Sunday, September 30, 2012

A Day of Rest........


I have another shot to share of my birch leaves changing color in my front yard. Have a restful day today.



Saturday, September 29, 2012

White and Weathered........


One last bloom that looks the worse for wear.  The hollyhocks bloomed so early this year that the second set of blooms developed on the bottom of the dead stalks.



Friday, September 28, 2012

The first one.......


This maple tree gets to be a beautiful red orange before it drops its leaves.  As I looked up I saw this one leaf that had made its change to muli-color.  The sky looks like autumn with the clear white sky.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Let's Eat!!!!!


My pears that are too bad to use rot on the ground.  They actually ferment and the smell is sort of a good smell.  These two pears didn't fall but they are rotting on the tree.  I looked up and saw many butterflies eating from the fermented pear.  I am sure the sugar tastes good or at least is good food for them.  I had to do a zoom with the camera on it to get this close with it being high in the top of the tree.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Knockout Wednesday......


The knockout rose is putting out a few last buds for the fall.  I keep calling these carefree roses and I guess I am not sure but I think that the carefree is a brand name just like a knockout rose.  Either one does a great job of putting out smaller, simple roses that survive Iowa winters.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

My Garden Cat.......


When we first adopted Barnabas I thought it would be great to have a dog following me around in the garden as I worked.  Barnabas isn't a follower. When he is outside, he is a doing dog.  He chases, he barks, he drinks from the pond and he barks at all the neighbor dogs.

Tom Tom is a little bit like our Yellow Kitty and he does follow me around  while I am in the garden.  Most times he is just around and has me in sight at all times. He is mostly a feral cat even though he was  raised inside during his younger years. The neighbors kept him inside even though he might not have been that tame with all the other cats around. He likes to be petted and then watching me outside is one of his other favorite things. One can not pick him up as that is not allowed by him. He does come for me to feed him and he will let me pet him then.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Back and Front..........


The hardy geranium made a trip into the house to avoid the cold weather.  I looked down later after I had placed it in the dining room window and saw this fallen bloom.  Throughout the summer I try to take pictures of it from the back and side but not from the complete view of the backside.


A bonus of two photos today so that I could share the front view of the same bloom.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Autumn.........


Where did the summer go? I really am not ready to move into the snowy season.  The chokecherry trees has purple leaves already but they do turn a deeper red as they fall from the trees.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Fall is around the bend.........


The aronia berry bush has started its show of great color.  I didn't get many berries from it this year but it did grow a foot taller.


Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Fall Bloom.........


It is definitely fall when the sedum finally starts to show its blooms.  It has survived the summer without much problem and the past rains have given the blooms a boost.  The bees and butterflies are enjoying the nectar from the hundreds of little blooms.


Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Seed Pods......


The hollyhock puts out seed for next year.  The redtwig dogwood is squeezing a small branch into the picture. The sun was in the west and it highlighted the stems to give them great form.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Monday's Yellow Squash.......



As most of you who know me already,  I will select good photos in spite of their content.  I liked that the yellow squash is growing in the fall and that I can get a great shot of it with great depth and good color. I hadn't noticed but there is another little squash developing on the vine. We have frost predicted in a couple of days with cold rains.


Sunday, September 16, 2012

The End of the Season........


Having struggled with the drought to keep the zinnias alive, I will now let them go. I am going to quit carrying water to the patch as I would be watering shriveled up plants.  They are shutting down rapidly and I was glad to have them bloom as much as they did. Maybe next year I will bring them back.



Friday, September 14, 2012

A Collection of Blooms........






I am emptying out my photos that didn't make it for photo a day in the past.  I myself will be on the lookout this weekend to find non-flowers photos for posting.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Just another pretty picture........


I tried to capture a squirrel hanging out on a post and all the shots were blurry.  I tried shooting pictures of non-flowers and they seemed to be uninteresting.  I haven't been outside since the weekend and have been busy at school. So maybe this next weekend I can find some non-flower shots. Today I have a Hallmark moment captured out at my garden shed. I have never snapped this many blooms at one time of morning glories.



Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Photos of the Past.........


I am again doing battle with picasa.   I made the above collage a few weeks ago and it worked so well for me.  Last night I did everything the way that I thought I was suppose to do it and it just didn't happen.  I couldn't get the photos to import into the program.  If I did get them into the program via a folder then it would not let me save the photos.  It kept putting them on my picase storage account, not in the program for me to make a collage.

Anyway, it will be a relearning situation for me and I will figure it out.  The above collage is from the middle summer shots and two were from early spring.



Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Fast Asleep............


For those who follow me, you know I shoot a lot of photos of this little angel.  He has weathered a lot this past year and this helps to change his expression.  I will probably shelter him this winter as I don't want him to start to fall apart from too much weathering.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Backlighting......


I take a lot of shots that get put into the trash but it is a good practice. I know that great professionals take hundreds of shots to get just one or two good pictures.  From this quick shot I received a great photo with backlighting.  I do think about the lighting most times but sometimes I just shoot and see what happens.

The hardy geranium is still a small plant with its multicolored leaves but it is growing. I assume it was a seed geranium.  This is its second set of blooms since I bought it. You can see there are a lot of buds left to bloom on this one stem.   I will be bringing it into the house for the winter to keep it going for another season.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Looking out and looking down.......


I worked in my garden shed Saturday trying to find the floor.  I did find about five square feet of floor but more will be found.  I made great strides in a shed full of my tools, my brother's tools and my Dad's tools.



My Dad's old horseshoes and an antique wrench.  I have a lot of this kind of thing that needs to be sorted by kinds and placed in boxes or on shelves.  I also have the garbage bin close by to add to the landfill a few things.



Saturday, September 8, 2012

A Garden Visitor.......


I was busy taking photos of my zucchini vines and this beauty flew in to land on the vines.  I think it is a moth as its body seems furry.  It was cool in the morning and I think it wanted to warm up as it didn't seem bothered that I was walking around it and taking its picture.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Friday's Morning Glory


My seeds finally sprouted and the vines are really short in size but they are still alive.  The cool weather has helped them to finally mature and bloom.  I planted a packet of many colors and I have three vines with blue and pink flowers.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Thursday's a Tomato Day........


No flowers today, I am just going to show you my tomatoes on the vine.  It was a lean year for my five plants as this is probably actual size of the two fruits.  They are reblooming right now but I doubt they will put out anything worthwhile at this time of the year.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

A Quick Bite........Then Leave.



I have a group of three or four hummers who have decided to eat at my feeder.  I normally haven't  had any the past few years but I suspect the blooms with nectar are not out there this year. My neighbor's down the  block seemed to have a great feeding station so I could not entice them to come my way.  But this year I must have great tasting sugar water.

Along with hummingbirds one also has hummingbird wars as they chase each other away from their feeder. I have one male with a bright red neck marking that hopefully will be in my camera lens in the near future.


Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Apple Pie........


Those who had apples this year were few.  A lot of our apple orchards have few apples to sell as the blooms were frozen back with a short frost.  This tree had not a single apple on it last year and this year there were many.  The bruises and insect spots made it interesting to core and peel them.  My wife made a wonderful pie.  Once it is gone I am going to start peeling some more apples.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Waiting........


I  hung the feeder in the dining room window in order to capture a shot of a hummingbird.  They are actually feeding there this fall but I have yet to snap a shot with a hummer in the picture. I don't see why they can be fooled with the plastic shaped flowers but I guess color is their biggest draw to the sweet syrup.



Sunday, September 2, 2012

Hidden Butterfly........


The red admiral butterfly is blending into the multi-textured river birch tree.  I haven't seen many butterflies this summer and this guy did stay still for me to photograph it.  He is hard to see in this photograph as the darker  part of the bark is its background.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Two Toned Hosta...........



Artist Robert Henri said "What we need is more sense of the wonder of life and less of the business of making a picture."

I am glad we have had enough moisture to bring back the hostas.  Their patterns, shape and color can make a garden come alive.

Blurry Blue Cup Day.....

 It is Monday and I am a little blurry eyed today. It is fitting then my blue cup is blurred a little because it is in low light. I was too ...