Chet's Walk in the Park

Chet here - hope you're having a great Memorial Day weekend if you live in the U.S., folks.  The Roommate is taking it easy today, so I'm standing in as guest blogger.  Thought I'd take you along on one of my daily park walks.  And I don't mind admitting that I'm just the right height for some macro views.  The only problem is that I have a hard time slowing down for the Roommate to get those macro shots, so don't be too critical of her photography. (click on the photos and mosaics to enlarge)

We go through three connected parks, so in order here are just a few of the interesting things we see.  First, these nifty tulip poplar blooms that fell in the grass from Neighbor Mary's tree:

Next we cross over the bridge to get to the second park.  Sometimes the sun makes a little water magic on the creek:

Now we were walking along the creek bank when I spotted these strange things.  The Roommate jerked me back and yelled "Don't eat!"  Like I'd confuse this with a Beggin' Strip!  Anyway, she thinks they're mushroom or fungi, but can't find the same thing on Google.  Anyone help us out?

Now here the proper position to get a macro view of your world--every time we go through the park I have to check the hole in this tree trunk.  Keep hoping I'll find a snake.  The Roommate, not so much:

Now when I was down in the macro position, look what I almost stepped on!  At first this old Turtle Boy had his head out all friendly and then he just closed up shop.  Believe me, I was just as scared as he was.  His backside is not quite as cute as my "bubbles", but he is very handsome:

At this point we're heading back through the parks.  Of course the Roommate was oohing and aahing about the wildflowers and bushes, especially the honeysuckle and dogwood.  And she keeping going on about interesting the sycamore bark is.  Me, I'm still thinking about Mr. Turtle:

Final stop on our walk is in Neighbor Mary's yard.  I take the opportunity to lie down and rest for the walk home while she takes photos of this bench.  I pointed out the robin having a foot long worm (get it?) with my macro vision:

Well, I lied.  The bench was next to last stop.  The Roommate has been trying to get a macro shot of these Japanese maple whirlygigs for a long time.  Here I get one as a cap, so suggested that we let well enough alone and go home!

Hope you enjoyed tagging along for a view of my world.  Enjoy your summer and we'll chat again further on down the road.  Chet

Linking to: Macro Monday and Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday .

Friday Fences - Old Stink Eye

What could this be staring at the photographer between the fence pickets?

While she got the stink eye, here's what the photographer was trying to capture: an all-time favorite spring combo of lilacs blooms and Japanese bloodgood maple leaves.

Edits:  PicMonkey special effect Dark Edge.  Linking to Friday Fences at Life According to Jan and Jer .

Macro and Mosaic Monday - Chet Warhol

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I thought about calling this post "Chet PicMonkeyed", but then decided that "Chet Warhol" was a better fit for the mosaic.  Anyway!  I played around a bit with PicMonkey special effects to zero in on some of the Wild Man's best qualities--wedgey ears, soft brown eyes, hound dog snout, speckles, and that telltale rim of mud around his nose left over from his favorite pasttime, digging.  This is PicMonkey special effect HDR.

Then I went a little crazy and tried out the Warhol special effect and thought he looked almost as good as Andy Warhol's psychedelic Marilyn Monroes--remember them?

Then a Facebook friend suggested that he would look good in an arrangement of 3s like Warhol's famous Coke bottles or Marilyns.  I didn't, however, think the world needed a painting of 32 Chets like the famous Campbell's soup cans by Warhol. :-)

Linking to: Macro Monday and Mosaic Monday

Friday Skywatch and Fences - Spring Dawn

A welcome sight earlier this week.  After the first two weeks of spring bringing only cold, rainy, snowy weather, finally a promise of sunshine in the dawn sky.

Also glad to see that my neighbor's forsythia blooms have survived the cold temps.  However, those boards, blocks, and logs crammed under the fence do not make me nearly as happy.  The entire perimeter of the fence looks like this--all due to Chet the Digger's winter's work.  Right now the only remedy I can think of is a "pawectomy".  Your suggestions?

Linking to Skywatch Friday and Friday Fences .

Irish Garden Week - Lakemount in County Cork

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Irish Garden Week - in celebration of St. Paddy's Day this week, when we all claim to be a bit Irish, thought I would share some photos from a 1998 garden tour of Ireland.  This is Lakemount in County Cork.  Brian Cross (in wellies) is the garden designer/artist, assisted by "Violet".  Highlights:  fantastic mixed shrub borders, clipped beech hedges with a view, simply stunning arrangement of containers and plants, and a green velvet lawn.

Here are a few more closeups of the garden, including the assistant gardener :-) :

Check back in periodically for the rest of the week and I'll share some different gardens, traveling southwest from Dublin.  Slainte!

Waiting for Spring

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Are you looking for signs of spring this weekend?  If so, here's some encouragement.  All these photos were taken in my neighborhood between March 9-22, 2012.  So, while the only thing going on now is the tree canopies are "softening" and crocus and dafs are budding, soon there'll be a repeat of this colorful show.

Meanwhile, here's one way to celebrate sunshine and temps in the mid-60s:

Oh, and not ten minutes ago I heard a lawn mower running.  That's a sign of spring that I could do without!

Chet's Baby Book

Chet here, folks - guess what?  I was a year old on January 22nd!  This past year has been just great!  I've about got the Roommate trained.  And, it's just a lot of fun to chat with you here at Summit Musings and let's not even try to understand how popular I am on Facebook!  Why I received so many good wishes, it was amazing.  Who knew how easy it is to be a social media star? 

These photos are some of the Roommate's favorites from April and May last year when I was about 3 months old.  You can see I have a tough life. . . 

Friday Fences - Chet Learns to Roll Snowballs

Wheeee!  Chet here, Folks - here I am out in the backyard enjoying my first snow.  Excited doesn't even begin to describe how I felt when the Roommate let me out in this stuff for the first time.  As you can see I'm just a blur for the camera as I raced hither and yon.

This is the classic downward dog yoga pose.  The Roommate says you need to focus on a fixed point to execute this move.  A bone works fine for me.

But I digress. The Roommate is allowing me to take over our blog today to show you this amazing trick that I learned to do in this stuff--snowball rolling. So, in five easy steps:

Step 1 - dig out one of the cement blocks that the Roommate chocks under the fence to keep me from digging out of the yard.  Too big to carry, so. . .

Step 2 - . . .start rolling!  At first it's so easy that I can stop to snack on a little snow.  Not as good as a Slim Jim, but not bad.

Step 3 - take a moment to strategize when the ball gets too heavy.  Work smarter, not harder is my motto.

Step 4 - Reverse direction makes easier rolling.  Wonder why that Greek guy Sisyphus didn't figure this out when he kept trying to push that rock up a mountain?

Step 5 - Good enough for the first day since I had to go inside for my dinner.  The next day I put in a few hours perfecting my first snow ball.  If we get another snow this winter maybe I'll build a snowdog.  Stay tuned and don't forget to enjoy the season you're in.

Now for some more Friday Fences, and the goins' on behind them, be sure to check out my friend Janis at Life According to Jan and Jer .

2012 in Review - Favorite Photos

Out of the bazillion or so photos I've taken this year, thought it might be fun to choose a favorite for each month as a way to reflect on how 2012 rolled along. Note: the one I've chosen may not be the best photos I took for that month. I just liked it for one reason or another above all the others.

January - sharp shinned hawks roosted in a tree in my back yard long enough for a photo op.

February - Good Old Dog Willie in his twilight.

March - pink dogwood in bloom

April - Chet, aka Bubbles Riley, 3 mos. old and in his new home on his new sofa

May - Chet the Good Eater after 1 cup of pup food and 2 mini  beggin' strips

June - a soft, natural sunset--straight out of the camera, no fiddling

July - 4th of July fireworks display from my deck

August - Garden 9 on the Historic Louisville Garden Tour

September - Moscow, Russia lights on Moscva River from the Red October Chocolate Factory

October - Bernheim Bridge over Beargrass Creek, Seneca Park, Louisville

November - sunset on the Ohio River, Railroad Bridge connects Louisville and Indiana

December - Olivia M, a thoroughbred beauty, on the Offuit Cole horse farm, Old Frankfort Pike, near Midway, Ky

So, that was an enjoyable way to look back at 2012.  I've enjoyed sharing photos with all of you this year.  Happy New Year friends,  and all the best to you and yours in 2013.

Merry Christmas from Chet

Merry Christmas from the Roommate and me.  You may remember that I almost dug to China on this day via the backyard.  Hope you're not traveling THAT far for the holidays.  But wherever you are, have a wonderful time.

Great White Hunter

Thought some of you dog lovers might enjoy an update from Chet the wild boy.  He's now 10 months old, about 65-70 lbs, and a handful.  These photos were taken in the park and he was getting ready to scale this tree to get at this amazing "growth" about 7ft. up the tree.  When I adopted him was told he is a border collie/husky mix.  However, have decided that some other guy with black ticking must have caught border collie mom's eye. :-)

And here he is at favorite indoor spot--lying under the book stack table.  Although, I expect any day for him to get stuck there.  Just like Roommate, stuck beween the pages of a book.