Lost Aussie on the loose

Portrait of a Peony

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.

Playing With A New Toy

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 :-))

My Favourite Things

"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!

 

Getting Distracted

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!

Upon Reflection

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.

A Letter to Summer

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....

Flowers That Bloom in the Spring

I hope all my US friend enjoyed a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and managed to spare a thought for the good men and women for whom the day is set aside.

Here at Casa Otero enjoying the sunshine was the name of the game, well that and taking pictures.

We roamed over to Robert Moses beach one day for a long walk and on Saturday headed out to the North Fork of Long Island. Today I just tinkered in the garden with my camera (and weeding tools).

The roses and peonies are finally in glorious bloom!

Perfection in petals, indeed!

Here's wishing you all a good week and a little exercise after all the BBQ's (and beer)?

Colorful Days

I'm snapping this picture of a Spring bouquet snagged at the grocery store, but behind it and through the window are the shades of pink and purple that are beginning to show in the garden.  Rhodedendrons, salvia, impatiens...

My husband is full of "achoo" and watery eyes.  I somehow escape the allergy thing and am content to enjoy the beginnings of colourful days... at last.

Bloom, Grow - MUNCH (and Music)

Aside from stitching and not getting on with things that I should be - I have been spending a lot of time outside in the garden, planting, watering, weeding and prodding the garden into bloom.

Things are coming along nicely BUT I've already noticed a few munch marks on the rose buds and I'd really like to get hold of the creature that decided to enjoy most of my new Basil plant for his dinner last night!  I sure hope whoever it was has a nice case of indigestion!

And on a totally unrelated note, one of the blogs that I enjoy reading is that of Jason Mraz. Aside from loving his music I find he has a fun and interesting take on life and often shares neat tid bits of information - such as what music HE listens to.

I particularly like the sounds of this fellow Kris Orlowski.  Check out The Passenger String Quartet - very lovely, to me anyway.

And With That Water...

Having had my "Tap" dilemmas sorted out - to the tune of over $600 if you don't mind!!!!   I've now been able to progress my garden's growth.

I sort of feel (and probably look like) the bent pretzel thingy that adorned one of the Royal Wedding hats - having planted over 480 annuals into their beds, baskets and planters over the past few days.

And no, I am not done yet.  I think there is still room for about another two flats worth of goodness before I will consider things done.

We have about an acre of garden and most of it is in shade which means a limited repertiore of things to grow ...

My fervernt wish is that one day, they develop an Impatien that comes in the color of Yellow ..... as opposed to Pink, Stripped Pink, Shades of Pink, Salmon, Purple and Shades of Purple.

At least the house is Yellow ... or probably Butternut Something ?