Stalking a Garden near you

So I was visiting the Svanda's today, and had to crawl about in their garden for this shot. If there is a man in your flower bed with a camera, pleas ask before you call the cops, it could be me!

March 31, 2011, In the Ajuga with the bees

I have shot these before, however when I went outside today, you could hear the buzzing of the bees. It is a wonderful sound and you would not believe how camera shy these little creatures are! They move from stalk to stalk and are not willing to pose quietly for too long. This means I am really crawling on the ground amongst the Ajuga and the bees. They are gentle little things and if you're not disturbing them, they really do leave you alone. It is so much fun to get up close and personal with them though! Enjoy them, I did!

Wednesday March 30

Well...here are more! Enjoy...










And some yard art as well!

Looking at shape and color

The shapes and textures and colors of flowers have always captured my mind. I guess that is why I loved O'Keefe's flower paintings over her landscapes and object paintings. So here are some shapes and colors to look at.

Saturday the 26th of March

Not a lot to say, but hope you enjoy the texture of the Calla Lily and the clear and pristine lines of the flowers.

Break between rainstorms

Well, it isn't raining today, and this weird "BLUE" stuff kept popping out around the clouds...no idea what it is called....



But I was able to wade across the lawn and get some pictures, so here we go around the yard....

Raindrops

Water is such an amazing compound. Either as a solid (ice), gas (steam) or liquid (water), it presents such beauty in its clarity and freshness. I am amazed at what a hot shower can do for me, yet alone a steam room followed by the plunge into the cool tub. As much as we talk about the weather, we seldom focus on how much we need the water, stored in our bodies, our wells and our snow covered mountains. Yet alone what it makes flowers look like!






They say it will rain more too, so enjoy it, and hold it tight, because when the 105F summer arrives, we will miss these days!

Beyond the Yard in Spring

Wild Turkey, and not the kind you drink (at least since my college days!) are fast becoming a common site in California. This rafter (also known as a gang) of turkeys were in the Roseville area of California. Being very skittish, they move quickly and blend in very well with their surroundings.




Also this time of year are the early wild flowers, in this case a bulb called Dichelostemma capitatum (ok...common name.....) Blue Dicks.

They are very common in the foothills this time of year.

March 14 2011

I hope to think this is the last of the Bradford Pear pictures, but I make no promises. The flowers are so delicate on them and the sound of the bees in the trees sounds like a factory in full swing. The buzz of hundreds of bees flying from flower cluster to flower cluster...it is an amazing and alluring sound to me that draws me back multiple times. Worse yet the damn bees won't stay in one place and cooperate with me for pictures, so I have to be up close and personal with them!
I hope you enjoy, and no, I was not stung once.

I like to call this one "Soft Landing":


Time for this one to go back to the hive and unload!


Nice shot!


Just the flowers..


and more of them....

new life

So, here I am. Surprised by many things. What a strange and weird life this is...so enjoy:

without flash:


with flash:


If you are a prude, please stop here, the Peach Tree is in the process of being fertilized by a foreign species. What you will see is artificial insemination of the peach pollen to the stamen...sorry if the sex offends you...but this is happening all over the world now days......