Animals – Page 11 – M. Sullivan Photography

September 9, 2012September 9, 2012 M. Sullivan Photography Animals, Family, Photos, Weather

Labor Day Weekend

We spent Labor Day weekend at Mike’s parents’ cabin. We lucked out and had great weather. We enjoyed fishing, swimming, boating and playing in the sand. Sophia also found a special friend to play with while we were there. Here’s the recap in photos.

Sophia’s new-found friend…

Where Is Mr. Frog Now? Can You Find Him?

It was nice to see the kids working together to build a sand castle kingdom.

In the evening, we watched the full moon come up over the lake and enjoyed the campfire.

A little late night fishing for Mike and Sophia brought in a catfish. It was quickly removed from the hook and released back into the lake.

The next morning Sophia hooked a huge sunfish.

After Sophia’s big catch, Mike caught two bass. Tom and Sophia volunteered to scale, clean and filet them. I was quite impressed that Sophia took part in this. She is a city girl and becomes sad when a spider is killed instead of being released outside.

After the fish were cleaned, the kids continued work on their sand castle kingdom.

They finished the weekend with one last cannon ball into the lake.

It was a great way to end summer. Bring on fall!

May 25, 2012 M. Sullivan Photography Animals, Cooking, Family, Garden, Photos, Weather

So Totally Random

I found a few photos that I took during the past couple of weeks. They don’t individually create the need to produce a post on our blog. Together, they barely culminate the need, but I figured, “What the heck, it’s Friday”.

Here’s a picture I took early one morning just before work. I grabbed my company’s Canon point-and-shoot to get a photo of a pair of geese walking along the boardwalk next to the William A. Irvin in Canal Park. Unfortunately, the geese didn’t make the cut as I liked this photo better.

A month ago my brother was at our house inspecting our garden and trees in the backyard, offering some tips and advice. We heard a number of different birds singing. He said, “Did you hear that? That was a cardinal”. First off, I’m not sure why he knows what a cardinal sounds like and secondly, we don’t have nesting cardinals in Duluth. Well, at least I didn’t think we did…until Sebastian and I saw this guy last week.

I have to admit, it was pretty cool to see him in the sea of green grass on my lawn. We have spotted him four times now and we also saw his lady friend. We are fairly certain he and the Mrs. have a little family somewhere in our trees (or our neighbor’s). I would love to see the kids, but so far we haven’t located the nest.

Guess who was back in the garden? Seriously?

Too bad we spoiled his fun by planting the garden and putting up a fence around it last Saturday. I’m hopeful that he’s too lazy to dig underneath. There are plenty of other delicious things growing in the yard and in my flower bed to go through all that work.

I baked bread last Sunday. Not like my Mom’s awesome bread that you want to slather with butter and homemade jam, but a more European loaf that is good with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and fresh cracked pepper. I made it to pair up with homemade broccoli cheese soup. Too bad my timing was off and the bread came out of the oven an hour after we finished eating the soup.

I am looking forward to the long Memorial weekend. I’m not so much looking forward to all of the rain in the forecast. We already received 4 1/2 inches this week. Baseball was canceled…twice. Our backyard is like a big soggy sponge. Keep your fingers crossed that the weatherman is wrong like he often is. 🙂

May 18, 2012May 18, 2012 M. Sullivan Photography Animals, Garden, Photos

Peter Rabbit

So guess what was resting comfortably in my garden at 6 o’clock this morning? Do you think he’s trying to send me a message?

Perhaps the message he is trying to convey is one of the following:

Hey, thanks for the nice breakfast. I was so stuffed I had to lie down right here in your garden.
The strawberries plants were great, but when are you going to plant the rest of your garden?
I’m not afraid to hang out in your garden. Your color blind dog can’t even see me because I blend right in.
Did your hear the news? My girlfriend is expecting. That’s right, a whole family of bunnies. Sort of like your very own “Occupy” event, bunny style.

I really had high hopes for the garden this year. The weather has been warmer than normal and we intended to plant everything this Saturday which is early for us. We typically plant on Memorial day. Deer, squirrels and Peter Rabbit along with his entourage are going to make it a very long summer, but not in a good way.

p.s. The photography is not my best work. I had to be quick to get this shot. I couldn’t believe the audacity of this guy just lying casually in my garden. It took all my control to snap a photo instead of trying to snap his…well, you know.