I’m joining in with the Take Three Thursday meme at Patio Postcards this week. The idea is to take 3 photos that are linked some how; by theme, by color, by date, by moment, by points of view. Not only were the flowers beautiful when we were at the Chicago Botanic Garden, but we returned to find our peony tree in bloom. So here are three photos linked by color or subject:
And a fourth “cheater” photo to give you a bit of perspective.
It’s May 5th, and I’m here to join in with Sandie at Itchifingers with her Five in Five meme on the 5th, no less! The goal is to take as many photos as you want in 5 minutes and choose 5 to post. It rained all day today, but finally stopped around dinner time, and lightened up for a little bit. I grabbed the camera and went out in the yard to find some signs that show that spring is definitely here.
The first photo is actually one of Gerber daisies that were purchased at the grocery store. It’s a good size container with three brilliant colored daisies—all for $7. It’s finally warm enough to keep a planter like this outside.
Next up, one of the last of the daffodils. Tulips are in bloom in many yards, but the deer eat ours every year, so we’ve stopped planting them.
Our rhododendron is as beautiful as I can ever remember it. We had a less severe winter this year, so I’m wondering if that’s why it’s so lush. We have another one that is just budding now.
As I was taking photographs, a large bee showed up. “Buzz” was a prompt for the Project 365 in April, so I’ll be posting this one for today. It’s like the scavenger hunts. Even when I can’t find it on time, I keep looking, and usually I find what I’m looking for eventually.
Finally, a shot of the hostas which are coming up as well.
There’s nothing but rain in the forecast for Rochester. Well, a snowflake is the icon for one of my weather apps for Monday. But we’ll be in Chicago by then which (unusually) seems to have a much brighter forecast for the next week. I’m anxious to hold that baby girl that we last saw when she was 3 1/2 weeks old, and to catch up with Caleb, Sarah, and Adam.
It feels like spring, the sun is shining, the daffodils are blooming, and there are a few crocus popping up, but still no leaves on the trees nor any flowering trees. The tulips aren’t out yet either. But I did know where to find a riot of color just a mile or so from our house. So this afternoon, I walked over to the Highland Conservatory. It’s easy to get five photos in five minutes in the Spring Flower Show room. There was, as I expected, lots of beautiful spring color.
As always, I rarely get this meme posted on the fifth of the month, but I’m happy to be participating in Sandie’s monthly challenge to get 5 in 5, and grateful for an excuse to get to the Spring Flower Show.
This has turned out to be a last minute post. Entries to Sandi’s 5 in 5 meme are due by tomorrow. Not that I don’t have photos from our road trip, but 5 in 5 minutes hadn’t happened. Yesterday as we took our daily walk down the beach there were an unusual number of birds on the beach
We spotted a bird we’ve never seen in all our trips to Florida. It’s a Black Skimmer—identified with Tracy’s iBird app. They’re the ones with the two-tone beaks–black and orange.
I rarely manage to catch the birds in flight, but yesterday I did. All these were taken with my iPhone 6.
And finally a photo of a bird we knew as a Pilot Tern (black heads), but we’re now not sure since we can’t find a bird with that name in our bird library. Our friend thought it was a Royal Tern, but a Royal Tern doesn’t have as much black on their head.
This is our last full day at the beach. We’re meeting friends of ours for lunch who are also on Longbeach. Tuesday night we had dinner with another couple who are also here. Amazing that we can have such a nice social life here as well as the wonderful weather! You can click on any of the photos to enlarge them.
I’m not quite sure how the 5th of the month escapes me over and over, especially when I’ve been participating in Sandie’s meme for over a year. But it wasn’t until I saw Mary-Lou’s photos yesterday morning that I realized that, once again, the 5th had passed me by. I was determined to remedy my neglect as quickly as possible, so yesterday I took a detour between two appointments and visited the Highland Park Conservatory. My membership had expired, so I was overdue for a visit there. Much to my surprise, I ended up with as many animal photos as plants or flowers. They have always had a covey of quails and a bale (I had to look this term up) of turtles, but both had greatly increased. The quail scurry around so quickly, it’s hard to get a clear photo even with a decent shutter speed. I had two five minute segments to choose from, and decided the animals were far more interesting than the plants and flowers.
One group of turtles were having (or thinking about having) lunch.
This group was playing in and around the pool of water, and playing piggy-back.
A croton, just because there should be one plant in the mix. Love the colors and the beautiful veins in the leaves.
A few quail having lunch.
And perhaps hunting for lunch. This one is my fave. Love the bench legs and pot along with the cute little quail.
Linking up with Sandie at itchifingers with thanks for hosting this meme once again this year.
As I always do I’ve set some intentions to guide me through 2017 with my OLW: Joy. Two of them involve photography. One is the Capture Your 365 project which I haven’t done in a couple of years, and thanks to my friend, the other is the exploration of contemplative photography. Mary has a knack for giving me gifts I didn’t even know I wanted and/or needed. Her Christmas gift this year was three books on contemplative photography. She knew that my OLW last year was Mindful, and that I had been exploring meditation and mindfulness. And she knows I love photography. Contemplative photography seemed like the perfect match, and I think she was right.
Shortly after dipping into The Little Book of Contemplative Photography, I discovered Adventures in Seeing on Sandie’s blog, which I purchased and had sent to Sarah’s while we were there. It’s proving to be a good purchase, and I’ve really enjoyed following Kim’s site, Contemplative Living through Photography.
Contemplative photography has a different slant that that of capturing the everyday moments, people, and landscapes of your day. Howard Zehr describes it as “being deliberate about approaching photography as a kind of meditative and spiritual discipline.” The subtitle of Kim Manley Ort’s book is “How the Camera Teaches You to Pause, Focus, and Connect with Life.” They advocate leaving your preconceptions behind, and stopping to pause, reflect, and contemplate before you click the shutter. All the books provide exercises and writing activities to use as part of your photography practice. Writing about my photography is a totally new concept to me. Kim Manley Ort hosts a FaceBook group where you can explore the exercises in her book with others. I’ve been following the discussion, and am just now getting ready to participate.
I’ve dipped into three of the four books, and have started following Kim Manely Ort’s blog which features some very thought-provoking and interesting posts. A week or so ago she posted an essay “The Power of Patterns.” She encouraged readers to look back over photos they’ve taken and to look for those that represent patterns. I knew I’d find quite a few, but was surprised at how many there were in my Lightroom library. I pulled out over 100 and then selected 20 of them to use in thinking about what kinds of patterns and themes run through my photography, and what kinds of metaphors I might find. It’s a whole new way of approaching photography, and I’m looking forward to exploring it.
After a slow start, I’m halfway through the items on Eileen’s Winter Scavenger Hunt. I’ve seven more items to post today, one of them an alternate.
First off, #2 raindrops. The day of Caleb’s birthday party it poured. Once we got him settled in the car, I saw the raindrops on the balloons from the party as well as those on the windshield.
There are no pets here, but Sarah’s dog, Sadie, is one of our all-time favorite pets. She’s getting on in years but still a beautiful dog. She sits for #5 fur or feather.
A river or canal is #6. I got both in one shot (well, actually, I have two to share.) From a bridge in Genesee Valley Park, you can see where the Genesee River and the Barge Canal cross.
This photo was originally posted as part of “Memos, Mail, Me” a week ago, but is a great one for #7, glassware.
The next two were taken for Sandi’s Five in Five meme, but they both qualify for #13, cogs and gears.
When I was driving out of the Eastman Museum on Sunday, I saw St. Paul’s Episcopal Church across the street, so I parked and got a photo for #17, a church with a tower.
Lastly, the alternate, shadows. The first one here was also shot for Sandi’s meme, and the other at the playground with Caleb while we were in Chicago. I’d be happy to see another 60° day here soon!
I’m keeping the list on my desk now, and hoping that I’ll be able to cross another few off during the month of February.
Waving to Sian and the other Monday memo makers! I thought for sure I’d be without any mail to share since we’re still in Chicago, but then I remembered that thanks to Amazon Prime, I’ve received two pieces of mail this week. Of course, I think they’re interesting because I ordered them!
On top of the book is a new memory card reader. My old one is at least five times bigger, and I haven’t traveled with it in years. Tracy’s laptop has a memory card slot so I was using it, then transferring the images to my laptop to edit or post them. Last week I wondered if perhaps there might be a better answer, and here it is. It cost all of $7-8, and works like a charm.
The book I ordered on Saturday night and it arrived early this morning. John Berger passed away recently, and last week I read two blog posts about him here and here. I was so interested that I decided I wanted (and needed) to read it. I’ve decided to put a bigger focus on photography this year after backing off during 2016. Although Berger’s book deals primarily with paintings much of what he writes about can be applied to photography as well.
Thanks for all your comments and emails wondering how Sarah and Hannah are doing. Both are doing well. It will be a while yet before Sarah gets her energy back, but considering where we were two weeks ago today, it’s been a quick recovery. Caleb is quite smitten with his baby sister and is very affectionate.
Today was Caleb’s “friends” birthday party. His fifth birthday was mostly spent at a friend’s house since that was the day Hannah was born, and Sarah had her second surgery. Today he hosted 14 friends at a “Jump Zone,” a wild place with inflatable bouncy houses and slides. Let me just say, the five year olds were in heaven!
The birthday boy on his way home. It was the perfect day for a party—cold, wet, and dreary—even the parents were glad to have a place for their kids to run around for an hour or so. Caleb had both sets of grandparents there today as Adam’s parents are here for three days on their way to England. As amazing as it was that Hannah was born on Caleb’s birthday, Adam’s sister who lives in England had her third child the day before Hannah was born. Lots of excitement in this family!
I’m joining in with Sandie at itchifingers for her 5 in 5 meme again this year. We took Caleb to the Museum of Science and Industry today to see the Brick By Brick (Legos) exhibition. It was amazing, and Caleb and his Grandpa were in heaven. I’ll be sharing some photos from that in the near future. We had some time to kill after lunch today before our tickets for the movie on the National Parks (also wonderful) so we headed to the Art of the Bicycle exhibit.
I’m counting this one as the title photo, not one of the five. I loved the graphic look of this piece. Rather than take photos of whole bicycles, I chose to focus in on the elements that attracted me. A couple of these work for prompt 13, cogs/gears, in the Winter Photography Hunt, as well.
I loved the shadows this bicycle cast on the wall.
This was a wooden bicycle, and one for the WPSH.
I’m always a fan of red!
More cogs and gears.
And although this also is a candidate for the WPSH, it was the bright green that attracted me here.
It turns out that a museum exhibit is the perfect place on a cold, gray day in Chicago to find five photos in five minutes. Thanks, Sandie, for hosting this in 2017!
I couldn’t decide on photos for this final SNAP of the year, but ended up choosing one of our tree and three ornaments. The bottom two are the first two photos for Eileen’s Winter Scavenger Hunt: alternate: angel. I do have a few others to post, but need to get a bit more serious about scouting out the photos for the hunt.
If you celebrate, I hope your Christmas was wonderful. Ours was delightful despite a rash of colds and upper respiratory infections. I managed to escape the worst of it until the day after Christmas. I had high hopes of getting a lot done around here, but have spent the last two days reading, napping, and trying to shorten this cold before we need to leave for Chicago. I’m not relishing the idea of wearing a mask the whole time we’re there to help out with the new baby!
Many, many thanks to Helena for hosting this wonderful meme all year. I’ve loved it, and am anxious to print them out in one form or another as I think they’ll be a nice record of what I observed over the course of the year.
A few weeks ago I posted a SNAP collection of photos taken from my windows. Here’s this week’s version with a decidedly different view.
The top two photos were taken out windows in the front of our house—basically looking north. The bottom two are looking out the back. I love that the reflection from our Christmas tree in the living room shows up in the photo on the bottom left. A few years ago, Tracy started putting a little lighted tree on our patio table. We can see it from our kitchen and dining room and I’ve always enjoyed it. Everything, as you can see, is covered with snow. The trees outside my studio are no longer covered with snow, but it will be awhile before the snow in the front yard disappears. Nonetheless, the weather forecast is for warmer temperatures and rain on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Since we have travel plans in the near future, I’ll be glad for better weather but sorry to see rain, instead of snow, on Christmas. Guess it’s a good trade-off.
Sarah is expecting a baby any day now. Her original due date was January 11, but after last week’s exam, the doctor unofficially moved her due date to Christmas Day. She’s ready now, but I’m hoping that the baby does not come on Christmas Day. Everyone, as one of my friends noted, needs their own birthday. Typically, we’d leave here the day after Christmas to celebrate Christmas with Sarah and her family in Chicago, but this year we’re waiting for the baby, and planning to spend some extra time helping out. It won’t be before Christmas, as Christmas for Tracy’s family, is always held here. There will be 17 of us this year, although Mason and Molly won’t arrive from Oregon until after dinner. Aside from two more batches of cookies, and some wrapping, I’m as ready as I can be. If you celebrate Christmas, I hope your preparations are going well.
Last week we made our second annual trip to the Eastman Museum for the arrival of Santa Claus and to look at the gingerbread house display. The gingerbread houses are made by various groups, and there is a silent auction to raise funds for restoration projects at the museum. The George Eastman House was all decked out as usual. Skylar was old enough this year to really enjoy a rather lengthy scavenger hunt where you hunt for items in many of the gingerbread house displays. It took several of us to help her finish it! Not as easy as one might think.
These are four of my favorites, although there were many, many more that were worthy of a photograph. Off to link up with Helena and other SNAP enthusiasts. But before I go, a photo of Grandpa and Skylar watching Santa come down the main staircase in the Eastman House.
Last year, my friend, Maureen, introduced me to Kittelberger’s. I knew the name as a wonderful florist, but had no idea that it was also a large and beautiful gift shop. They opened a small restaurant just around the corner a year or so ago, and yesterday we made our second annual Christmas visit to Kittelberger’s. We had a lovely lunch, and then walked around the corner to the store. I purchased two small gifts, an ornament, and a scarf for myself. Last year, I started to take some photos but got so interested in the merchandise, I came home with only one or two photos of the floral department. Yesterday I did a bit better.
One of the nice things about Kittelberger’s is the way they design their displays. Many are color coordinated, and some are theme oriented. The photo on the bottom left shows a display devoted to things with cardinals and a few other birds. I was surprised to see the starburst from the light in the photo on the upper right when I uploaded it. Sometimes I try to get this effect (with rare success); yesterday it was effortless.
Thanks, as always, to Helena. I will miss these weekly memes next year. I’m going to have to come up with some reason to get that camera focused for a reason every week.
I planned this post in my mind early this morning before it was light, and I got so busy during the day I almost forgot to take the photos before it got dark this afternoon. (Yes, afternoon. There is so much less daylight in December, and I keep forgetting.) Earlier today I posted a photo of the shopping cart filled with flowers at The Garden Factory on Saturday. I thought it would be fun to see where they ended up in our yard, and in our house. Actually there are six photos, but I’ll stick to the rules and just post five of them.
While I was waiting in line with Matt at The Garden Factory I spied these amazing urns filled with greens—far too large for our yard. Matt quickly noticed that there were smaller ones on a stand just to the left. After I left them, I discovered that they were very reasonable, and one quickly hopped into my cart. When Matt redid our landscaping this fall, he left this wonderful stone which looks great alone, but also holds a good sized pot.
We’ve had a couple of old sleds hanging in our garage for years, but it’s only been the last year or two that I’ve added some greens to one of them and put them on the (very small) front porch. I added the ribbon at home, and didn’t even notice when I was (quickly) taking the photo how much the wind was blowing.
Every year we have a bright red poinsettia in our living room.
And often a multi-colored one in the dining room.
It wouldn’t be Christmas without a cyclamen. Actually I bought two, a bright red one that’s in the dining room, and this gorgeous pink and white one for my desk upstairs. When my father was alive, he always sent me a cyclamen at Christmas time.
Linking up with Sandi at Itchifingers for her Five in Five (5 photos in 5 minutes) with thanks for hosting this monthly meme.
We spent the week of Thanksgiving in Chicago with Sarah, Adam, and Caleb. Sarah is expecting a little girl in January so a lot of our time was spent moving their office from the second floor to the basement, and then painting one wall with pink and gray stripes to turn it into a nursery. The crib and dresser got set up, but there’s still some decorating to do. The last night we were there, we rearranged the living room to make space for the Christmas tree, which will then be used for baby paraphernalia. The weather was unusually warm, so Saturday night we took off to the Lincoln Park Zoo to see the Zoo Lights.
The zoo was packed but it was still possible to walk through the zoo to see the amazing variety of lights. What you can’t see in the still photos are all the interactive lights. The only disappointment (to Caleb) was that the polar bears and penguins were “sleeping.” He told the Sunday School director that it was all his mother’s fault since she made us eat early! Actually, we were incredibly lucky to get a table at a restaurant just across the street from the zoo. We ate there a year ago, and it’s a very family-friendly place with good food.
So here’s Week 48: The Zoo Lights
If you look closely at the bottom left photo, you can see a cute almost five year old peeking out! Off to link up with Helena and my fellow SNAPpers (a bit late since the photos didn’t get edited until late this afternoon.)