boss left early and I asked if he minded if I did too so I got stuff done so I have no excuse for any errands to take me out of the house and can work on the camera. But I was getting groceries from the car and it started to rain and it is supposed to rain this afternoon. Rain every day this week prompted me to get my errands done.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow! This is really a beautiful location to go in spring! My grandkids would love it. They are great duck-feeders and the petting farm is appealing too, even though some of the buildings are run down. I would rather see the photos of the spring goslings than the poor mallards huddled together on the ice!
Even though the mallards were not plentiful, I enjoyed seeing the photos of the other birds. I love barn swallows. I have never seen one on the ground before. When I see them, they are always swooping. I have been dive bombed by tree swallows already. One of my regular running routes must have passes where they were nesting and they did not like me running through “their” territory!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes, the flowering trees were all in bloom and it was just gorgeous Laurie. Most all the local high schools go here for their prom pictures as the trees give a beautiful background. As to the petting farm, perhaps I should have added that it is not dilapidated everywhere, just in that back area which is unused, but, the peeling paint on the fence and barn give some character to this portion at any rate, especially in contrast to the beautiful lilac bush. If you look at this link, about 2/3rds of the way down, you’ll see how the petting farm looks. It is kept up nicely and the barn where the animals are at night and in bad weather is clean and well lit. They each have their own “run” and can come and go into their stall as they wish. I went for a Christmas in July event last year – Santa and his reindeer were there, but no reindeer ended up being there as the handlers said it was too hot for them. https://lindaschaubblog.net/2018/07/28/christmas-in-july/
I liked those barn swallows as well and yes, they swoop and dive and you must’ve been close to their nest. They dive-bomb in groups, not just one of them and they are hard to take a picture of as the flit around so fast. I looked in the rafters of the bridge last year and saw all these little eyes peering down at me over the top of the nests way up high. I took a few pictures, then left before any of them thought I was intruding on their nests and their offspring.
“Their territory” – sounds like the geese as well. Sometimes they monopolize the perimeter path, especially when crossing with their goslings. I always just walk on the grass, but they stand there, rather obstinately I might add, as if they are challenging you to walk in between the family members. Even the goslings have attitudes. I have some pictures of a group of goslings hissing at an adult goose and he is hissing back. Very cute – like David and Goliath.
LikeLike
That is a great setting for prom pictures. Our kids go to our local Lititz Springs Park for the same reason. There are tons of ducks there too.
One of our local parks has a small petting zoo too. It’s a big hit with the kids.
So funny about seeing the barn swallows in their nests! I would actually love to see that sometime.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Elizabeth Park is a big draw too because of the high bridge, but Heritage Park has the trees. It used to be the girls dresses resembled the trees, all pink and pastel looking with filmy layers … no longer. I follow the Heritage Park Photo of the Day for upcoming events etc. and I see how the prom outfits are now and the dresses are not that delicate, filmy material anymore … I’m getting old perhaps. The couples also go there before Homecoming too.
Yes, the barn swallows are at rest with their young – they never stop swooping, but there they were, all the eyes peering down at me.
LikeLike
I love the babies! I’m glad you got to see them after all (well some). And those robins!!!!! I can imagine them asking who that women was over there….
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad you liked the babies Eliza – they were so cute especially all huddled together on the warm stone and napping like real babies. The robins were probably saying “should we tell the owner she was snooping around … no wait, she just took our picture, so maybe we’ll rethink that!”
LikeLiked by 1 person
So nice to be finally enjoying some spring weather. Beautiful photo’s! Our lilacs should be opening this week. ☺
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Ruth, I’m glad you liked the photos. My lilacs have buds finally – I looked when I returned from walking today – probably since it was so warm. Just the one, not the other one and I have a Miss Kim mini lilac and it has never bloomed in 20 plus years. Today was really warm and we had a whopper torrential rain and are still slated for possible severe weather around 10:00 p.m., though they have diminished the risk as it cooled off after the rain storm. This is Spring as it used to be. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
A few years back when my lilacs would not flower my son-in-law told me to spread wood ashes around them. I did that in the fall and they now flower each spring. I think lime would work as well.
We had a tornado warning earlier when the first line of storms came through thankfully we only had a little hail and a lot of rain. No tornados sited. We have one more round coming through soon as well. Be safe.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is good to know Ruth. These older lilacs were planted in the late 60s. My roses don’t look good – not a bit of green on them. That happened the first Polar Vortex and I likely will need to cut them to the ground like last time. Then hope for the best. Our brutally cold -45 windchill may have done them in. I wondered how you had fared with the first round – we just had torrential rain for about 45 minutes. Yes, we have more coming through sometime between 10:00 and midnight, but they say it may have diminished. Be safe too Ruth.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Miss “goose-stepping”……………………………………………I enjoyed the beautiful spring pictures at Heritage Park and especially of the baby goslings snoozing and the two lovey goslings together……………….
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am glad you enjoyed them Ann Marie. Heritage Park was just gorgeous with all the flowering trees in bloom. I went Thursday morning and it was very quiet there as it was a weekday. Those goslings were adorable!
LikeLike
Really nice photos, Linda! I’m glad you got to see all the animals before you had to go to work! 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t normally drive that far before starting work, but I was bound and determined to see those ducklings and they had a series of events at that Park on Saturday afternoon and the weatherman said Saturday morning would be rainy and Sunday (yesterday) was iffy, so I decided to just go. I’m not going duckling hunting anymore as I went to another park yesterday – very few mallards, no ducklings … and it was flooded in spots and will be worse next weekend in all the parks after yesterday’s torrential rain and we have rain Wednesday through Friday with an unsettled weekend weather-wise.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh my! What a gorgeous day!! These photos are so crisp and beautiful as ever. I especially love this last one of the goose! Wow! I don’t think I’ve ever asked- what type of camera do you use?
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was beautiful weather that morning and I knew that last weekend’s weather was iffy, so I went early one week day before work, something I don’t usually do. I am glad you enjoyed the pictures Mackenzie – hope they gave you that much-needed sorbet between studying that you told me you needed and would get with animal photos. 🙂 For this post and Sunday’s post (all the babies in the Park) I used my DSLR … it is a Canon Rebel EOS T6 and it came as a “kit” with a 300 mm long lens. So I was able to get close-ups of the goslings. I have to learn how to use the manual settings and I’ve been lazy about doing that and just using the automatic setting in the last year since I bought it. This weekend I’m going to hunker down and study the manual as we’re having an ugly weather weekend as of today’s forecast. The rest of the time, I don’t have a smartphone and I use a small digital camera which I carry with me all the time and use 99% of the time when I am walking. It haas 12X zoom and so easy to use and I can use it one-handed if need be, so I can feed the squirrels and take pics of them at the same time. It is a Canon PowerShot ELPH 340 HS.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It absolutely was much needed sorbet 🙂
Thanks for sharing your camera with me! I need to learn my DSLR soon. I’m between that and selling it since iPhones do wonders… but they aren’t as great for far away. Your shots are SO crisp 😍
Hope studying the manual setting goes well! But the automatic mode you’re using certainly does the trick too 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad that sorbet relaxed your brain which is taxed so much with your schoolwork these days Mackenzie. You are welcome and it is much too easy to just use the automatic functions as they do work well and if I’m trying to take a picture on the fly, if I have to fiddle with setting up the camera and miss a shot I won’t be happy. Critters won’t wait so I’ll have to practice more on still shots first. I follow a photographer on Facebook. She is a retired TV news street reporter and started a blog after she retired. She is now a portrait photographer and takes beautiful shots with her DSLR as well as her iPhone. I often use her still shots around the holidays. She’s very nice – I usually pass along my blog posts when I use her shots. Jill writes a blog on using an iPhone for pics and gives tips – I think she is on Instagram – are you on Instagram? She doesn’t do a blog more than once a month – I’ll see if I can hunt up her iPhone photography tips for when you are between semesters, moving, etc. We have some severe weather moving in again so I’m going to get off here until it passes … hope you get a little R&R in this long weekend. DJ better enjoy his R&R before his bout with grad school starts too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am on Instagram!! I would love to see/read her posts. My handle is mackncheeeesy (yes 4 es, lol!).
Aw thank you – we do have one dinner planned to break up the school work, so I’m looking forward to that. Be safe this weekend!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love your Instagram name!
I joined Instagram to read Jill’s tips which she posts there – I can’t post any pictures since I don’t have a smartphone, just a flip phone. I went to Jill’s Instagram page and just saw her latest photos (scroll to the end of the page). They remind me a little of Anne Geddes photos, the babies and kids in flowers or other objects. Here is her Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/jillwellingtonphotography/
Then I went to her blog:
http://www.jillwellingtonblog.com/p/photography.html
The second category over is “Photography Tips” … just scroll down and you’ll see several iPhone topics and click on them.
Jill uses some Photoshopping techniques and something she calls overlays for her pictures (she sells the overlays) and I’ve watched her tutorials … I’m not that fancy with my pictures, but they sure are creative. So, I went on her blog to the search bar at the top left and plugged in the key words iPhone and got this, a little more re: iPhone techniques, but there were more in the category above:
https://www.jillwellingtonblog.com/search?q=iPhone
In December 2017, she had hip surgery and was laid up several months … we had a bad Winter and lots of snow. Her husband bought her a macro lens for her iPhone for Christmas so she got into macro photography. I like her regular photos better but she was quite creative with the macro photography as well. Her portraits are just exquisite. She has a model called Vintage Val and she buys vintage clothes for her shoots with Val. The portraits with kids are amazing. I follow a few nature and news sites on Facebook but follow her there as well. BTW – I never donate for the tutorials or blog posts – it is a voluntary thing only.
Glad you have something to break up the studying … soon you’ll be packing up … never a dull moment. I think I’ll be home more than out this weekend. Take care Mackenzie.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hehe glad you like it! 🤗
Ohhh I can’t wait to check these pages out- thank you so much for sharing! I bet it’ll be so helpful!! 😌 she sounds incredible!
I was at home too this weekend- do you have any Memorial Day plans?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have a 5K this morning and it is not raining – yeah, but foggy … fog was not something I was worried about with the weather, but we had really hot weather, not cool weather – Mother Nature is keeping us on our toes. Glad you liked Jill’s site … she has some real cute pics on her site especially the kids. She is fancy with overlays and some Photoshop too and gives those tricks. I hope her iPhone tips give you some insight but your pictures are always very clear and vivid already. Enjoy your down time, whatever little you can get away with.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much, Linda!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Also, woohoo for no rain!! Fog always freaks me out a bit though because it makes me feel like I’m in a horror film- lol!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t like it either and I left as late as I could to avoid it, hoping that the train tracks I had to go over were not occupied! It was a beautiful day – rare anymore in 2019 but we have rain and stormy weather coming in within the hour.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ahh you don’t get tornados in MI often, right? I am so worried about all this tornado activity going on in OH & other states 😦
LikeLiked by 1 person
We do get tornadoes here in Michigan Mackenzie – we had three of them last year – one five miles away at Heritage Park (the park where this post took place) and the other two about 15-20 miles away. Another one further away last week was an E-0 which is the lowest tornado, but still caused some damage. It’s all very scary to me and I had heard about the tornado in the Dayton area, but didn’t want to mention it to you until you heard from relatives in Ohio in case anyone lived, worked, etc there. I don’t like the sound of any of this erratic weather anymore and the devastation across the U.S. with the tornado outbreak the past two weeks is very scary. If it’s not flooding, it’s tornadoes or some other natural disaster – it’s very disconcerting. We had a mild earthquake in Michigan last year. In January 2018, a big meteorite hit the ground and I was sitting here at the table and heard the back screen door rattle. It was dark, maybe 8:30-9:00 p.m. I never heard anything else, and I put on the news a few minutes later and heard the meteor had crashed and shook SE Michigan. A few months later, I felt a rumble under the kitchen floor while I was sitting here at the table. I thought “is that an earthquake?” Put on the radio news and it was an earthquake – all the neighbors ran to the front door and onto their porches … cold outside, but maybe they thought it was a natural gas explosion. My news station had I.D.’d it right away.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Woahhhh! That is crazy about the tornadoes, earthquake, and meteorite all in MI?! I agree… this weather is insane… and it’s getting immensely worse by the year. It really is quite terrifying 😪
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is and yesterday we had torrential rain 3X and two storms. The Grand Prix is in town and it messed things up on the island and they had to shuttle all the people off the island and into downtown Detroit. I lost my power for 3 1/2 hours and then it stormed most of the evening. I am behind here. and it is raining now but I am hoping to walk mid-day when it stops. All across the U.S., there are new records for tornado outbreaks and flooding – as you say it is terrifying.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh my goodness that is awful!! Is everything better now? Power back on and all? Seriously so scary!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, I was lucky this time and it came back on in less than four hours – but some are still out; last I heard, 1,500 people/businesses. and it is just the beginning of the Summer heat/humidity making more volatile storms. Sigh. My boss has left NM and is in Stockton, TX as of last night – he will be in Austin by Wednesday – he says it is like being out in the middle of nowhere as he made this 500-mile journey yesterday.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is so nuts!!! I hope it all gets resolved soon!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I just love all the babies.. Great photos too. i have to check out that park again soon.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad you liked them Pril. I follow the Heritage Park Photo of the Day and the photographer said there were ducklings so I went up to see them one morning before work … these days you have to catch your walks/photos when the sun is shining.
LikeLike
What a wonderful journey. I love the photos and narrative. Thanks so much for making my day
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you and you have made my day with your comment as well!
LikeLike