Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Take a Gander at This

It appears I've lost my resource for my daily photo prompts, but I haven't stopped shooting.  I was leaving the house to go vote this morning and I noticed this family at the bottom of our yard on their way to their morning swim.  The photos are taken with the telephoto on my phone camera which means the quality is less than I wanted.  

But....  such a cute family deserves to be shared!


They had bunched up when I first came out to the car but soon relaxed and started out again.  Dad strutting his stuff out front, the chicks falling into line and Mom bringing up the rear looking for stragglers.


 
 

Be sure to click on the photos to get the enlarged view. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Happy Mother's Day! A List About Mom

I've wanted to write about my mother for so long and I still don't have the ability to express what I want to write.  It's so frustrating.  But being Mother's Day I thought I'd share some of the things that I know and remember about my mother.  Don't expect much, this is basically a list about mom. 



  • Born January 27, 1921, Mom was the 2nd and last surviving child born to her parents.

  • My mother was a very bright woman. She graduated high school early and went on to college to earn her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree.

     
  • She went into veterinary medicine to help her parents raise foxes. The enterprise didn't work out so she joined the army during WWII, expecting adventure and companionship.

  • She was stationed with a Calvary unit until her Superior's wife complained of having a female in her husband's unit.  She was then sent to do FDA inspection at an egg plant, living in a boarding house, no companionship and no adventure.

  • She met my father and married him in 1948. In seven years they had three children.  In 12 years he died leaving her a widow with an almost-four year old, a six year old and a ten  year old.

  • She moved her family across country from Maryland to Washington to be closer to her parents. She gave up small animal practice for the security and benefits of a government job doing meat inspection.

  • She taught herself and her children to camp.  The first outing was with no tent.  My brothers slept under the picnic table to keep out of the rain and my mother and I slept in the back of our station wagon.

  • She taught me to love hiking in the mountains, how to backpack and fish.

  • She took us charter boat fishing for salmon off the coast of Washington.  We had our salmon canned to bring back home with us.

  • She took us to Disneyland, driving from Lynden, Washington (close to the Canadian border) to southern California.  We didn't stay in hotels until we got to Disneyland, instead we camped along the way, making and breaking camp each day.

  • I didn't give my mother an easy time as a young adult, but she patiently continued to love me.

  • My mother always saw me as someone better than I truly am.

  • When she retired she volunteered for numerous organizations at home.

  • She traveled the US to different Elderhostels, continuing to learn about the many subjects that interested her.

  • She traveled around the world, including Great Britain, the Scandinavian countries, Mediterranean countries, China and parts of Africa.

  • She never remarried.  

It took me far too many years to really appreciate who my mother was.  I was lucky enough to be able to have her come live with us the last few years of her life and I got to appreciate her more in those years than I ever did before.  Sometimes I'm sad because it was too little, too late.  But then I remember it might never have happened at all, and I am thankful for it.  

I love you, Mom, and I miss you so very much!!

Saturday, May 10, 2014

More Spring Grove Cemetery

Just a few more photos from Spring Grove.  It was such a beautiful day!

 I feel I shouldn't be posting this one, but it's my own slightly off sense of humor and I think it screams for a caption.  Agree or not?
  

Love these tulips.  They bud like a normal tulip but open like a peony.  How awesomely beautiful!


Love all the colors and textures in this photo.  


It was such a peaceful feeling just looking across the pond at the trees.  

Next time, I'll be sharing my turtle fetish photos.  See you then!


Friday, May 9, 2014

Spring Grove Cemetary & Arboretum

You may have noticed that I have dropped off the '30 Days of Spring' wagon.  My source for the prompts somehow decided it was more important to go on an exotic vacation than to stay home and take photos.  Goodness knows where her priorities are! 

However, I did go on a photo outing with my friend, Barb, to Spring Grove Cemetery.  

Oh.My.Goodness!

I have no idea how many acres this cemetery covers but it is huge and beautiful.  Think of a wonderful lovely park with ponds and stone bridges and beautiful plants and flowers in bloom... that just happens to have a few dead people buried around under your feet.

Here are just a few of the photos I took that day.  I'm still editing them, but I'll post more later. 

Turtles Catching the Morning Rays

Mausoleum in Springtime

Statuary

Statuary
It's kind of funny, I'm not even sure what draws me to like some of my photos, but these are my favorite of my first bunch.


Saturday, May 3, 2014

30 Days of Spring: Water Droplets, Day 8

The prompt for day eight is to look for the "sparkle of spring" or water droplets.  I had visions of dew drops and glittery spider webs, but alas, for all the storms we've had recently there wasn't a water droplet on anything I could see.  

It was late in the day. My husband was home from work and tending to his orchids, when he exclaimed over the nectar drops on another plant.  He didn't even know I was looking, but he found my water droplets!







This odd looking plant in the wine bottle is a start that Mark brought home from his mother's house over a year ago.  I'm thrilled with the blooms, as they are exactly why I was so drawn to this plant. I have no idea what it is, but the little upside down cluster of flowers are very waxy feeling.  The first time I ever saw them I was sure they were plastic flowers that someone had stuck into the original plant.  They are so cool! 


Friday, May 2, 2014

30 Days of Spring: Pastels, Day 7

The challenge for day seven is to photograph within the pastel pallet.  It doesn't sound that difficult, but very little in my life is pastel. 

After a bit of searching I finally realized the orchids in my sun room were softly colored, which made them the perfect subject.  The not-so-perfect issue was their location in front of a bright window on a high shelf.  If I tried to move them I might be scolded by the "Orchid Whisperer" aka my husband.  

So after attempting the afternoon shoot and getting some great orchid silhouettes, I returned to the corner after dinner for some more shots.  I hope you like my efforts, which include photos from both shoots. 








I actually thought these flowers were a kind of fleshy tan color. It was surprising to find what beautiful colors are actually in them!

In case you are wondering what happened to day six...  we'll revisit that one later.  

Ciao!