sharleenstuartShare Six: June 2016: Earth
It seems like time flies. How did we already get to blogging for June. This is the 4th month of Share Six and it has been so good to get to know my fellow bloggers and also to get to know the photographers sharing through their images and their participation in the group.
Kim chose the theme EARTH this month. Part of her thoughts that resonated with me were “therapeutic, calming, relaxing ….connecting to the natural world in a meaningful way”.
I had my thoughts on the topic but decided to go ahead and look up the definition of earth – “the planet on which we live” and “the diversity of life on earth” Both are pretty broad topics. I am an outdoors person when it comes to vacations. We camp a lot. Typically we head to the beach. Recently we were in Seattle. The earth is vast and made up of cities and open spaces, beaches and mountain, humans and critters, sunrises and sunsets and all sorts of various other criteria.
I love critters. Living on the edge of the Florida Everglades I see a lot of critters. This past weekend I managed to rescue a mouse from the jaws of terror, aka Moonshine the cat. I quickly discovered that cats get lockjaw when they have a mouse in their teeth. I had to push my finger in her mouth and slowly ease it so that she released the mouse. Poor little mouse had eyes as big as a small bead. It took off so fast as it was released that Moonshine did not get a chance to catch it again. Then I heard Simba doing his cat growl. Oh yes, when I looked through the slates of the deck the opossum was back underneath there sleeping. Last year she had babies, which we never got to see because she is nocturnal. All I needed was to look up in the tree and see a raccoon. I have done that before. Between these critters, the squirrel who comes to the fence each day, the birds, the gators, and even a bobcat, I have learned to appreciate what this earth has to offer.
This past weekend I took a bit of time to go and sit outside on the grass and enjoy the late afternoon light. My idea was to snap a few photo’s of dragonflies. This is what my brief time out there looked like before the mosquito’s arrived.
Sitting on the edge of the grass are these tiny weeds. Annoying to some but in my mind beautiful because all of the earth has various elements of beauty.
The Four Spotted Pennant Dragonfly is a common sight out on the back canal. I love dragonflies simply because they are one of the most interesting insects to look at. Added to that they eat the mosquito’s that summer brings. They are also food for the baby chicks that are being born in the area. So is the cycle of life.
I had some bread to throw away and so when I went out, I took it with me to feed the fish. It does not take long for the rest of the feathered variety to arrive. This White Ibis grabbed a couple of pieces that landed close to the edge of the water.
As did this Boat Tailed Grackle. Grackles are a common sight out back and at times they will arrive in droves.
And who should wander in to check out all the activity but Big Blue as I commonly call our resident Great Blue Heron. After 30 minutes of watching and waiting he finally got into stalk mode.
Big Blue dove into the water but came up short. No fish for him at that attempt. By now the mosquito’s were beginning to bite and it was time for me to go back in. I love sitting outside and enjoying the activities of nature. This is what earth represents to me. The beauty of creation. The diversity of life and living beings. We are here for such a short time. Enjoy what planet Earth has to offer. Take care of it. Respect it. Love it.
We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors
We borrow it from our children
~ Native America Proverb
Thank you for joining me for this month’s Share Six. This is a circle blog. Please take time to visit my my friend and fellow blogger Erica from Woodsy Wonders Photography and see what she has for you this month. Keep following the circle to see what the other photographers have shared this month. Don’t forget to leave a little love on their page as well.
If you are interested in seeing more of my photography take a look at my Facebook page, my Instagram page or my Flickr page.
Now it is your turn. Don’t forget to like us on facebook at Share Six and come and share your images on the theme Earth throughout the month of June on our Facebook page. A new theme will come out on July 6.
Remember you can follow us on Instagram at @sharesix and tag your images #sharesix and #sharesix_earth.
You can also find the Share Six webpage at http://www.sharesix.wordpress.com
We cannot wait to see your images on EARTH.
8 Comments on “Share Six: June 2016: Earth”
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sharleenstuart 
Love the wildlife photos Sharleen! Very colorful and vibrant, and great job saving that little mouse’s life. I am sure it was quite thankful!
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Thanks Brandi – that poor mouse ran for its very life. Just this weekend I was saving a lizard from Simba. I just hope the opposum does not come out when those two are around outside.
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Lovely! I love to photograph weeds too. And that blue heron is truly gorgeous and you captured him beautifully! Great job
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Thank you so much. That Heron is a part of my weekend viewing.
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Wonderful images, Sharleen! I am always amazed at your wildlife photography.
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Thank you so much Kim.
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AMAZING pictures, Sharlene!! How close were you to these birds? We have a blue heron in the pond behind our house. I’ve thought about photographing him, but he won’t let me get very close. We also have pelicans and bald eagles here on the Mississippi that I thought would be fun to photograph. I may just have to finally try to get some pictures of them.
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Thanks Katherine – I was pretty close. They were at the waters edge and I was sitting as still as I could not the bank about 20 paces away. Eagles would be really nice to shoot. I have done Pelicans.
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