Waaaay of topic of beautiful scenery today. The Granddog, about to go home after staying with us for the weekend, chose this as the final hiding place for the rawhide chewy she had 'hidden and found' many times during her stay. Yes, that is my crotch! She very carefully tucked her treasure in there. I am so honored that she chose to trust me to care for it.

Gorgeous hummer, Nicole!! Mine is another from my zoo collection. "The corn is as high as an elephant's eye"!!

susanwv, that is Blue Eyed Grass, a wildflower. Would you believe, that tiny little flower is a member of the Iris family! Here are 2 of the 14 stations of the cross located in a hidden woodland setting near Erie, PA. There is nothing to indicate that they are there. My sister lives very near to them.

Gigantic Jet Lightning over China Image Credit & Copyright: Phebe Pan Explanation: That's no meteor. While watching and photographing this year's Perseid Meteor Shower, something unexpected happened: a gigantic jet erupted from a nearby cloud. The whole thing was over in a flash -- it lasted less than a second -- but was fortunately captured by an already-recording digital camera. Gigantic jets are a rare form of lightning recognized formally only a few years ago. The featured high resolution color image, taken near the peak of Shikengkong mountain in China, may be the best image yet of this unusual phenomenon. The same event appears to have been captured simultaneously by another photographer, further away. The gigantic jet appears to start somewhere in a nearby thundercloud and extend upwards towards Earth's ionosphere. The nature of gigantic jets and their possible association with other types of Transient Luminous Events (TLEs) such as blue jets and red sprites remains an active topic of research.