Saturday, March 31, 2012

Sunday's Splash..........


I have a bunch of these in an area next to the fence outside the back yard and for some reason I have one more bulb planted next to the side porch. I have access to it so I can take a powerful picture of all this red and yellow. Have a great Sunday.

Flowering Tree.........


I bought this flowering tree on a sale in the fall.  The tag led me to believe that it was a redbud tree.  I bought it the first year that my father in law lived with us, planting it right outside his large window.  It was 2002 and he was able to see it bloom for the next six years after it was planted. I moved two shrubs from the shady part of the house and placed them at the base of it on either side. They are golden privets and they are leafed out well.

I had always wanted a flowering tree and I am really pleased to see how it has matured.  I am including a picture of my neighbor's flowering crabapple that we see on the other side of our property.



We are having cool weather again, which is normal for March weather.  We are still drying out from the rain we received Thursday night. It is too wet for me to mow my yard so maybe Monday after school it will be done.



Friday, March 30, 2012

On the other side of the fence.......


There is no space for me to photograph these on the other side of the fence, so you get to see the fence. We had a nice rain last night and the flowers really appreciated it.



Thursday, March 29, 2012

Eastern Blues...........




Eastern Bluebells
Mertensia virginica

When I was a young boy on the farm we had these bluebells growing up in the badly maintaiined flower garden row.  My parents would have to pull the tall grass away and the weeds and one could see these flowers with their great blue color.  I always thought them to be magical as they were planted by another set of farm owners and they would come up each year like a natural wildflower.

When I purchased my home where I live now it was late spring and I didn't have a clue that I would have these coming up all over the property.  It is an old house and who would wonder which homeowner had planted them in the last 108 years.  They have actually spread in the years that I have owned the place and they are one of my favorite spring flowers.



Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Regal bow...........


The wind is blowing and it is cold again today.  The daffodils seem weary of the wind and start to tip hanging down from all the swaying.



Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Tuesday's Garden Boy.........


Sunday was a beautiful warm day when I took this photo.  It now has moved back into normal temps and it is cool and windy.  My sculpture boy continues to wait for rain to fill his container that he is holding. I have put bird seed in his bowl and other times it is just a watering hole for the birds. The redtwig dogwood is creeping over into the flowering bulb territory of this garden.  I am going to try and dig out the small ones and trim back the big branches.




Monday, March 26, 2012

March 26, 2012



Headed back to school today after a spring break.  It was good to be able to be out and see these hyacinths bloom.  I don't have many of them but most of them bloomed successfully.



Sunday, March 25, 2012

Sunday's special blooms.......


We are warm and I should mow the lawn but I am going to wait one more weeks.  These are my unusual daffodils.  My wife calls them the daffodils with ruffles.  I was able to take the photo in the afternoon Saturday with the sun giving them a soft glow. Have a restful Sunday.



Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Deep in Thought............


The little guy has survived another winter and is wondering what is going to happen next.  He has had a lot of rain the past couple of days but the flowers in the background seem to enjoy the moisture.



Robin in the Rain.........


I saw robins a week ago but I never thought I would catch one with a camera.  I am sure this one is digging through the leaves looking for worms under the leaves.



Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Seeing red again......


Yes it is out of season but my plant just hangs in there in the side window keeping it's leaves to the most part.  This was the freebie that my son and his wife got free from Menards during shopping after Thanksgiving.



Saturday, March 17, 2012

Someplace I would rather be........2






In the summer it is fun to visit the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri.  The area was built to imitate Italian architecture. The sounds of fountains that are scattered throughout the area are very pleasing on a hot summer day.




Friday, March 16, 2012

Someplace I would rather be.........





When the weather gets to be warm I get the feeling I should be wandering.  Today's place I would rather be is in Maine.



Thursday, March 15, 2012

Where's the food?


A cardinal is wondering if I will ever put out any more seed.  I will but I do have a lot of juniper berries on my one evergreen so I know he isn't going to starve.



Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Duck........


I continually practice using the macro even though it does have a mind of it's own.  I really like how the light can be just right and you can pick up all the wonderful textures.



Tuesday, March 13, 2012

A photo shoot......with kitsch.






I cleaned up an old pair of salt and pepper shakers.  I didn't dry them and as you can see there must have been some pepper still in the one.



My mom would collect these one set per year when we took our summer trip.  I know they are old and I have saved a few of her stranger sets for memories.  I did toss some too. There were just too many of them.


I did get the pepper wiped off for this final shoot.  Yes, wasting my time taking pictures of ceramic kitsch.  The tiles are from a sample set of stone a student once gave me.



Monday, March 12, 2012

Blooms........


The oxalis in my window is putting out new pink blooms.  They seem to enjoy spreading out and leaning on the African violets. First day in for daylight savings time and I feel like leaning also.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Seeing Red......


Just a pretty picture today.  It is the uncropped photo of the header as seen above. I have taken slips of this plant and all of them are still alive at this point in time.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Friday's Finding......



This is Kansas City in June with the sun shining and it is warm.  I am using an archived photo from a few years back.  The Country Club Plaza is full of replica buildings from Europe.  The warthog sculpture is one of their more unusual sculptures there and I have seen a brass Ronald McDonald sculpture there.




Thursday, March 8, 2012

Watching and Waiting...........


Spring 2011

It is too early for the magnolias to be blooming here but I do have daffodils sprouting up near the porch.  I do know that the magnolia at school is very budded so I am sure the neighbor's magnolia is budding also even though I haven't been over to see.




Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Sisters.........


From one of my antique velvet photo albums I selected photos of sisters from the book for a photo shoot.  I like the special effects of the lights reflecting and the old photos are really classic oldies of the late 1800's.

The album came from a house that my dad demolished in Osceola, Iowa.  The only name that I know of all the family names in the two albums is the name of Webster.  I think these are photos of women from the past of the family that lived in the house.  A lot of them are not from Osceola. I have always thought that the albums are from someone's grandparents who lived in another part of the state or in a different state.




Tuesday, March 6, 2012

The Angel Band............


My wife's angel collection in the dining room seemed to always be singing and playing their music for an audience.


A closeup shows one angel who strums music from her stringed instrument. The red lipstick seems to be a little too much but as a performer,  the makeup needs to be upbeat for a performer to be seen throughout the audience.




Monday, March 5, 2012

'tis the gift to be simple........

'tis the gift to be free.  A practice shot of an old mixing bowl of my grandmothers. The apple was sent outside to feed the squirrels as it has been around way too long.

I found the song that I was thinking of when I see this photo.  I had earlier posted it  as "it is good to be simple."  As usual I was way off base.


'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
a Quaker song.............

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Lady's day out...........


The female cardinal looks lkie she is posing for the camera.  Actually she keeps looking around to be sure there is not any danger. She just keeps surveying the area while eating.  I don't think I have ever noticed the top notch of red before but when you can freeze it in the moment with a digital you can take notice of all of the wonderful markings and subtle coloring.




Friday, March 2, 2012

Dried Roses.........


As the bouquet of red, white and pink roses faded these two seemed to keep their shape.  It may be because they actually never bloomed.  I  tried the three different colors on the bouquet instead of all red, which does mean true love, and my wife really did  like the three different colors in one vase. We have been married long enough that I thought I could pull off the change as she is just as zany creative as I am so the change seemed to be good to do.

When I asked for the red, white and pink the florist lady had this look about her.  I said do you carry those white and pink roses.  If not I would have gone all red.  She was ok with it and put a lot of white filler with it to tie it together.



Thursday, March 1, 2012

Eating Sunflower Seeds......




The guy picked out one seed at a time and then rolled it sideways then vertically in his beak.  I am amazed at how he can get it to break and the seed does not fall out of his beak while breaking it.  It is such a skill.



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 ...