Unfurling

I love ferns.  I love the intricacy of the fronds as they unfurl, and how amazing a design artist Nature is!!

Callas encore

Still flirting with the callas.  I just can't stay away from them... Could be because the weather is rainy/sleety/blustery/nasty and grey, and I just want some color.  There's just something about that finely drawn edge that pulls me right in.  Of course, I have to go shallow-DOF and get all artsy.

Calla Curls and Color

Just couldn't resist the tip of this calla at the nursery a couple of weeks ago, all coyly curled in against itself.  So many curves and curves, all in one pretty package.  Add the veining and that touch of contrasting color at the edge of the tip...oooh!

Came in just a little closer for a little more detail...

This calla was being backlit by the morning sun, which was low enough to light it from behind.  It looked as if someone was shining a light from the base of the bloom.  I just had to get this--it just glowed and I couldn't resist the effect.

Spring Falls

It wasn't raining yesterday, so Rick and I took a little jaunt up to my favorite off-the-road falls to see what was going on there.  With the low snowfall up in the mountains this winter and dryer winter down here, I wasn't too sure how much melt-off the little falls would have, but there was enough to make me happy!  So, color, then a BW conversion.  These were also an experiment; I had been reading that using the smallest aperture possible would give you a smooth water effect instead of using a slow shutter speed, so I tried that to see how it worked.  It did, obviously.  These were with a tripod.  Gotta use a tripod or some kind of stable support for the long exposures necessary to get this smooth flowing water.

Raindrops on Pansies

Sounds so much more prosaic than raindrops on roses, doesn't it?  It stopped raining for a little bit, so I had to go out and grab some raindrops nestled in the folds of the pansies out front.

I love this one, suspended between the two sides of the petal folds.  All it would've taken was the merest hint of a breeze, or me being clumsy, and it would've dropped.

Reflecting on Spring

According to e.e. cummings, Spring is when the world is "mudlicious and puddlewonderful".  I'm not too sure about the mudlicious part (a lot of road construction going on in our currently rainy neighborhood adds to the negative view of mud), but I heartily agree with the puddlewonderful part.  They appear like magic windows to another dimension, opening up in the most mundane locations.

Daffodil Time

“Daffodils that come before the swallow dares, and take the winds of March with beauty.” 

William Shakespeare

Ok, so these were in the greenhouse and didn't have to brave the March winds...  The first one is a variety called a butterfly daffodil, or a split trumpet. I love the ruffled, over-the-top center, and the mix of colors.

These are jonquils--I wish you could smell them.  They smell as heavenly as they look!

For those of you who are wondering about the difference between narcissus, jonquil, and daffodil:  the Latin name is Narcissus.  The varieties with a single stem and 2-3 small flowers and a sweet fragrance are jonquils.  Daffodils are taller, a single flower per stem with 6 petals and a trumpet, and generally yellow, but not always. 

Ruffles Redux

Just look at the subtle color variations in this beauty!  It's like the most elegant, restrained sunset one could ever imagine...

Layers, edges, textures, veining....mmmmmm

R-r-r-ruffles

I love rununculi (wouldn't that be the plural of ranunculus?)  They start out as tight little balls, almost looking like a ping-pong ball or a golf ball, and as they open up they reveal layer upon layer of color.  Most of them are solid colors, but some of them....oh, some of them are variegated, and each layer is a delight to the eye.

I could just get lost in all these layers of yellow, especially on a grey bleh day!

Blowsy: (Definition) Unkempt in appearance---  This ranunculus (at the grocery store, which is why I keep a little camera in my purse) has obviously hit the blowsy stage, but it is still gorgeous, with all those layers upon layers of ruffles.  It looks like an antebellum belle with a dress with just too many tiers of ruffles.  Isn't that color delicious?  I love how the underside of the petal is darker.

From a slightly different angle, a bud nestled in next to the grande dame, beginning next to completion.  Amazing how the bud is such a deep vivid color!

I'll take one in every color, please!

Doesn't this display make you want to get your fingers dirty and start planting things???  Brilliantly effective use of color!

Edges and Drops

I thought I was done.  Evidently not.  These two just jumped out at me while I was editing.  I'm partial to blue and yellow anyway...  Seafoam and sunshine, don't you think?

I like the delicate picotee edge on this one.  It looks like Mother Nature has meticulously drawn a fine line along the edge of the petal, but her hand isn't exactly steady--in some place the line is wider than others, and the color is darker in spots than others.  Love it!!

What a bonus this morning--had to run an errand, and always try to swing by...Home Depot (Love that place for flower shots!), and check out their plants out front.  We had frost last night and it was just starting to melt off when I got there.  Love the drops on the pansy petals!  Any further out, and you would see the poor things drooping...

Still Edgy

Still celebrating the edges and the ruffles, before the slugs find these beauties.

This variety isn't as bold as the other one.  Instead of flamenco dancer, I think of can-can petticoats--something with an inordinate amount of lace along the edges...feminine and provocative.

A Little Edgy

It's pansy season, and I really like these new super-ruffled hybrids.  They remind me of the petticoats flamenco dancers wear--just layers of exuberantly colored ruffles.  I like going for the abstract look and throwing things into the bokeh.  Doesn't hurt that there was a little rain, either!

Notice the tentative spider webbing?

Upon Reflection

A few shots from back in January when the weather was nice and I went out to Rattlesnake Lake on a clear still day to see if I could find some reflections.  The lake was really high and all the stumps were under water, but some of the big boulders were still above water, lurking like turtle backs.

Really wanted to try this one in black and white just for the fun of it; get down to the structure and see what the bones were, aside from the color.

Hellebores

Hellebores are also called Christmas Rose or Lenten Rose.  They bloom from December to March or April, sometimes to May.  I have some blooming in my garden right now.  They like dry shade, and aren't eaten by deer (insert large smiley face here), as well as having tough serrated leaves, so the deer leave them alone.  The newer varieties, like this one, have upward facing flowers, so are much more pleasant to have in the garden, since the old-fashioned hellebores bloom downward, and the only things to enjoy the blooms are slugs.  Isn't this one gorgeous?  Look at that color!  I may have to go back to the nursery and bite the bullet and get this!  (I saw these at the nursery a few weeks ago..photos by Pentax)

Contrast

What a fortuitous find at the nursery!  I love this birdbath, with the pattern of fallen leaves in the bottom of it. Then the camillia blossom floating delicately on top just was the perfect touch of color.

In a Drop

Just getting ready for spring...trying out the new macro.  I love it when I can get a sunflare in a drop.  This was hand held and boy is that puppy heavy!  I am going to have to do some weight lifting and tripod work....  But I am thrilled with the clarity of the lens and loving my Nikon!

Early color!

Crazy weather.  Last year we had a hard winter (for here)--lots of snow, lots of cold weather.  The trees bloomed at the depot April 9 (I checked my archives).  This year we are in an El Nino weather pattern which meant a very mild winter--warmer than usual temps, little rain and snow in the mountains, and this--depot blooms a month ahead of last year!  I'm not complaining, particularly since this week starts a prolonged forecast of rain and cooler weather.  In fact, there's snow on the top of Mt. Si behind us.  Stay up there, please.

The Heart of the Matter

...or tulip, as the case may be.  I love it when tulips blow wide open and you can see into the center.  They look like modern sculptures, and the colored petals behind set everything off perfectly.  (These are from the greenhouse a couple of weeks ago.  No tulips yet around here)

What a difference...

...a few hundred feet make!  These were taken down at the temple, about 500 or 600 feet lower than where we live (a 20 minute drive from our house) but a couple weeks ahead of us climate-wise.  Of course, there aren't any deer and elk browsing everything that comes up there, either.

I love this variety of crocus.  I think it's called Pickwick, but the purple and white stripes are just my favorites, and that bright orange in the center just is jubilant after the long winter.

Tonight's photos were brought to you courtesy of Nikon.  Rick surprised me (shocked me, stunned me, flabbergasted me) for my birthday with a Nikon D90 and new lenses.  I now have the Nikon 105mm macro lens, and it's true, it's true--it's the glass!  I love my Pentax, I mean, I loved my Pentax until the minute I saw these--these are SOOC and only sharpened for the web.   I just can't get over the clarity and the color and I am over the moon!  Sorry, Pentax.  It was great while it lasted, but I've been swept off my feet.  Still have to practice and refine the focus, (these were all hand-held, and that puppy is twice or 2 1/2 times the size of my Pentax lens and accordingly heavier) but I am going to LOOOOOOOOVE this lens!!!  Mmmm mmm mmm!