Nature lover, artist, pianist, hiker, seamstress, birdwatcher, and Bible Study teacher. Through public speaking and hosting my bird/bats/butterflies/bugs booths, I worked many years to encourage conservation development and natural parks. Until summer 2013, all my photos were taken using only pocket digital cameras.

Until January 25 2011, I had been using the Nikon pocket digital cameras: Nikon P4 and Nikon S630. Then I switched to the Nikon P7000 which was larger but still portable and most importantly had manual options and the best macro ability. But I eventually gave in, and in Summer 2013 started learning the Nikon D700 and AFS Micro Nikkor 105MM ED; I got the Nikkor 70-300mm VR for the 70 species of birds that visit in my rural yard throughout the year. I knew in advance the weight would be too much for me to carry very far.

The majority of these pictures are taken on my property in a rural area. Year round temps are usually 20-108, but can go to 0 and up to 112. During an icy freeze the area shuts down as it is not worth having the maintenance costs of infrequently used snow plows and de-icing equipment. We had three tornados pass through our neighborhood in 2007, 2008 and 2009 - the last one forming directly over our house. We also get lots of hail.

The front yard is full of old Post Oaks and some Blackjack Oaks. The back yard is more open for good sky views and is a desirable bluebird home location. We've fledged many bluebirds since 2003. We don't use pesticides so we have an abundance and variety of critters and wild plants. (But we do not appreciate sharing sleeping quarters with scorpions and brown recluse spiders, the latter almost once causing me to lose one of my toes.) We also live in an important migratory bird path near weakly protected federal land which includes the large Grapevine Lake. In addition, wind farms and urbanization have greatly reduced the overall numbers of birds and species.

Some Spring and Summer shots are noted on these web pages as having been taken in cold weather, and vice versa. When I converted to a new computer and photo storage system, many of the photo dates were automatically changed to reflect the switchover date, and eliminating the true date.