It has become an evening ritual.

Elke and Michael gave a yellow daylily to Judy for Mother's Day when we lived in Benton. Our collection of daylilies has grown ever since. We have had several moves over the intervening years and we have taken the flowers with us. I created one bed by the pool in April before I retired. I made another large bed early this spring. Now we have nearly 50 varieties, that begin blooming in late May and continue through mid-August. The blooms only last for the day, and Judy likes to have fresh flowers each morning. So we gather up the spent blooms, "deadheads", each evening. By early July, we are gathering literally hundreds of blooms. Some do not look "over and done" as the photo above attests. But in the morning, they would be withered and drooping alongside the fresh blooms. I find it nearly as enjoyable to gather the blossoms each evening as it is to appreciate all of the new blossoms each morning, although I wish we used another word other than "deadhead". I'd like to say we are "gathering glory". Just another part of living in paradise at the "Hideaway".

My friend Byron Jorjorian always (maybe always) has a polarizer on his lens when he is shooting photos. I admit that is not my practice. I do usually have one with me and this weekend was a prime example when to use one.

The photo above was shot without a polarizer. Notice the reflections on the water and the wet leaves. The photo below was shot from the same position, although the camera was shifted a little to the left for what I thought would be a better composition. This time a polarizer was used. Polarizers rotate on the front of the lens so that reflections can be eliminated. Notice the rocks in the stream.

I was asked a lot this weekend about my camera. Lots of people take pictures with their phone, but several were considering a "real" camera. I'm not sure you can take this kind of photo with a phone. I'll bet I'll hear from someone about this.

I've been to Great Smoky National Park numerous times, but this last weekend was the first time since I retired

So, it feels like another step on the way to complete retirement. I'm not certain I am satisfied with the processing, but I just got home and I wanted to share it. I process my images first with Lightroom 5. I increased the exposure 1/3 stop, added additional exposure to the trees on the left. Boosted the clarity and vibrance, opened the shadows, and increased the highlights. By the way I used a polarizer, tripod, and a .9 neutral density filter. Exposure was 2.5 seconds at f/6.3 with ISO of 200. This stream is on the North Carolina side of the park. Conditions were perfect: cloudy and rainy. I love this place!

There is a statue of Athena in the Parthenon. She is 42 feet tall, and mostly covered by eight pounds of gold leaf. The figure in her hand is 6'4" tall and represents Nike (Victory). It is claimed to be the largest indoor sculpture in the Western world. It certainly is a surprise to see it in this building. I could not help but wonder "why?"

I finally visited Nashville's Parthenon at Centennial Park. It's a fun place to spend an afternoon or more.

Many of the birds who visit our backyard feeders have been bringing their young.

This is an immature Red-Bellied Woodpecker. Both the male and the female parent has a red patch on the back of the head, with the male's red extending to a cap. It does seem a misnomer to me that it is named red-bellied as the red is on the head.

The older birds of several species have been introducing their young to the feeder. Last week I noticed a female cardinal feeding a rather large grayish bird that didn't look like a cardinal. I was mystified as I saw it occur several times, then I realized it was an immature cowbird. Cowbirds lay their eggs in other birds' nests. And the young cowbirds then often push the other eggs or younger, smaller birds out of the nest. Not my favorite species, obviously.

It does stir questions in my mind. And the possible questions that could be asked by the cardinal parents: "Junior doesn't look like either one of us. What do you suppose happened?"

I don't know how old the boy was, but he was John Deere green through and through.

This tractor is older than him. It's nearly older than me, being produced from 1952 through 1956. More than 32,000 were built at the factory in Waterloo, Iowa. I suspect it's horsepower has been boosted some as it was originally only 28. The tractor and driver, preparing to participate in a pulling contest, are being weighed so that additional weight can be added to keep it just under the limit for its class. You may notice that 8 plates have already been added to the front end of the tractor. It was a hot day, and I didn't stick around to the end, but from experience I know these events can last awhile as weight is added to the sled to make the competition more difficult with each pass. I could tell that he intended to win.

Last year, we drove clear across the metro area to learn about counting and banding hummingbirds.

The diminutive birds were caught by patient volunteers at the feeders (springing a trap door once the bird had come to the feeder) and brought to the naturalist who weighed them, determined their sex, and attached a small leg band (if they had not been banded before). It was fascinating to note that, since hummingbirds are migrating birds, several older birds had returned to the same area, which was noted in the naturalist's journal. But as you can see from the photo, these birds are small, with weight measured in grams. And they are just as impressive as the large birds. Who would have guessed what a fun event this would be?