More garden stuff

Focus is a little off--it was a little windy, not much, just enough to make things difficult--but I like it.


May 2006, 50mm Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT

Second rose

Dramatic lighting courtesy of a birdfeeder's shadow.


May 2006, 50mm, Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT

Roses and things

Insert obligatory squee!bounce.

First rose

May 2006, 50mm, Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT

In other news, today is the girls' 7th birthday. (7?! How is this possible?) We had the family party yesterday, complete with a SpongeBob ice cream cake (yum).


(I know, it looks like a cake for a 77th birthday, but they both wanted those 7s, and they both wanted them on the cake at the same time. So there it is.)

Among a whole bunch of other things, they got scooters from Uncle Matt and Aunt Mandy (but for some bizarre reason I didn't get a photo of Morgan with her scooter, just Emma; I'll have to make up for that tomorrow).

Scooter girl


Today we opened the last few gifts, then went to IHOP for breakfast with Nana and Papa Tom and saw Nana and Papa off, then came back and set up and filled their pool and played outside and had pizza for dinner and watched one of the movies they got yesterday. Tomorrow we'll be off to spend the day at the new water park that just opened by the Mall of America.

I usually feel kind of bad that the girls' birthday always falls on Memorial Day weekend, what with all the graduation parties and weddings and things that are usually happening. Case in point, last year the girls got to spend their birthday at my cousin Tracy's wedding (if you're reading, happy anniversary, Tracy!). Don't get me wrong. They had a blast. They tore up the dance floor, bonded with other kids, people are still talking about the song they sang to the bride and groom, et cetera. But still. It's kind of the principle of the thing. Through no fault of their own they're stuck not only having to share their birthday with each other, but also having to share it with other events that usually fall under the category of "momentous." Eek. Sorry, kiddos.

This year, however, it's been a solid weekend of nothing but birthday stuff. There are no parties, no weddings, no picnics or family reunions, nothing. Just the girls having a three-day birthday bash, essentially. They've been having a ton of fun--but ye gods, their parents are exhausted!

Perhaps the other way isn't so bad after all! ;-)

Bee!

This is a test post (using Blogger's photo uploader), and a squee! post, and a Matrix-like whoa post.

The first is just because I haven't been using Blogger's uploader, and I'm not sure why I haven't, so now I'm trying it out.

The second is because I GOT A BEE IN MIDAIR SHOT! Context: I tried and tried and tried to do that last year, but the lil' Power Shot just wasn't up to that challenge. I got lots of shots of bees' behinds, and bees on flowers, and bees staring at me, but a clear shot of a bee in midair? Nope. So, squee! It's not a fantastic shot, but it's reasonably clear and, hey. Bee! In midair! Squee!

The third is because I have a site meter thing set up for this blog, and I checked it tonight, as I occasionally do, and found that someone got to this blog by searching for my name. Being me, I of course want to know why. Were they actually looking for me? Some other Nancy? Will they respond if I post this? Or was it a random occurance?

What does it mean?

# # #

On to today's photo.

Coming in for a landing



May 2006, my backyard, 50mm, Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT

Post-posting reaction...hmmm. Seems kind of small, doesn't it? But you can still click on it to view the large size. That's something, maybe? Hmmm.

Stormy night

Lots of rain, lots of thunder, lots of wind. No lightning shots, though. Phooey.

Storm coming


Skies are threatening rain

May 2006, 50mm, Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT

...May flowers

Focus seems a little off (especially when viewed large), but I still like this one a lot.

I may try to get a cleaner shot tomorrow. Or not. We'll see. :)

Orange

May 2006, 50mm, Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT

Backyard fun, or, Last call for hostas

We worked hard yesterday, putting in the beginnings of a raised bed and demolishing the second-to-last bit of the Hosta Ghetto (I'll blog more about that year-long nightmare in a later post, but essentially, last spring I began de-hosta-nating a 27 x 3 foot area of wildly overgrown and densely packed hostas-gone-wild; it's been QUITE the project). So we rewarded ourselves last night by having Joel and Alana over for some backyard grilling and drinks and a fire. It was cold, though! Even with the fire--and a thick sweatshirt and lined pants and socks--I was freezing.

I was also really worried that the new plants I just got yesterday might freeze (according to Pete, we were supposed to get down to 35°F last night), but everything's fine this morning.

Fire


And just for fun...

The spirits of the night liked Pete a lot.

Ghost!

May 2006, 50mm, Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT

This morning I'm staring at garden plans (can I combine a Butterfly garden with a Fragrant garden? More to the point, should I combine the two???), writing for an hour, and then heading outside to do some more de-hosta-nating before heading down to Belle Plain with Alana to 1) pick up my children, who are at Nana and Papa Tom's for the weekend, and 2) check out Brewery Creek, a garden center in Belle Plain that my mom highly recommends. Does anyone want some hostas? I don't have many left, but there is still a big fat chunk remaining, about five feet long by 3 feet wide, which I'll be starting to ripe out shortly...

Natural sepia

One of those surreal moments when it was both raining and sunny out.

Sun and rain make mist

May 2006, 50mm, Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT

Lily of the Valley

You can always tell when I'm getting busy with something, because the posting becomes a bit, shall we say, sporadic...


May 2006, 50mm, cropped, Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT

Quintessential Minnesota spring

A sunny day, finally. :)

Actually, this was from Saturday--I'm just now getting around to uploading it. It's been raining all day yesterday and today. There was some nifty thunder and lightning last night...ooooh, I was so tempted to take the camera out into the elements. Because if I can get this and this with that lil ol' PowerShot, what can I do with my darling Precious? But it was raining too hard. And while Pete's nicely tolerant of my various obsessions interests, his tolerance doesn't extend to holding an umbrella over my head to keep the camera dry while I aim for lightning...

Spring

May 2006, 50mm, cropped, Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT

Cheep! Cheep!

I really want this. Because, whoa, what kind of cool bird shots would I be able to take with that, eh? (You'll notice that it's currently on sale...HUGELY on sale...hmm....)

Instead, I have to sit very quiet and still, and wait, sometimes for a very long time, for the birds to get brave and come back to the feeders so I can get this kind of shot.

Actually, it's quite amazing to get this close...And there's also something to be said for being quiet and still for long periods of time; that's not something I let myself do very often.

Maybe I don't really want that lens after all.

Hmm.


Black-capped chickadee

May 2006, 50mm, cropped, Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT

More apple blossoms

The girls want a pink room. I might just use this photo for the color scheme. (Mandy? What do you think?)

Pastel

May 2006, 50mm, cropped, Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT

One of the first May shots

I really like this one. No idea why the title is what it is--it just seemed to fit. :)

Stand up and be counted!

May 2006, 50 mm, RAW, cropped, Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT

A quick post before bed

On my way to bed, but I like this one so much that I had to stay up just a wee bit longer to add it to the blog.

From one of the shots in yesterday's post:

Close

April 2006, 50mm, RAW, cropped, Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT

Edit the next day: An anonymous email in my inbox is wondering if these are cabbages (okay, I guess I can see that, sort of) or onions.

Onions?

Onions?

Sheesh.

For the record, they're apple blossoms. Or, more correctly, apple blossom buds, I suppose, since they've not yet opened.

Not onions.