Have you ever felt burdened down with too many things to deal with? This Red-eared Slider turtle had every right to feel that way! :) Maybe it didn't even notice. But one can't just ignore it and hope it will go away. All the turtle would have to do is go back in the water and wash its troubles away.

Carol found this photo of my mother, Paula, who was 16 at the time the photo was taken. I think it had been in photos my father had when he died. I am so happy he kept this photo even though he remarried after my mother died. She was such a beautiful lady, young or old.

This is the only photo we have of her as a teenager. So it is precious to us. She was born in Germany and grew up in a small town in the Black Forest, called Lauterbach. She came across the Atlantic in a ship to marry a man from her hometown, to a small town in northern Alberta, Canada. Unfortunately, he died of pneumonia after they had been married probably only four years. My father was an acquaintance of theirs and ended up marrying my mother. In about a year and a half, I came along. By that time, my parents moved to Olympia Washington, where my father was born. So through this series of consequences I was born, also in Olympia.

Our daughter, Angie, lost one of her horses just recently. Her name was Patrina. She was left on to be cared for by a friend, who didn't know horses. She had roamed freely in pastures, eating grass anytime she wanted. A horse's intake of grass needs to be controlled, so Patrina's health was not the best when Angie got her. But she had a good life here, having two other horses as companions. But her health issues got the best of her, and she was getting old besides. This all worked against her and she didn't pull through. Poor Angie, she takes such good care of her horses and gets quite attached to them. So losing one is never easy. Patrina was a pretty little thing.

I watched this bee as it approached a flower at Delta Ponds, and wanted to get a shot of it in the air. I like the result.

An interesting point from the Science Daily website http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130620111208.htm

"Bumblebees searching for nectar go for signposts on flowers rather than the bull's eye. A new study, by Levente Orbán and Catherine Plowright from the University of Ottawa in Canada, shows that the markings at the center of a flower are not as important as the markings that will direct the bees to the center."

I learned something today that I evidently missed a couple years ago. What we have been calling the Western Scrub Jay is no more! What was called Western Scrub Jay species has been split in two. We now have the California Scrub Jay, the one that we see here year round, and Woodhouse's Scrub Jay. I got this nice shot of the California Scrub Jay in Delta Ponds.

Here is some good information on the name changes from Feedwatch.org - http://feederwatch.org/blog/farewell-western-scrub-jay/ The article is entitled, "Goodbye Western Scrub Jay"

One thing that impresses me about living in the country, and especially near a lake, is how much of the sky one can see. There is an unobstructed view, and the sky looks much bigger and the clouds awesome! I enjoyed this scene.