wind blown

the wind was blowing up everything in sight that wasn't nailed down today... skirts, hair, dirt, leaves, pollen - whew...  it was something else.  and then i saw the most intriguing plant.  as per usual, i've no idea what it's called.  perhaps i should walk around with a plant/flower book like one does with birding.  then when i see something, i can stop to look it up.  however, that might take me all day to find it...who knows...an idea though, huh?

but i digress - what i saw was some sort of grass i suppose... kind of looked liked wheat maybe blowing in that strong wind?  you can judge for yourself - give it your best guess, let me know what you think or you may know the name of it.  it's not exactly a flower but a cool plant.  diversity is a good thing.  just as in life, diversity is a good thing; it improves us, makes us more tolerant and compassionate, too, in our individual existence.

happy day.....

fall flowering

still admiring fall flowers... can't help myself since winter will be upon us soon enough and we'll be finding ourselves wishing for greenery and blooms.  i'm taking plenty of shots to hopefully savor through through dull, barren months when the leaves have left the trees, too, to remind us of the days to come. 

until then, check these out...

happy day.....

harvest moon

the other night was the harvest moon.  i've always been fascinated by the moon...especially a full moon.  ask me, though, about waxing and waning... ummm, it'll stump me every time.  i know, that's sad. 

anyway, the light of the moon was very pretty.... even though it had rained earlier and there were some clouds, the sky cleared up enough for me to play around and get off some shots.  

happy day.....

bee still

somehow caught mid-air... mid-flight... bee still... doesn't get much better than that when you're out and about snapping pics...

happy day.....

a bird tale

yesterday afternoon the skies began to get overcast with big, billowy clouds.  i grabbed my camera which is so often an extension of my hands these days to see if i could get some good photos.  sometimes i think the sky is really hard to capture especially with a little digital camera like mine.  but i try and one of these days i may find success.

so there i am, scanning the skies - snapping away - and all of a sudden... i see a bird flitting across the clouds, flying very fast.  can i get him?  snap, snap.  i wanted to check but didn't dare...  snap, snap.  i was trying to follow his flight across the clouds as if i was a pro.  i was laughing because of the certainty my camera had in no way kept up.

imagine my surprise then as i was processing the photos and saw my little winged friend...yay!  because of that, there is a little bit of perfection in all of these shots.... for it's his story from beginning -when i hadn't yet seen him - to the end - after i lost him in the trees.

happy day.....

rose hips

rose hips are the most interesting things.  there are several rose bushes around the house and i got intrigued with the hips on one of them today.  i admit i got snap happy which is quite the norm these days...

apparently, the hips are full of vitamin c - can be made into tea, jams, jellies, soup, breads....all kinds of things.  who knew?

happy day.....

randomness

i was wandering through a local park snapping pictures.  i decided to pick out some of my faves for you... they are random - not having any particular link to each other or meaning any special thing.  the only commonality is my total enjoyment for each of them. 

as i was scrolling through i noticed that most times when i take shots of flowers, i never know their names and sometimes am fascinated with what others might call "weeds."  i may have mentioned this before and don't intend to repeat myself however, i tend to believe that anything with a blossom is pretty and deserves its own 15 minutes of fame, right?  i mean, i'd like my own...why not give it to everything, nature included.  so some of what you see here might indeed be classified as weed-ish i guess.  but to me it doesn't matter.  if there is a petal, i will snap it by my camera for viewing pleasure.

so there you have it.... my randomness for today.  did you notice that i threw in a rock...err, rather a boulder?  haha... if so, good for you - you are quick!  no reason, just a part of the random because i liked it.

happy day.....

juniper

i was told that this is a juniper berry tree...  i really have no idea because i've never seen one before and in all honesty?  it looks like an evergreen to me but with blueberries on it.  how would anybody know the difference?  so if it's not a juniper, forgive me.  i'm pleading ignorance here.  i think the "they" in this case was only trying to be nice, not right or wrong.

plus it's not a flower.... yay!  another something different for today.  i'm trying to branch out.  although i'm noticing that things are changing already in preparation for fall.  how that can be, i do not know.  i refuse to acknowledge summer may be coming to an end.  i am not ready. 

for example, i had a doctor appointment yesterday and instead of sandals the nurse was wearing shoes!  gasp.... sigh...  i couldn't believe it - although i admit they were awfully cute shoes.  but....  she agreed, saying simply she  thought she'd give them a go instead.  huh!

well... not me.  no way.... not willing to forgo my sandals or flip flops yet, or my bare feet.  nuh-uh. 

so i'm continuing on my search for lingering flowers to post so we can enjoy them while i chatter on about this and that and you'll have to put up with it for however long...

happy day.....

september roses

look what i found...

a rose bud.... tucked away in some evergreens outside my doctors office.

who knew that roses would still be blooming in september.  how totally cool is that?  tucked into that same evergreen bush...


a pink rose - with some white mixed in...so pretty

and...

a delicate white - pure as snow

pretty amazing what the weather has allowed us to continue to enjoy.

happy day.....

the power of red

what does the color red do for you?  to you?  does it empower you?  energize you?  make you feel strong?  lift your spirits?  make you smile?  i can honestly say it does all these things for me.

today as i was driving home from running some errands, a flash of red caught my eye.  i turned the car around, hopped out and found myself humming.  this is why....

is there a tune it brings to your mind?

happy day..... 

9/11 butterfly

so there i was this morning snapping photos and the lady comes out... 'cuz i'd been there for awhile.  okay, i'm somewhat slow with trying to get just the right shot after all.... it's only because i really don't know what i'm doing.  i therefore believe i should take a bazillion pictures just in case one doesn't turn out.  ...sigh  anyway, the lady, comes out thinking i'm from the newspaper.  i had a major giggle over that although, how cool would that be?  i said, "oh no" and proceeded to tell her about this photo journal i've joined and how i was admiring her flowers.

i also told her excitedly that i finally captured a butterfly which i thought i'd never be able to do.  she then smiled at me, said enjoy and rushed back inside because the wind was coming back up in a very big way.

so, of course, i can't let the day go by without sharing my first butterfly.  it's into the sun and flitted away quickly, but i didn't mind at all. 

i figure it's about the little things these days...simple moments.  on a day such as this, when 9 years ago terror struck our nation, for one peaceful moment to have a butterfly land in my presence is a small miracle i will take and embrace as a symbol...  for that's what we have, moments - one after another after another to do with as we will... it's a choice isn't it?  what's your choice?

happy day.....

georgia o

this sort of reminds me of georgia o'keefe.  i said sort of....  i am in no way comparing my measly photograph to her amazing work - at all!  it's just that when i got home, saw it and then started playing around with it after processing it, well.... i thought maybe?  okay, maybe not.

purple is one of my most favorite of colors. 

this is big, bold, bright and powerful...

happy day.....

what's for dinner

this is a white cyclamen. 

i took this picture because it reminded me of a serving dish.  you know, like when you've gotten all dressed up, not eaten all day, driven to a really fancy place and ordered the very expensive entree; then the waiter comes out to your table and lifts the domed lid?  get it?

isn't that cool? 

i'm trying to enjoy as much as possible the late summer blooms before....well....you know.

happy day.....

baby dreams

have you wondered about your dreams?  do you remember them when you wake up or have your forgotten them?  what about your children?  do you ever imagine what's going on when they are sleeping?  the things they are dreaming about?


well, one mother has gotten very creative about her child's dreams while she is taking her daily nap.  adele enersen, a new mom from finland, has taken to staging her newborn daughters dreams.  she has created such scenes as "mary had a little lamb" and "the laundry day" to adorable results.  adele uses household objects and, because her daughter is a very sound sleeper, is able to move mila out of her crib and back to pose the pictures.  it is very innovative and will provide mila with a wonderful book when she is older of her mother's imagination and creativity.  


adele has put up a blog called mila's daydreams which she says is her "maternity leave project" and also created an absolutely brilliant video.  what a cool concept.




if you're wondering, the music was done by mila's dad.  a very talented family i'd say. yay...


happy day.....

fruit of the harvest

the peaches have finally ripened.  in fact, it became evident as they started falling off the tree several days ago and i was able to capture one of the natives in the act of doing his own version of harvesting....

don't worry though, his discards were thrown away and i got my own to prep.  this is the first step on the way to becoming peach butter...a recipe i have perfected canning over the years.

washed and ready for peeling, pitting, slicing/crushing.  to be honest, i totally forgot how much work was involved with the whole canning process when i decided i'd go ahead and make the butter.  but it was too late since i'd already started.  and it's so hard to say no when you really don't find it in the store and there is nothing like homemade.  plus, to be able to share it with others...well, there is that!

then, of course, you have to get the stove ready with boiling water to sanitize your canning jars, lids and also get ready for the water bath once you've got food in the jars.  this is a very small space to do all that work.  additionally, it gets really hot with everything going on.  it probably doesn't look like it but trust me, it does especially in the heat of the day without an air conditioned house.  whew.... that doesn't even count the cooking that's involved as it takes about an hour to an hour and a half to actually cook down the butter itself if you want to get it right.  this is not a recipe you want to rush before you can it otherwise it will turn out soupy and runny.  yuk!  no one wants that.  but once it comes out of the water bath, which i need to do because of the altitude, there is a nicely finished product...

yum....when i see that pretty golden brown color and have done a taste sampling, it makes it all worthwhile.  i suddenly forget the hassle and the work involved, and am only relishing in my accomplishment.  how many people still can food?  i believe it is a lost art.  but i do even if i don't do as much as i used to do, doesn't matter.  i still do it and have proof to bear.

happy day.....

flower power

originally i thought these were marigolds, but now i'm not so sure.  they are such a vibrant color and the petals seem a bit larger than those of marigolds from what i remember.  i guess it doesn't really matter... 

since i have several different views, i decided to do a little series here.  one even has a bee on it that i managed to get quick before he flew off.  they are so fast but once i processed them, i saw he was still there... yay!  always a nice surprise when you aren't expecting it.

happy day.....

i've been taking pics of flowers the last several days and have decided to share them here.  why not?  every now and then it's nice to take a break and just enjoy nature.... small pleasures... simple things, as though there's not a care in the world.  we know there are, of course, but isn't it wonderful to sneak a peak - stare at a snippet of loveliness and then go back to the day-to-day of whatever. 

so that's what i'm going to allow for the next few days.  mind you, i'm not a professional by any sense of the imagination....ummmm, no, not at all.  i merely like to play around with a small everyday camera to see what happens.  surprisingly sometimes i like what i see and then think someone else might, too.

i thought this had kind of an organic look to it.

happy day.....

little visitor

yay...finally managed to get the elusive bee on a flower today.  most of the time i was worrying about it coming after me, so was trying to concentrate on not having the camera shake while getting a decent shot.  i think i was successful.

it's always a sense of wonder when you experience firsthand what nature intended, but also a great accomplishment to capture it for others to see as well.

happy day.....

ink bottles

have you ever used an ink bottle?  you know the kind where you dip your pen into the bottle before you can actually write on paper?  like this one...

it's very pretty in its simplicity and nice there are no ink stains remaining in the bottom.  plus i love the coloring.  but in terms of having to use it?  not so much.  i am forever grateful that i live in the age of computers.  typing is such a luxury isn't it?  no one has to be concerned with reading my handwriting.  i don't have to worry about smudging the paper or smearing the ink.  can you imagine the anxiety over potential spillage or perhaps dragging your arm across the page?  who would want to write anything?  there would be way too much complication involved for me.

so, yay i say, for the times in which we now live.  for technology and the ease of writing.  and in the meantime, we can enjoy the bottles that the ink used to be housed in for they are a true pleasure to lay eyes on.

happy day.....

kitty stress

cats get sick.  i realize this.  but they get diseases like humans do and who is ever prepared for that?  i mean... don't we usually treat our pets like humans, like our children...our babies?  i know i do. 

my kitty is my baby.  gracie is my princess as you have seen several times now.  i talk to her like she is another person living in the house regardless of whether she truly understands or not.  but truth be told, i really think she does.  i have had her since she was 5 weeks old and that is a very long time... so we are pretty bonded.

now i find out she has thyroid tumors...hyperthyroidism.  she was showing some symptoms but i was hoping it was just a sign of age after all.  which it was in part because she also has severe arthritis.  darn... now i have an arsenal of medication for her:  a wonderful gel to massage in her ears every day and a supplement to mix into her food...

but gracie is a fast learner.  i have to wear gloves to get the ear gel in and she hasn't taken to that very well yet.  i'm still working on her.  but in the meantime, i found her the other day in this pose...

looking to escape through the screen somehow, from me...from the gel... whatever.  too cute...

happy day.....