Sunday Still - Pink Tulips

The challenge is to shoot flowers from overhead.  I had this shot in my mind all week and had to make a trip to two stores just to find pink tulips.

And just for fun, here's a shot of my set up.

Thanks for visiting and have a great day.

Happy New Year 2015

Happy New Year to all.  I hope that 2015 is a year filled with creativity, beauty and inner peacefulness.

A time to be Thankful

Canadian Thanksgiving is this weekend and even though blessings are not only bestowed on us this one weekend, but every day of the year, we usually take time to acknowledge what we are thankful for in our lives.  During this past year, I have thought a lot about what I am thankful for in my life.

First, my husband of 37 years who has been my partner, my friend and my rock.  I can’t imagine my life without him.

My children, each special and unique in different way.  They have brought me years of laughter, joy and pride.

My daughter-in-law and son-in law.  Both intelligent, thoughtful and caring people.  They have completed our family.  They bring joy to my heart and knowing that my children will be taken care of long after I’m gone, gives me peace.

The grandchildren.  The special little ones who have come into our lives.  Little beacons of light that light up the dreariest of days.

I’m also thankful for life. To be able to get up every morning and watch the sunrise or see the Northern lights dancing above our house, hearing the coyotes howl, the birds sing or even the crunch of the leaves as the squirrel scurries about.  The friendships with the people I've met over the years and the friendships I've developed over time online with so many wonderful photographers and great women have helped me through some rough patches this year. 

So many things to be thankful for, but I am really not  thankful for this nasty cold that has developed over the weekend.

Yellow Roses

The Rose Beyond The Wall - A. L. Frink

Near a shady wall a rose once grew,

Budded and blossomed in God's free light,

Watered and fed by the morning dew,

Shedding it's sweetness day and night.

As it grew and blossomed fair and tall,

Slowly rising to loftier height,

It came to a crevice in the wall

Through which there shone a beam of light.

Onward it crept with added strength

With never a thought of fear or pride,

It followed the light through the crevice's length

And unfolded itself on the other side.

The light, the dew, the broadening view

Were found the same as they were before,

And it lost itself in beauties new,

Breathing it's fragrance more and more.

Shall claim of death cause us to grieve

And make our courage faint and fall?

Nay! Let us faith and hope receive--

The rose still grows beyond the wall,

Scattering fragrance far and wide

Just as it did in days of yore,

Just as it did on the other side,

Just as it will forever-more.

My Mother In Law passed away last Saturday and her funeral was held this week.  She loved yellow roses and her husband of 64 years wanted to make sure she had yellow roses.  As tough as the week has been, it was wonderful to see how a family came together during a time like this.  She would have been so proud of her children, grand-children, nieces and nephews and friends supporting her husband and each other.  She has not been well during the past couple of years and we all knew she was now free of pain and in peace.

It's time like this that make you sit back and take a look at your own life.  I did not grow up in a home like the Walton's and I do realize that someday I will have to handle the arrangements for my parents, probably on my own. It's also the time I appreciate my own husband, our children and their spouses.  No, my kids didn't grow up in the Walton's house either, but our family does have a special closeness.  Recently, I heard my daughter and her husband talking to my son and his wife and the words "But don't tell anyone yet, because we not making it public" warmed my heart to know that they're close enough to share special secrets.

Pack Up Your Troubles

"Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag
And smile, smile, smile"

Following this advice from an old WW1 song it's just what I did this morning.  Our camera club had an outing at Salisbury Greenhouses, which just happens to be one of my favorite places.  The worries and troubles are left at the door the minute the warm air and the scent of flowers greet you.

I had originally planned on picking a few favorite photos from the morning for today's blog and I know that a few photos should be able to tell the story.  Unfortunately, a new set of flower pots in the greenhouse stole my plans and my heart.

I also know that one photo of a subject should be enough, but I couldn't stop.  I'm not sure if it was the rustic feel to these pots or perhaps the delicate painted flowers that drew my attention, or both.  Perhaps I'm a potaholic.

And the more I photographed them the more I was drawn to them.

Sanity finally took over and I grabbed this square pot, put it on my pile of things to buy and it now sits on my kitchen table.  I'm thinking that next time I'm going past Salisbury Greenhouses, a nice pot of basil would look lovely in it.

Garden Flowers

Texture Tuesday on a Wednesday.  This week's theme is the color orange.  Right right I have an abundance of these little orange flowers in the garden and thought they would make a good subject for the color orange.  The texture used is Kim Klassen's Paperlove.  If you hover over the photo with the mouse, you can see the before and after.

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A yellow walk

Inspired by http://www.lafcustomdesigns.com/2012/09/walk-and-click-wednesdays-2-yellow.html I took a walk around the yard after work to see what I could find in the yard that was yellow.  It was a perfect day for shooting yellow, a little gloomy and overcast.

A bottle on the shelf to start the walk.

This little yellow flower certainly stood out surrounded by orange.

Such a soft pastel yellow, this little daisy waited until now to bloom.

Sometimes the back can be just as interesting.

Dill flowers in the garden.

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Outer Space in the Garden

I have a confession to make.  When I read, I tend to skim, reading only the words that seem important at the time.  When I was reading Roxi's blog, Creating Beyond the Layers, the words I read were "Outer Space" not realizing that she meant someone else's garden.  I immediately thought "Outer Space" as in creatures and the flowers that these creatures would land on when they came to visit.  Grabbing the camera I went into the yard looking for unusual views of the flowers.  Only later did I realize what Roxi meant.  Thinking that I live in the county with no neighbors with flower gardens, I thought I might as well go with my original thought.

Here's the little creature I found lurking on a cucumber

 

 Landing pads for the little creatures   

Possibly what a home planet might look like

   

 A bad hair day after a long trip   

A hungry mouth looking for a meal   

And a nasty little visitor I wish would find somewhere else to visit   

Next week's theme is 'Back at home, what's blooming". Could be interesting. 

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The new front step

Being the queen of unfinished projects, last weekend was monumental.  The front step was finished!!!

As part of the yard makeover for my daughter's wedding, my husband and son-in-law to be, replaced the front step last April.  My job was to install the railings and make the post caps.  I love to do wood work but don't have the strength for the heavy work so I do the finishing and painting.  I've been putting it off for a while but finally decided this was a project I would finish.

The front of the house faces north and there's not much color in the flower bed.  The ferns have taken over the flower bed for the past 30 years and with them being so easy to take care of, I've let them grow.

And the new posts have given me a place for a hanging baskets.

 

This is the view from the front step leading into the east yard.

Getting the yard ready for the wedding has been a major undertaking but I'm loving the results.  Hope to share more with you as we start to finish up the projects.

Lensbaby Pansies

Wake Up at 5:30 am

Post daily photo

Shower

Eat Breakfast

Leave for work at 7:00 am

Work

15 minute break at 9:15 am

Work

Lunch break at noon

Work

15 minute break at 2:15 pm

Work

Leave work at 4:30 pm

Arrive home and start supper

Husband home at 5:45 pm

Supper at 6:00 pm

Process photos, watch TV

Bed at 9:30 pm

For the past four years that was my daily routine.  Very structured and organized.  My work in accounting was also very structured and creativity during the day was really something that did not happen.  Bad things happen when one gets creative with accounting.

When I got my first DSLR, 3 years ago, my photos were also very structured.  As I had taken a few courses in photography, I knew what DOF was. f2.8 gave out of focus photos, but when you spend good money on a sharp lens, why would you want to use anything but f14. To me f2.8 was something you used when you needed more light.  My photos had to be sharp and in focus all the time.  A photo copy of reality is what I was after.

A couple of years my husband gave me a Lensbaby Composer for Christmas and I called it my “play” lens.  Great for shots of the Christmas tree and lights but I didn’t use it much.

During the past couple of years, being part of the Daily community on Smugmug, I began to appreciate f2.8.  Now, the majority of my photos are taken at f2.8 or f4. My new job is less structured.  I still don’t get creative with the accounting, but there are no buzzers to tell me when to take a break and when to eat lunch.  I’m starting to feel a little less like a trained mouse.

Sunday morning I woke up to a beautiful day and I put the Lensbaby on the camera and decided to play with the pansies in the yard.

 

My first thought was that the rain drops were ruining the photos and then I began to see everything a little different. I added a little star from the bokeh kit to see if I could catch a few out of focus drops.

And came across the wet leaves of a daylily.

Again back into the house to add a macro filter to the lensbaby.

It’s now Tuesday and I still have the lensbaby on the camera.

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Texture Tuesday Lilacs

"As one gets older one sees many more paths that could be taken. Artists sense within their own work that kind of swelling of possibilities, which may seem a freedom or a confusion." Jasper Johns

 Kim Klassen's latest texture "Confusion" seems to fit my state of mind lately. I was thinking I was getting old, but now I see it as to too many paths to take.


 Hover over with your mouse and you'll see the before and after.

 

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i heart macro

 

 Texture Tuesday

 

Grandma's Phlox

A sure sign of summer in the garden is the pink phlox blooming in my wildflower garden.

At the same time, the lilacs bloom, the Swallowtail Butterflies return and summer gardening begins.  The phlox has always been one of my favorites for the macro lens. The tiny delicate pink flowers contrasting with the green stems make them perfect for a shallow depth of field and they appear to float above the greenery. 

The little pink phlox reminds me of my Grandma and makes me smile.  The gardens in her neighborhood always contained these beautiful mounds of pink flowers.  She was an avid gardener, first on the farm out of necessity and later in the city because of her love of gardening. When we moved to the acerage I had asked her for a little piece of this flower to plant in my first flower bed.  I didn’t realize it at the time because she had so many flowers, but she didn’t have any phlox in her yard but the library down the street and the neighbors did have mounds of it. 

I never did find out where mine came from. Grandma’s been gone for many years now, but I’m always reminded of her when the phlox booms.

And speaking of wildflowers, I found this little guy sitting on one of the wild violets.

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