Tiny Details

Gerbera Daisies seem to always smile! They are the world's 5th most popular flower, so I guess I am not alone loving their cheerful faces. 

Still counting down the days when I can go outside. I want to try macro in the sunlight to also get a background of colourful bokeh.



I have a favourite macro photographer that really inspires me, Alex Greenshpun. She is responsible for Canon making more money off of me!

I know she has the same camera body and lens that I do. Here folks is the proof of the saying "it is not about the gear" because I can only dream to create as much magic one day.
{Texture from Kim Klassen kk_waterfront}

Now I also have to blame Kim Klassen and my fellow Be Still 52 participants for our chat on "gathering" backgrounds and props for our creations.
{Texture from Kim Klassen kk_waterfront}



Clearly fresh cut flowers are quickly becoming a grocery shop staple in my household!

If you're Canadian you probably know Target is leaving Canada. So sad, because it was a great place for photography items. I took advantage advantage of the closing sales and picked up some items at discounted prices - how about $1 for this metal bucket, some string and cheese cloth, a few place mats and new coffee cups all at a steal.

Flowers always make people better...
They are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul.
~ Luther Burbank 
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Participating in Macro Monday
Textured Tuesday - Be Still 52 Week 4

Week 4 of M4H P52 "Small"

Be Still 52 Beginnings

Be Still

BREATH

Slow Down

See Beyond

Jack Frost is nipping at more than my window panes this winter!

On the plus side hibernating allows me to slow down and focus on the little details.

If you have read my blog for a while, you know getting a macro lens was top of my list. Thank you Santa! I am really going to enjoy this lens but there is so much to learn. It is really making me have to slow down and that is what I love about photography - how I can just get lost behind the lens for a little while. Macro is also giving me another gift, one heck of a neck ache so I am  working on setting up spot just for macro. Well or so that is my excuse to do some more decorating in the Craft/Sew Room.

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Yeah! So thrilled to have my frost photo represented in the M4H Project 52  "Eye Candy" collection for 3/52 Light.
Think about joining us next week for 4/52 "A Part of Me".

Bashful Peonies

Peonies! What is not to love about these show stopping blooms! Every year we attend the Botanical Gardens Peony Festival and take in the fragrant and humongous blooms. I am still dreaming about one day owning the 100mm 2.8 Macro lens but for now I enjoyed trying out a macro filter over my 85mm lens.

There is a lot of history around Peonies. They are also referred to as "the plant of healing" and thought to keep evil spirits away.

Greek mythology says the flower Peony is named after Paeon who was a mortal known as the physician to the Gods.  Paeon was asked by Leto (the goddess of fertility and Apollo's Mother) to find a flower that would sooth pain for women in childbirth. Paeon's mentor Asclepius had such a jealous rage that Zeus thought it best to turn Paeon into a Peony to save his life. 

Peonies come can be red, pink, white, orange or yellow and the blooms can reach 8 inches in size.

This was a dog friendly event so Kodee and Becky tagged along for the fun. Becky's goal for the day was to enthusiastically greet all who passed her. Kodee had a mission too - it was to attempt eating the flowers scattered on the ground. Not a good idea Kodee considering peonies are toxic to dogs!

 

The peony gardens turned out to be an appropriate spot to photograph Kodee's for my "12 Months For Dogs" FlickR group project because June's theme was "Seasonal". If a magazine ever existed called Dogs & Gardens I know I would be first in line to subscribe!

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Joining in the fun with  "Today's Flowers"

Backyard Friends

All week butterflies have been gracing my backyard. I'd no sooner grab my camera and they'd be gone. Today, this lazy fellow was most co-operative! I love how sharp his/her antennas are and how it appears to almost have tail feathers. I think this Monarch Butterfly qualifies as my entry into this weeks 
"Your Sunday Best Photo Challenge"
Follow this link to view other photographers best photo submissions for this week.

Usually things are pretty quiet in our backyard - well unless Kodee is sounding off at a squirrel or raccoon. This poor Mom made a huge mistake this spring and chose to have her babies in a neighbours garage. They tried to capture Mom and babies together but the Mom escaped. The babies were old enough to be set loose in the country. I can't say I miss the line of baby raccoons following Mom along my fence line as in previous years, but I do feel sorry for her. She was frantically searching for them for a long time.



Wildlife seems to be having a rough time around our house this year. On our front lawn we have a huge Manitoba Maple tree. When my daughter was young she found the beginnings of a tree - all 2 inches of it at my parent's farm. She planted it in a margarine container to bring home. My Dad warned me you couldn't kill   them and one day it would be huge - not to plant it. Did I listen - no and now 20 year later it takes up 3/4 of my front lawn! The quote to have it removed was well over $800 - yes Father did know best. This robin took up residence in it this spring. Good spot I thought - it sure beat the nest it tried to build over my patio door last spring or so we thought. The nest had a few babies in it but the next morning we found the nest on the ground and one baby bird dead.



I having a lot of fun with my two new lenses; the 15-85mm and 85mm. The more I shoot close ups the more I want a true macro 100mm lens! If you enjoy macro photography, I know the flowers and vegetables by Barbara Leven will inspire you. Also watch this video produced by B&H Photo Video.  During the filmed seminar, Barbara not only shows her artwork but she also discusses what lenses she uses and what steps she takes in post production  using photoshop.




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Participating in Macro Monday, I Love Macro, Your Sunday's Best

Favourite Flower ~ Orchid

Close Up

[Photo A Day June Prompt For "30 Things About Me" Series]

Orchids are calming to me. Probably because while growing up, my parents always had one - or two about. They like low light, warm places and a light watering once a week. OK seems easy enough. Mark Cullen, Canadian gardening guru explains in this video, Orchids are an easy to care for plant. They are known to provide exotic, continuous blooms with little effort. He even professes they are easier to care for than an African Violet. Err Mark, meet Debbie - killer of the Orchid nation! . 

Fact 4 About Me
Orchids I do seem to have a knack for killing and rather quickly! Perhaps this plant will be my first to survive my tender loving care!

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Sharing With:
 June's Photo A Day, Macro Monday, Sweet Shot Tuesday and I Heart Macro

Edit: I was thrilled to learn "i heart macro" chose my Orchid from that week's entries as Photo of the Week! Thank you!

  

Pieces of Time




“How did it get so late so soon? It's night before it's afternoon. December is here before it's June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?” 

― Dr. Seuss

The first pocket watch known to measure time in minutes was in 1556. The watch was invented in the Ottoman Empire by Taqi al-Din.

The History of the Pocket Watch ~ Welcome To Old Tickers!

Autumn Bird Watching

Lynde Shores Conservation, Whitby Ontario 

Downy Woodpecker: The smallest woodpecker in North America. Has a white back, black nape and black wings with white spotting. Underparts are white. Face is white with black stripes. Hindcrown patch is red. Tail is black with black-spotted or barred white outer tail feathers. Bill is black and short.

[ Read More:  www.whatbird.com ]

Participated at: Mellow Yellow Monday

Swirls of Sunshine

I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.

~ James A. Michener

Daisies are like sunshine to the ground. ~ Drew Barrymore

Participated at Macro Monday

Water Wall

I was disappointed in Niagara - most people must be disappointed in Niagara. Every American bride is taken there, and the sight of the stupendous waterfall must be one of the earliest, if not the keenest, disappointments in American married life.
~ Oscar Wilde

Waves

“Sit in reverie, and watch the changing color of the waves that break upon the idle seashore of the mind”
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Cork Tree

From Under the Cork Tree
~ Munro Leaf

The Cork Tree is a pollution-resistant tree with huge leaves and corky bark. The bark is used for corks,while the flowers are a nectar source for bees and the oil from fruit is used as a natural insecticide.

Up Close and Personal

She's right there, right there with it. Seeing death, up close and personal.
~ Mary Wilson

Oshawa Botanical Garden Peony Festival 2009

Inside Report on Peonies

Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.

~ Norman Cousins

Oshawa Botanical Garden Peony Festival 2009

Pink Veins Running

I am not in the giving vein to-day
~ William Shakespeare

Visit: Parkwood Estate, Greenhouse Tea Room, Oshawa, Ont

Make a Wish

We would often be sorry if our wishes were gratified.
~ Aesop Fables

Decay

False friendship, like the ivy, decays and ruins the walls it embraces; but true friendship gives new life and animation to the object it supports
~ Richard Burton

Location: Oshawa Bontanical Gardens

Twisted Screams

If we all said people's faces what we say behind one another's backs, society would be impossible.
~ Honore de Balzac

Is It Just Me?
Do you see the little face? Look at the second cable from top, middle of the photo; looks like a little screaming face :0

Whimsical

Everybody is so rushed, they don't take time for the whimsical, the light.
~ Mark Allen

Pretty in Pink - Rosaurea Peony

Almost all words do have color and nothing is more pleasant than to utter a pink word and see someone's eyes light up and know it is a pink word for him or her too
~ Gladys Taber

Location: Oshawa Botanical Gardens From the Canadian Peony Society
Rosaurea
Introduced by William Brown of Elora, Ontario in 1952. The following description was written by A.R. Buckley of the Central Experimental Farm in 1963. “A good Japanese type with light toned pink petals with straw coloured staminodes and red stigmas forming the crown in the centre. A very floriferous variety and one which has a very appealing colour effect. Flower 5½” diameter, Plant Height 33 inches.”

Red Carpet

I sometimes wonder if two thirds of the globe is covered in red carpet.
~ Prince Charles

Location: Oshawa Botanical Gardens From the Canadian Peony Society
W. T. Macoun
Photograph taken by Alexis Landon in 1999 in the garden of Dr. Jim Cruise. Introduced by Miss Mary E. Blacklock in 1938, the specimen shown here was acquired by Dr. Cruise from Bob Landon who had obtained this cultivar from Blacklock in 1938 as part of a plant order intended for landscaping his newly built home. Miss Blacklock was part of a "botanizing" group that often met in Simcoe and included Monroe Landon, Dr. Douglas Storms (Dundas), Prof. J. W. Crow, and W. E. Saunders among others less notable.