Sunday, October 19, 2025

Photo-a-Day Week 42

Week 42, a few more plant photos than in previous weeks. I did have a choice of several photos on one day, Day 290. Remember to be thinking about which one of the 365 photos is your favorite as the year draws to a close. 


Day 286-

Millie came out to the living room area to watch as Charlie adjusted the front door. It wasn't closing properly, and there was a lot of opening and closing of said door. All the animals were interested in what was happening.

Watching from a safe spot

Day 287-

We had a nice, clear, warm/pleasant day, so Charlie decided to stain the deck. He had cleaned it over the previous days. Not a fun job, but needed to be done to protect the wood on the deck. 

Staining the Deck


Day 288-

Some of my dogwood trees are starting to show their fall color. This one is also showing the fruit from last year's blooms and the tiny minarets of next year's blooms. Dogwoods, Cornus florida, bloom in the early spring with tiny yellow flowers. The white bracts that surround the flowers are often mistaken for the petals of the flowers. 


Last spring and next spring


Day 289-

When I take the dogs outside to play in the morning, many times there is a lone Mourning Dove just sitting very still in the grass. I wasn't sure if it would fly away when I tried to get a photo, but this dove stayed put for a quick photo. Getting a photo of a bird with a cell phone isn't easy, the zoom isn't very long-reaching. 


Mourning Dove


Day 290-

Walking through the backyard I was tickled to see one of the Cyclamen was blooming. I have several Cyclamen neapolitanum planted in the wooden area of the garden. I see the leaves but often miss the blooms. 

Cyclamen


Day 291-

I am lucky to have a pair of Persimmon trees in our yard. They produce some fruit, though not a lot. 
Persimmons, Diospyros virginiana, need two trees, male and female, to bear fruit. The male and female trees in my front yard almost look like a double trunked single tree. The pollinators love the blooms.


Persimmon

Day 292-

Our trees are starting to show their fall colors, and the morning light hitting the leaves makes them shine. The yellow leaves in the photo are one of the many hickories we have in our yard. The sky in the background was dark with rain clouds. We could use the rain, though we were only graced with a small amount. I checked the gauge, 4/100" of rain. First reports were an anticipation of 2/10", and it was an over exaggeration. I will be sharing the side yard foliage over the next few weeks. The lot to the left sold and the new owners are moving ahead with plans to build. The lot line is pretty close to the garden edge, so the look will be changing for sure.  


Fall colors with dark skies


The day I found the Cyclamen blooming, I got a few other photos. It was a tough choice between the one chosen and the ones below. Please enjoy Rudbeckia laciniata, a small fern in the crevice of a rock, Calico aster- Symphyotrichum lateriflorum, and a tiny toad. I think the toad is a Fowler's Toad, but not sure.





Would you have chosen differently? 
Be sure to subscribe to the posts on Substack. The link to my Substack page is  https://janetledebuhr.substack.com/
I hope you are thinking about your favorite one! See you next week.

©Copyright 2025 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet, The Queen of Seaford.

Sunday, October 12, 2025

Photo-a-Day Week 41

Week 41 seems to have more blooms with butterflies; Fall brings an abundance of these winged beauties. I need to read more about Fritillary butterflies. I have seen some that are quite a bit smaller than the ones I have pictured below. 



Day 279-

I noticed this tiny mushroom in the garden and bent down to photograph it. After looking at what I captured I realized there was a small snail on the mushroom. Before the photo, I thought it was a bump on the mushroom. Pays to lean in and look closely!

Snail on Mushroom

Day 280-

The Pineapple Sage, Salvia elegans, blooms in October and it attracts Cloudless Sulphur butterflies. With the sun behind the butterfly, it really glowed. 

Cloudless Sulphur on Pineapple Sage

Day 281-

These beauties are Gulf Fritillary butterflies. As I mentioned above, I have seen smaller Fritillary butterflies, and after reading more, I found that there are several Fritillary butterflies in South Carolina. Perhaps the ones I see that are smaller are the Variegated Fritillary.  These are enjoying the nectar of the Ironweed that is blooming in the garden. 


Fritillary butterflies on Ironweed


Day 282-

We arrived at the grocery store this week to find a fire truck sitting by the entrance. I have no idea if anything was wrong. I tried a few views of the truck to see if I could get a good photo. While I used this one, I had others from which to choose. Still not sure if this was the better choice.  One of the other choices is below.

Fire truck at the grocery store


Day 283-

I have had this Encore azalea for years. The deer have pruned it over the years, taking flower buds away with the tasty leaves. For some reason, the deer allowed it to bloom this fall. Encore azalea 'Autumn Twist' blooms twice, once in the spring and then in the fall. 

Encore!


Day 284-

We went to a concert in Greenville this week, at the Radio Room. I like the open ceiling where you can see the ductwork and structure supporting the ceiling and lighting throughout the area. 

Radio Room


Day 285-

I try to use fewer paper napkins. By the dining room table is a basket full of colorful cloth napkins. When the kids visit, everyone is assigned a color, and that is their napkin for a meal or two. They wash easily and when they are worn out, they make good dusters. 

Rainbow Selection


Discarded photos-

I didn't choose the black and white image of the fire truck because I wanted a bit of the color to pop. This filter is from an app called 'Prisma'. Some of the filters are free, and others are behind a paywall. I only use the free ones.


The day I chose the Cloudless Sulphur on Pineapple Sage, I also had this little beauty in the possible photos. It is interesting to see the inner spiral of the snail shell. While not the first choice, worth sharing.


This brings another week to a close. There are only eleven weeks to go! Keep coming back, at the end of the year I would love to hear which were your favorites! 

©Copyright 2025 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet, The Queen of Seaford.

Sunday, October 5, 2025

Photo-a-Day Week 40


Week 40, how about that! It seems that each week is going by quickly. The latter part of the week, we were at our twice-a-year music festival, the Albino Skunk Music Festival. Going to Skunk Fest lends itself to getting some fun photos. Hope you enjoy this week's offering of photos. Remember to subscribe to this blog on Substack. Here's the link- https://janetledebuhr.substack.com/  go to the page and click the subscribe button. The follow.it email subscription is now just sending advertisements and the link to my blog. When I signed up to follow.it, the entire post was in the email, now, none of it is. 


Day 272-

About every two weeks, I take apart our robot vacuum, wash the filters, and replace them with dry ones. With two dogs and a cat, we have a lot of hair and dust that is picked up. Buying a second set of filters for both the robot and upright vacuums was a great idea. The drying ones were on the kitchen counter, with the lamp light shining through. 

Vacuum guts

Day 273- 

I was surprised to see my Bottlebrush blooming. Callistemon viminalis 'Woodlander's Hardy' has been renamed to be Melaleuca viminalis 'Woodlander's Hardy'. It usually blooms in the summer, early summer. The fact that it is blooming now is not usual. 

Bottlebrush


Day 274-

If you have been a reader of my blog for a long time, you know I have written about various trees. The Beech tree, Fagus grandifolia, is one on my list. None of the photos I have of the Beech tree includes the nut. These nuts are edible. How many of you remember beechnut gum? While the gum bears the name of the Beech tree, and a logo of a stylized beech tree, it does not contain any part of the tree. This tree is in my neighbor's front yard. I told her the other day that the tree was bearing nuts. She didn't know that it had nuts this year. If you want to read more about an American Beech, here's a link to my post. http://thequeenofseaford.blogspot.com/2010/03/tuesdays-trees-american-beech-fagus.html

Beech Nut


Day 275-

While driving into town, we encountered a traffic backup. You can see a log truck up the line of vehicles. There was road work going on. The intersection roadway was in such bad condition, really glad it was getting fixed. One part of the road was like a washboard. Really bumpy!!!

Traffic in Greenwood


Day 276-

Our first day at Skunk fest, the sky was so blue. There wasn't a cloud in sight, the sun was shining, and the post oak we were sitting under was providing dappled shade. It was a perfect fall day. 

Blue Skies


Day 277-

What's more fun than a disco ball? A disco ball with bubbles all around it! The sunlight was hitting the little mirrors but the bubbles really put it over the top. 

Bubbles and bling


Day 278-

After you walk through the entrance to the Skunk farm, on your way to where the stage is, you pass a message board (for lack of a better word). This covered board has almost all the posters from the festivals over the years. Hurricane Helene hit the area, and the previous posters were ruined. I am glad there were more to replace those. Each poster is a great memory of past music. We have been going to Albino Skunk Fest for fifteen years, and loved every minute of it. 

Skunk history

Not used photos--

Like I said at the top of the post, there were lots of possible photos from which to choose. There are multiple metal lawn chairs around the grounds. This was a sitting area, just behind the message board pictured above. 


Rusty metal gears and little mirrors make some interesting mobiles to catch the sunlight.


Nice line-up of chairs, preset for the viewing of the music. Getting photos of rusty chairs is like getting photos of fog, I am drawn to it!


Last photo in the line-up is of the bib of my husband's overalls. Friday was overalls day. I looked around for a good picture of a row of bibs, but only got this one of Charlie's. 


Thanks for stopping by again for this past week's photo of the day. Be sure to check out the Substack link.


©Copyright 2025 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet, The Queen of Seaford.