ABC, 123 and Bees

A few weeks ago I started to check out Two Peas Photography which has a weekly challenge section. It is really interesting! So below is my picture for "ABC and 123" as well as a few of my pics from my everlasting obsession with trying to take a good photo of a bee. I don't know why this bugs me (pun intended :) ) but I have been working at it for a while! These aren't that great so I will keep trying!

This is my idea of 1,2,3. It is a Peace rose that you will probably see
in lots of other pictures! And what looks like lovely dew on the leaves
is actually Immunox because the crazy roses have black spot!
Black spot is my enemy! :)



Ok, so I got the bee's butt...now to get the rest of him!



Aha! Now he has a buddy! Unfortunately, I did not get a good shot on this day.



This is the best I have done so far. But no worries, I will keep trying!

Back to School

These pictures were taken in the courtyard at my school as I was preparing my classroom for the students.

This is a gazing ball at work - it turned out well



Actual waterlilies



Pink waterlily

Busy

So I have been very busy lately with work stuff and trying to get ready for Back to School. However the other day I noticed a little tutorial on how to use the color splash feature on PhotoBucket and I was hooked. So here are a few colorsplashed pics along with some other randoms!

Queen Anne's Lace - I think this might also be called wild carrot(?).



A color-splashed tulip (this is one that I have previously posted as full color).



This one is a bit more dramatic!



This was my best effort at color splashing. I am still a beginner.
It is easy to spend lots of time doing it though!



A very cool statue at the Fraze Pavilion (down the street from my house).



Some of the fountains at the Fraze



Close-up!

More Springtime

In the same vein as my last post - I have more spring flowers to make me forget that summer is just about over.

A bleeding heart - what a poetic name!



I think this is a White Giant iris - I was trying to show the detail of the veins on the falls
(that is fancy iris terminology for the bottom petals) and the fuzzy stuff
(I don't know what that is called).



This is a Byzantine glad. The reason I planted it is that it is perennial,
unlike most glads, and I am a lazy gardener! :)

Wishing for More Summer!

I am just now realizing that summer is coming to an end. I am NOT pleased about this! To make me happier I thought I would post a few pictures from springtime! :)

Meredyth at the hospital when Cooper was born



Meredyth and Cooper sharing secrets on the blanket that I made for Cooper



I think this is a Redbud tree

I believe these are cherry blossoms

Oops!

A whole week without a post - that is bad! I better get back to it. Here are some more from my "old" file.

This was from our family vacation to Portsmouth last year.

I like this picture a lot because I like contrast and this flower would be almost perfect except for the fact that there is some kind of spot on it (bird poop? ;)). I also like that it is up against a very industrial-type fence.

This is the crabapple in Mom and Dad's backyard. I actually framed this one for my family room.

This is one of the first pictures I took with my digital camera. I drove out to Woodlawn Cemetery, which is a beautiful place and also happens to be where the Wright Brothers are buried. There are so many amazing photo opportunities there. I particularly liked this one because of the contrast between the really old tombstones and the new leaves on the tree and the grass that was just beginning to grow. I think it was taken in March/April.

Random?

Today I am posting a completely random assortment of pictures. There are however pairs of related topics. Take a look and see if you can figure out how my brain is working today. (Don't try too hard - I don't usually know how it is working!)

Gorgeous huh? Can you believe I grow this stuff? :)

Very, very close. It is amazing the color that can be produced in a flower.

Meredyth and my dog Marlee

Carmella - she is actually posing here! You can tell by her eyes.

A tree at work - I knew I was a little obsessed with the whole photography thing when I had to remind myself to take my camera to work so I could take a picture of this!

Did you get my pairs? I was thinking the first two were the same flower, obviously. The second two were people and the last two were fall. Don't feel bad if you had different ideas - any answer would be correct as long as you can support it (at least that is what I tell the students).

Today's theme is flowers! That is kind of a joke because I take a LOT of flower pictures. I will just post 5 for today though.

This was some salvia that I planted last year. I love salvia - mostly because the governments wants to outlaw it! But also, I love it because it blooms a lot and spreads well.

These were some flowers I bought from The FlowerMan - I love that place. Wholesale fresh flowers!

Also from the FlowerMan

Gorgeous tulip in the yard

Who knew such beauty was INSIDE the tulip?