For my MIL..bird pictures

My mother-in-law is a great photographer and she loves taking pictures of birds. She'll wait for an hour just to get that perfect bird shot.

And I like to think I'm a good photographer but I just don't have her patience. If I can't get the shot in 10 minutes (or 15 shots in 10 minutes), well, it's time to move on. Plus, my photography interest really isn't with birds.

My interest is with flowers...

or sunsets...

or Charli.Every time we go to the San Juans, my MIL asks if we're taking bird pictures for her to see. This time I made the effort. These certainly aren't wonderful...blue heron tend to be pretty skittish as you near them. So these were shot from a distance; then cropped. Don't be looking for digital perfection here. But they're okay shots.

Then there's this picture of my favorite subjects.

And I know she'll like it because they're also two of her favorite subjects!

Tidepooling

The tides were very low in the mornings when we were in the San Juans and that made for great tidepooling. I took a lot of pictures - naturally - but haven't had a chance to go through them all so this post is limited to starfish.

I just love the bright purple color against the greens and browns of the shoreline.

The starfish just seems to hang onto to whatever is close...even if it's another starfish.

And I love being able to see how they're clinging to the rocks; they're strong little buggers!

And there were some orange ones, too. Not many, mind you, but a few mingling in with the purples.

But while I love tidepooling and finding all the hidden starfish, I also know that starfish LOVE eating crab. Oh, and by the way ... so do I. And that means finding a lot of starfish near our crabbing grounds isn't exactly a wonderful thing because that means competition...and starfish don't have to follow Washington State crabbing season guidelines!