Playing front porch dodgeball with the kids delivered these sweet little prints across the beaded planks. I couldn’t resist a quick photo between rounds…

The snow came, and the snow went. It was that simple, but it helped to make what I’m sure will become one of the most memorable weekends in our family’s story. Charleston’s first snowfall in over 20 years crashed the party on Friday, blowing everyone’s mind in the process (look at that frozen marsh below!) Our kids hadn’t really ever seen snow before, and are still recovering from the madness. On Saturday, Jen performed Serenade with the Charleston Ballet Theatre, which was her first time on stage since 2002 (what a rock star!) Sunday was Valentine’s Day, and Monday was Presidents Day. Seriously, I need another weekend to recover! But hey, what did Ferris Bueller say, “Life moves pretty fast…”

Over the weekend, the boys and I were at our favorite old climbing tree near the observation tower at Palmetto Island County Park. That day we were joined by this little red mushroom, who was pretty happy to see us. Anyone know the species?

Since the ’80s, I’ve been using the primitive Campmor catalog as my defacto guide to outdoor gear. In recent years, my purchases have moved online, but I still love getting that tissue-papery off-white zine. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to see a giant callout to the @Campmor Twitter account, but there’s still something that doesn’t feel right about it. Should we really be plugged into the Campmor marketing machine when we’re on day three in Bryce Canyon? Hmmm, on second thought, this Twitter addict thinks maybe we should. Have a great weekend everyone!

We love our resident banana spiders, and each summer we chart their progress as they move around in search of the perfect spot. Back in July, a giant female setup shop in a vast expanse of empty space near the marsh. She built her web about five meters above the ground and is still there as I write this. She attracted 2 males and a female, who together patrolled a giant swatch of our backyard airspace  for the better part of 2 months. I’ll miss her when she runs from the cool temperatures to come, so today I made sure to take a photo of our banana spider of the year.

Ahhhhh, tree frogs and bokeh make for nice bed fellows…

I still have not read Chris Anderson‘s book Free: The Future of a Radical Price, most likely because it is still sitting in my Amazon cart. The book examines the economy of free, and how it is evolving in today’s market. Whenever he speaks on this topic, as I saw him do at SXSW, he always gets grilled about why the book itself is not free (pssst, it is if you want to read it online). It’s not free because Chris needs to feed his family, who are apparently eating really well – Check out the price increase for “Free” that awaited me when I logged in today:

And yes, I’ll probably still buy the book!

Rays, beams, streaks – call ‘em what you want, they are always nice to see. The boys and I ate dinner with this evolving show off in the distance, partially obscured behind a thunderhead over James Island. We thought they were cool because they went up instead of down – maverick sun beams.

We always seem to have praying mantises in the yard, which makes me happy. Last night while I was fixing the Sirius antenna, this friendly guy kept checking me out. Eventually, he jumped onto my shirt. I gently set him down, got my camera, and came back out. He then crawled right onto my hand for a few pics – what a trooper.

Previous blog posts about praying mantises living in my yard:

• A Mantis Among Us
• Mister Mantis

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My friend, who has a sweet job at the local NOAA office, sent me this sea level analysis of my house and immediate vicinity. I’ve always wondered exactly how low our property sits, especially when high summer tides roll into our backyard. This color overlay shows elevation, with red being lower, and green being higher.

My house is dead center in the image below, and the elevation of our lot ranges from 4.3 to 6.5 feet above mean sea level.

This old stump in the middle of the woods made me stop…

I was walking Zoe through Palmetto Island County Park the other day when this pixie patch of glowing grass caught my eye. Seems like the kind of place a smurf would like. 

The boys and I have been spending our late-afternoon grungy time on Wild Horse Island, the uninhabited plot of land just behind our house on Foster Creek. We’ve been busy mapping the terrain, blasting battle droids, cleaning up trash, and generally having a romping good time. With attractions like the Temple of Vines, Lonely Palm Trail, and the uncharted wild interior, I’m wagering our adventures our only beginning. 

Today I had my camera slung over my shoulder, so while the boys were taking on an entire division of droids, I  captured some of the textures on the island. The diversity was amazing for such a small area, yet the palette was noticeably consistent. Here are a few slices from the survey:

We often bring home pieces of bamboo from the large, wild stand near the Sullivan’s Island playground. I recently was able to get a large, fresh, green piece that looked rather interesting next to a dried piece that had split down the middle. Original resolution on Flickr.

This shot came from a set taken about 2 months ago, but I never posted it here. Not totally in focus, but still showing off some of the features that make mantises so sci-fi.

The boys and I were wandering around Daniel Island today and bumped into this extremely tame red-shouldered hawk. It looked as big as a red-tailed hawk on-site (around 50 cm), but when I saw the photos I knew otherwise. His long yellow legs were the real giveaway, as well as the rusty breast. It is always a pleasure to see a critter like this up close, especially with my kids…

There was a cool, low-hanging sun hitting these grasses at Palmetto Islands County Park, so we stopped to check them out. I know my son enjoyed the tall crunchy plants as much as I did…you gotta love Fall in the Lowcountry.

Color, color everywhere, so here’s a bradford pear…

These Oak Leaf Hydrangeas have been a great addition to the yard, and produce leaves that are amazing all year. I’ve blogged about the blooms before, but there’s even something cool about these leaves as they fall off. The fact that the leaves are bigger than my head make it all the better.

This brilliant blue fly was buzzing all around us the other day, and I couldn’t resist trying to capture it. I had no tripod, nor was I prepared to shoot a fast moving nervous fly, but I got this shot out of the 10 I fired off. You gotta love blue critters.

I bent down into one of the beds the other day, and came up with a spattering of chigger bits. I also ended up with this weird shot, where the wide open 1.2 aperature delivered some unexpected goodies. This is a like some kind of bizarro bokeh.

Hey, have a look at this dead, ant-filled grasshopper. Spiky legs!

Running in for dinner, he stopped for one last squirt skyward.

I love these hardy, succulent perennials a neighbor have us years ago. I just keep dividing, and they just keep blooming. If you know what they are, lemme know in the comments.

We found something amazing in our yard the other day, and it turned out to be an automeris io, or Io moth. This green spiked caterpillar eventually turns into a beautiful moth with giant circles on its wings that look like eyes. It’s common throughout the continent, but I’ve never seen one in all my years of nature gawking. Which is weird, because this thing was florescent green and the size of my thumb.

Enjoy the pics.