borer bee on an echinacea flower

Weekly Photo Challenge: Close Up

borer bee on an echinacea flower

Each summer when the Echinacea (purple cone flower) blooms in front of my house, the borer bees have a picnic. These bees don’t seem to bother humans unless, of course, you end up accidentally trapping one of them close to your body. Their sting is extremely painful, I have first hand knowledge.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Symbol

Year of the Sheep

Another visit to one of my most favorite places in St. Louis, the Missouri Botanical Gardens. This summer they are featuring “Lantern Festival, Magic Reimagined”. Several years ago, they hosted the Japanese Lantern Festival and just as this festival, it was beautiful.

This image depicts “The Year of the Sheep”.

The sheep, ram, or goat is the eighth sign of the 12-year cycle of animals that appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The Chinese word yang is more accurately translated as Caprinae, a type of ruminant animal that includes both sheep/rams and goats. The Chinese commonly regard sheep as the auspicious animal, and the Year of the Sheep, therefore, heralds a year of promise and prosperity. Individuals born in this zodiac year are described as peace-loving and kind and popular, yet also “clingy” and resistant to change.

From the Lantern Festival Guide

To see more of the beautiful Botanical Gardens, check out my previous posts: Garden Glow, Magic by Night, Reflections of an Ancient Fisherman and Floating Balls.

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Cat in the door

Weekly Photo Challenge: Door

Cat in the door
My daughter and grandkids had gone out of town for a few days and I agreed to feed their cats while they were gone. I went over to the house and opened the door, leaving the storm door closed intending to take a photo of whichever cat met me at the door to send to my granddaughter. I got this rather ghostly image instead.

To see more of this week’s photo challenge, click here.