Backyard Lily

This is another inhabitant of my sister's back yard. She has flowers for the entire season in her backyard. One of these days I'll remember what the damn things are called. I know this is a lily....lol!

Don't Drive Through the Cornfield

It might sound like fun, but just don't do it. Turn left or right like the sign says.

I took this picture later in the afternoon. But the best light is usually in the early morning or right before sunset. So, I had to adjust the brightness and contrast a bit.

Just a Nice Day

It was a very nice day today. Sunny, lower 80s, less humid. What a great day after all of the crappy weather we've been having. I was out shopping and decided to take a detour to try and capture a nice picture of the sky. Inspired by Mindy, I decided to stop real quick and capture this farmhouse. The focus is a little less precise than I'd prefer. But I couldn't get out of the car at the moment. So I took the picture through the front window of my mini-van.

The weather is supposed to just be great for the rest of the week. That's if you don't count the weekend when it will get hot, humid and stormy again. Gotta appreciate it while I can.

Here There Be Dragons

This is a just-for-fun post. No techniques or special stuff here. We've really had fun swimming this week when we weren't cowering in our house looking at roll clouds in the sky. This is one of Jeremy's dragons. We have been invaded. He asked me to take a picture of it and include it in one of my blogs this week. So, here it is.

Oh, and Happy Birthday Gabbi! Love ya.

Life in the Midwest

When I hop in my car and go for a drive, I see a lot of the picture above. You can change the crop to corn once in awhile. I took this picture about 10 minutes away from my house. A lot of open sky around here. So, when it comes to sites like above, the question is do you make the sky the top 1/3 of the picture or the top 2/3? Also, I need to clean my camera sensors....




I also visited the Kankakee River State Park this morning. This is a photo of where the Rock River meets the Kankakee. There's usually some mini rapids in the river when you look this direction. But we've had so much rain that the rapids are no where to be seen and the water is all tan/brown.




Speaking of storms, this a photo of the sunset last night after all of that weather passed thru. I have seen a few much nice pictures of the sunset and I'm kind of jealous. But this is the view God gave me and it was breathtaking.

Tornado Alley

It's another blog about water, but this is a different kind--the stuff that falls from the sky! These clouds were really ominous (did I spell that correctly?) as they rolled in.

The tornado sirens sounded for what it seems like the millionth time this past month. This is a massive storm. The tornado sirens even sounded in downtown Chicago. I've been working downtown for quite a while and I can't say I've ever heard the tornado sirens before!




I'm sure my neighbors were checking me out in the backyard taking pics of the storm as it rolled in. Well, the worst part of the storm seems to have passed. But it's still really dark outside! Can't wait to hear about the aftermath of this one!

more water

This is another shot from yesterday. Did I say that I think water is fascinating? This is another photo with a 1600 ISO. Gabbi was just jumping up and down in the water.

Water

Water is a fascinating subject. I've said before that I like to photograph water because its look varies depending on the ISO. We were in the pool this afternoon, so the kids were jumping and splashing around. This is at a 1600 ISO.

Zucchini and Yellow Squash and Daryl

Gosh, a little rain and a little fertilizer and my zucchini and yellow squash plants have just taken off. I was afraid there for awhile they might be mutant squash because they've grown so much more quickly than last summer. But I guess we're just having a better growing season...plus a lot of rain. Gotta keep an eye on the plants so we don't have any mutant squash! I remember when my bro-in-law Daryl would grow this stuff every summer, we'd get a zucchini from him that was big enough for six loafs of zucchini bread, a side dish for dinner and some deep fried stuff for an appetizer, with some left over. LOL. He must be sprinkling my garden with magic grow stuff. He's watching out for all of us, I guess. Miss ya dude.

baby robins

There are a couple of robins that have built a nest in a bush next to my garage. The nest is a little below eye level. I've shown pictures of them previously. Well, this morning I found that their eggs had hatched. I peeked into the greenery and there was a baby bird looking back at me. I ran and got my camera and snapped a shot. It's a little more blurry than I would have preferred. But I was afraid that mom and dad robin were going to start dive bombing me. They definitely were unhappy, that's for sure. It will be interesting to see the babies out of the nest and hopping around pretty soon.

The patterns left behind

It's really difficult to take pictures of rain. I guess it's just like any other picture of flowing water--the higher the ISO the better. It's easier to take pictures of the patterns that rain leaves behind, like ripples in a puddle or water dripping from our pergola. This is from a few hours ago when we had that scary storm pass through. I had to use a flash because it was very dark outside. It has a bit of repetition and is slightly more interesting than ripples in the puddles on our front porch. Actually, I'm not sure I really like the picture. LOL. Maybe it would be more interesting if I posted this next to a picture from the same spot, but with icicles hanging from the top.

A different perspective

Life likes to throw out a few wild ones once in awhile. Things that make us change our perspective, whether or not we're ready. Well, today I wanted something a little different. So, my kids found me lying on the floor taking pictures of our banister. Mommy, what are you taking pictures of the ceiling? No dear, just taking pictures of the railing. Why would you do that? Because I can.

It's Another One of Those Thingys

I missed my blog last night because 1) I was in Washington DC and 2) I felt like crap. So, even though I had a couple of pictures in my back pocket to use, I was too tired to even mess with it.

This is another flower from my sister's back yard. She told me what it was as we did the flower tour but it went right in one ear and out of the other. So, I had to send her the picture and have her email the name back. It's called Nigella or "love-in-a-mist." They're really beautiful but kind of small and close to the ground. The photo was originally full of color. But the focus is a bit off because I chose not to lay in the dirt, so I think I like the black and white version better. Yes, I like black and white better when the focus isn't crisp. So, sometimes it's like cheating.

What Did You Say That Was?

This is a Gallardia. It's one of the flowers in my sister Debbie's back yard. She is really good about remembering the names of all of these different flowers. I'm lucky I can remember names like impatients (probably misspelled that)and dianthus. She, on, the other hand, took me on a tour of her back yard today and described every flower to me, how they've spread since they were planted, and what she plans to do next. If we want a flower garden in our back yard, it's another space we'll have to create.

A Lily a Day and Then Some

I realized today that there's day lilies planted all over the place in town. Many of my neighbors have them in their front yard, they're in front of the town hall, the post office, many of the churches in town, the fire house, everywhere you look it seems. They are pretty. We had them planted around the trees at our old house. But we haven't gotten around to planting any around here yet. Someone should have told me a long time ago about the day lilies. I would have dug some up and brought them with me.

I've looked at clouds from both sides now...

Was very busy today running errands and attending a fundraiser for a young lady that is being treated for breast cancer. I had a lot of fun with Deb, Ang, Sally and Ed. So, didn't have time to run around with the camera today. So, here's another cloud picture from the nasty weather we had last weekend. Too bad I wasn't around here this afternoon. We had another nasty storm roll through. I'll bet the clouds looked awesome. The temps kept going up and down. Of course, the humidity never changed. It's just awful!

Storms and growth

It's been an interesting week. We've had some nasty storms as well as both cold and hot weather. Above is a picture of one of the storm clouds rolling in over my neighbor's house. Despite the fact that the storm brought three tornadoes to the area that caused a lot of damage (and one that was nice enough to lift up and go over my house instead of running into it) the storm clouds were a thing of beauty. A mixture of light and dark full of thunder and lightning.




The storms have done my garden a lot of good. I guess bad things do have good outcomes sometimes. It's been dark and gloomy around here. But, I also haven't really had to water my garden all week--God did that part for me. These are the first blooms on my tomato plants. I think this one happens to be a Roma tomato plant. Roma tomatoes make good sauce. Can't wait to pick one.



My banana peppers are also starting to grow. This is a pepper that can't be more than half an inch big. So, I'll have some awesome tomatoes and peppers. Throw in some of the cilantro and grab an onion from the fridge (didn't grow any onions this year) and I'll have some awesome salsa around August.

Red-Winged Black Bird

Here's another visitor to my back yard from yesterday. Nothing fancy here. Just patience.

The Cardinal

Well, I finally caught him--or at least caught a picture of him. I hear this guy singing every morning. Normally when I try to catch a picture of him, he flies away never to return. Today my patience was rewarded. The picture is a little bit more blurry than I would prefer. Maybe a tripod would have improved it. He spent a few moments checking me out, too.



Lucky me, I caught a picture of him flying away. Again, probably needed a tripod. But sometimes it's more important to capture the moment than to get it perfect.

Damn the Bunnies!

Damn bunnies are munching on my garden. I planted two flats of marigolds around my garden this afternoon in the hopes they'll keep the bunnies away. Of course now that the lettuce is gone--not even planted--maybe they won't be interested any more.

Digging for some Sunshine

Today has been a mostly cloudy, dark kind of day. We've had some moments of sunshine, but not enough for me. So, I dug through some of my discarded photo blog shots to find one that reminds me of the sun. This is a picture of some tulips that I took a while back. I love the way the sun lights up the colors.

flower garden

The first day I planted some annuals, they were kind of droopy. Poor little things were just worn out from being taken out of their comfy green house and planted in pots in my front yard. But we've had plenty of rain since then and some sunshine. Today, they looked much better. These are some yellow snapdragons. I bought them for Jeremy.




I used one of the camera's automatic settings for these pics. I think they're useful when trying to understand the appropriate manual settings.

The flower below is a begonia, but it's a little larger than the begonias I normally buy. It will be interesting to watch the flowers grow over the summer.




I'm still not done planting my annuals. I ran out of flower pots, so I need to buy some more this weekend.

A Beginning

I think that talking about a "new beginning" is redundant redundant. I mean, isn't a beginning new by definition?

The school year is about to come to a close. So, what we actually have is an ending. A goodbye. Endings are difficult. (Goodbye is the hardest part.....) So, I'd rather try to turn it around and think that once school is over for the summer, my kids will be beginning their time in fifth and third grade, rather than ending fourth grader and second grade. Time to draw back the curtain, let in the sun, and look forward to something new.

more cheekwood glass

This is more from Cheekwood. I almost posted a picture i have of my friend lisa laying on the ground, shooting up at this sculpture. I was really tempted lisa. Just another example of you swinging that monopod thingy around. LOL. I took the easy route. I just dropped the camera to knee level and shot up at the sculpture and took my chances. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't. I happen to like this one.