the last sunflower

Yesterday I realized that we have one sunflower that hasn't fallen over yet, and figured I better document it, since I kind of slacked off shooting and blogging during the heat of the summer.   Jamie played the role of light stand for me.

 Our plan was to have a big hedge of amaranth, but it never grew tall like it was supposed to.  Maybe I should have thinned more/earlier.  Or maybe the sunflowers sucked up all the water and nutrients.

When the sunflowers fall over, cardinals and goldfinches sit on them and eat the seeds, leaving a pile of shells.

early morning fishing

We got up around 4 a.m. yesterday and went to Cooper Creek access on Taneycomo.  Jamie has made the early morning trip several times lately, but I had never gotten up in the middle of the night with him before.  

He got the spot at the corner of the dock and started catching fish right away.

Anyone know what this is?  I haven't figured it out yet.  He was pretty skittish.

After the sun came up and Jamie was (finally) ready to go we continued the adventure with breakfast at Persimmon Hill Berry farm, where we got a tour of their shiitake operation, more fishing and swimming at Baxter access on Table Rock, and antique shopping in Crane.