Spend enough time walking around in the woods and you eventually develop a sort of sixth sense about something that doesn't belong. This is especially true for me with colors.

Well, as I was walking along yesterday, I was struck by two brown leaves sticking up in the middle of what was very long dark green grass mixed with various green weeds. It just didn't make sense that a dried up old pair of brown leaves should be sticking up there. Well, it actually turned out to be two ears! One belonged to the little deer you see below, and the other to its sibling. They were just napping by themselves in this mass of greenery, their bodies completely invisible.

As soon as I realized what these leaves really were, the deer saw me and bolted. They stopped and turned to look at me about 50 yards away. I could only photograph one because the other was in shade that was too dark to pull anything out of. The broken tombstone you see is about 2 feet tall, so you can see how small this deer is. They must know that I will not walk inside the fence because there are thousands of people buried there. Some reports are there are as many as 5000 bodies of the dearly departed in this relatively tiny cemetery, many of them in mass graves. The deer don't seem to mind because I have frequently seen and photographed many of them there throughout the years.

Some birds I was observing from quite a distance.

Yeah, so there they were...

A young deer at Tom Sawyer Park.

A young buck spent some time posing for me at Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville, KY.

A hummingbird moth drinks up at Tom Sawyer Park.

This day serves as our reminder that not everyone comes home…

I often wonder how those of “The Greatest Generation,” especially those who left this world prematurely because they sacrificed their lives so we could have the lives and lifestyles we have today, might view what we have done with their gift. I wonder what kinds of opinions they would hold about who we have become as a nation.

The most horrible thing I can imagine is that they might think their sacrifice was not worth it and that we have squandered the gift that they won for us. 

All it took was about 10 minutes of watching the cable news channels for me to pick out five  things that I think we need to change if we are to preserve the gift we received from them.

My five tenets to build a stronger nation:

1. Less “me,” more “we”.
2. Less interest in how rich our neighbors are and more gratitude for how rich our lives are.
3. Less focus on the lives of celebrities and more on the celebration of life.
4. Less focus on our individual differences and more on the different ways we are united.
5. Less concern with what we can get for free and more concern with ensuring we remain free.

In order that we may never forget the price that was paid on our behalf by those who gave all they had, and all they would ever have, so we could remain free. Today I dedicate this photo to those who remain, forever young…

When this guy sang, his entire body shook. I could hear him on the other side of the park!

Seems to have a bit of a tongue retention problem...

Three curious deer at Tom Sawyer Park crane their necks to figure out who this person with the camera is.

Sometimes "shooting" a photograph has its similarities with shooting a gun in that you have to be aware of what's downrange past your target. I had hoped that the big gnarly tree behind this actual piece of art, called "The Dance Of Life", would make for a suitable background. Turns out it does! I also think the patina on the inside of the woman's dress, if you squint a little, looks a lot like a shot of the night sky of the variety that you might see in the NASA photo of the day..

This is on the plaque below the the sculpture.

Another beauty from the outdoor art museum, that is Cave Hill Cemetery.

People often ask me, "What's the best camera?" Of course the correct answer is, "The one you have with you..."

Shot with an iPhone, through my car window, while stopped at a traffic light. I didn't even have time to roll the dirty window down!

From my Thanksgiving-day walk. I think the male Cardinal looks a little crazy... The Downy Woodpecker wouldn't give me a good shot and the Turkey Vulture was circling over my car!

Never can get a satisfactory shot of one of these guys. Probably my favorite bird, the Cedar Waxwing. I still think they look like they come from the future! I just wish they would come around more and maybe land a little lower on the tree for once..

It was a dark & dreary day at Tom Sawyer Park. At times it was so dark I didn't think I had enough light for photos. I had not really seen anything all day that was particularly interesting, so I decided to walk out through a thick area of woods. Along the way I got bored, stopped walking, and started looking at my phone (which I NEVER do in the woods!). I don't think I was looking at it for more than 5 minutes when I heard that tell-tale blowing sound that deer make when they sense danger. I turned around and there she was, but only for a second. I wasn't in a hurry, so I just kneeled on the ground and waited. Eventually she walked back with another deer, but never as close as the first time when she snuck up on me. I had to stay low so I "walked" about 50 feet on my knees while peering above the random foliage. Each time I could see her cautiously looking my way, I would bring the camera up and then not find her in the viewfinder. Put the camera down and there she'd be. Camera up, she's gone, down, she reappears. "How can this be?" I wondered. Eventually her timing was off enough that I did get two shots. I was beginning to think that this was some sort of disappearing, Ghost Deer.

Like Icarus, sometimes I fly too close to the sun...

I got another chance to fly with some hawks today. I initially saw one and wanted to get up in the air to greet it but, just at the top of my launch, I almost ran into a second one that I didn't know was there. I rolled to one side to avoid startling hawk number two and flew over to the original hawk and hawk number two followed along.

My camera is just a tiny mobius bolted to my hat but it captured some dramatic lens flare in this short clip.

Why, hello there...