It was a balmy 46F here today, about 15F more than normal - but who's complaining? Seems like the sunshine and warmer air tempted the birds out of hibernation and they were fussing over the seed feeders in the garden and rather angry to find them empty. I quickly remedied that and grabbed the camera to snap the brunch bunch..... naughty Blue Jay caught along with Mrs Cardinal.
It was a perfect Fall day today, clear, crisp, fluffy white clouds dancing across a lovely blue sky. You would hardly have thought a thing was amiss were it not for the air filled with sounds of numerous chainsaws in the neighbourhood, churning away at cutting and clearing the fallen trees .
I spent a good few hours outdoors today raking and clearing and then cutting the last of the late Summer flowers - or shreds of! It felt like I was being productive but in reality it was just taking the tip of the iceberg and we too will have to wait our turn for the clean up crew and their chainsaws to come and help us clear the rest.
I had in mind to take a few pix of some of the fall leaves with their lovely color but it was literally impossible to find a single one that was not tattered or torn.
The sunshine has finally been out again and dozens of these lovely little yellow butterflies have been adorning the flowering plants and shrubs. They seem to dance around the garden in pairs to an unheard symphony of movement and grace and are a delight to watch.
Rather tricky to capture with the camera with any great success as they flit and fidget almost non-stop but I remembered that someone had said to me recently that insects often like to go back and visit the same place so I just waited patiently with the camera on the tripod and sure enough, back they came!
Btw ... If anyone knows the scientific name of these little beauties, I'd love to know. I suspect they might be Little Yellow Sulphurs (Eurema lisa) but I'm not sure...
The sun finally came out again today, though the sky was still peppered with the odd cloud and a few spots of rain dropped down. Not enough to distract me from some catch-up gardening chores though.
After a few hours of pulling, plucking and pruning it occured to me that I had not had my camera out for a whole 5 days!! Shock! Horror!
A quick trip back indoors and in short order the tripod and macro lens were ready to go ...
Since the peonies passed while I was away and the roses have been munched on by some dreaded critter I pulled the vase of gerberas out of the kitchen and popped them into the afternoon sunlight. Next to Tuber Roses and Orchids they are pretty much my favourite flower and they seem to like the camera lens.
Here's hoping you have some sunshine in your world too, and the odd flower to "float your boat"!
It's rained cats and dogs all day but in the last 24hrs the Peonies have decided to burst their buds and do their blooming thing! Sadly though all the rain has left them drenched and top heavy which meant a few of the heads have snapped - or come close to, and since some of the blooms are 6-8" in diameter, they get VERY rain sodden and weighty.
I've rescued a few, but for a couple there was little recourse but to snip them and have them grace a vase inside.
One particularly love blossom became the object of an impromtu photo-shoot in the basement tonight.
I also played some more with the "painting with light" technique. Where you turn all the lights out and just play a torch over the subject matter you want to illuminate - while the shutter on your camera is left wide open. All sorts of fun and interesting results with light and shadow, since wafting a torch around in the dark is a less than scientific process and no one "waft" is ever the same as another! Lots of fun indeed.
When the Fed-Ex man arrived at the door this morning I could not have been happier for he bore a modest brown box inside which I knew was a humdinger of a new lens for my Canon.
The second I'd shut the front door I was happy dancing all the way down the hall to grab my camera and snap that puppy on it's front!
I tossed up between choosing this lens and the 70-200 f2.8 but since I seldom shoot in really low light and often hunger to frame stuff in the distance, opted for this lens instead.
And what can I tell you but it's awesome! Fabulous crisp and detailed images in the distance and yet perfect for "bee" portraits (and the like) without having to get too close.
To all intents and purposes this wonderful piece of glass will serve as a (very lovely) Mother's Day gift. Most women want diamonds, roses, spa holidays .... me, I am happier with a new creative tool or toy, be it a damned fine pair of scissors, or a deliriously fabulous lens ......
I guess this year I got lucky :-))
"Land and Sea"
© 2012 Marie Otero
Anyone who knows me know well that the beach and my garden are two of the constants that bring me some of the greatest pleasure in life. (Though these days my camera is a tough competitor to beat!)
My Peonies are 12inches tall already and soon it will be time to plant for Summer ......
Backbreaking at it is, I can't wait!
Click and Mouseover the image for the before and after edits.
As usual when I should be getting ready to go away my creative brain decides it wants to play and I get SOOOOOOO distracted.
I've been fiddling with making my main blog panel more photo -friendly, enabling me to post better landscape (particularly) photos.
Now just because I went and made them bigger does not mean they really are (they are still only web quality images - not for ripping off or making your own cards with!!!) It just means you can "see them a bit better!!
Enjoy!
Another piece destined for the Sketchbook Project. This one cooked up with a photo taken in Las Vegas (where else do you find Golden Statues?) and some pics of weeds that I pulled out of the garden today.
The digital effort cost way less than the gardening one did. Three hours bent over with a spade will doubtless have me cursing under my breath for the next few days as thanks to a rather horrid car accident 20+ years ago where I broke my back and spent six weeks in suspended animation, tricks like heaving and digging seem to reap rather nasty rewards nowadays.
Regardless, things need to get done. The garden has to be put into Winter shape before I go down to Australia in a few weeks time.
My "To Do List" is growing..... even if the garden is not.
Dear Summer,
It's so lovely to have you here. I'm sorry that I have not been outside so much to see you but I have been rather busy indoors with my latest online class.
I did sneak outdoors for a bit today with my camera and snapped a few new pics of the lovely baby Cone Flowers, pulled some weeds and tipped my toes in the pool.
That's still a little cold though and I think I will be waiting for some of your hotter days to make that adventure a little less chilly!
Don't forget me though, I wait months and months for you to get here and you know I love you so much more than Winter and I promise to get out and see you more soon.
I remain, respectfully yours....
