I must start out by apologizing for not being around Gather too much in the last few days... I was doing stuff for my Mom and then I was pulling my hair out trying to get my NEW CANON SX100-IS CAMERA to work on my computer... >:^\ grrr!
(Many of you know that I've been wanting a good camera so badly for MONTHS... I got it YESTERDAY!) I FINALLY got the thing able to transfer photos to my PC and here are the very first shots that I took with it! (I'm SO EXCITED! :^D ):
I'm lovin' this 10x optical zoom!! Oh YEAH! These are wildflowers growing just across the driveway from our humble trailer. They're called "shooting stars" and they are members of the "primrose family"... Aren't they darling? I just love 'em! :o)
If you know much about plants, you can really see that the shooting stars are members of the primrose family because their leaves are very, VERY similar! Also pictured is another of our Northern California wildflowers, "golden cups" -- a member of the coreopsis (or "tickseed") family! Don't those two colors together look like Easter? I think so!
Here's a couple of our "horsey neighbors" (Get it? -- "neigh"bors?...lol...) up on the ridge above the trailer... I think the late afternoon sun complimented their coats quite nicely! :o)
What I like most about this shot is the contrast between the moss and leaves of the oak trees -- tinted golden by the setting sun's light -- and the blue of the sky overhead... Pretty neat! :^D
I LOVE how this shot of the tiny, narrow, stream (more like a "brook", really) just across the street came out! If you look closely, you'll see three different varieties of native ferns!! The large "strapped leaf" plant on the right is "soap plant" (also a native used a lot by the local Indians for different things) and, also, notice the tiny green leaf-buds emerging on the native buckeye (the whitish looking "sticks") -- SPRING!!! YESSSSS!!! AWESOME!!! I can't WAIT!!!
And, lastly a wider-angled look at the hillside with its oaks, manzanita, buckeye, grasses, moss, etc. AND its uncharacteristically GREEN grass coming up! That's okay... It'll turn tawny brown by summer and I'll feel MUCH more like I'm "at home"! ;o) Here in Northern California, the grass just doesn't look right when it's green, for heaven's sake!
Thanks for coming over and visiting me in my "neck 'o the woods", all my Gather-friends!
Jean's LOVIN' her new camera and LOVIN' EVEN MORE the fact that it's definitely SPRING here in Cloverdale!
It's about TIME!! ;o)
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Comments: 35
You are going to go crazy with that new camera of yours. Salud.
Wishing you a great weather on the coming weekend. Meanwhile, happy browsing! :^)
You ladies make me all "misty-eyed" with your wonderful, kind, encouraging words!
Thank-you so, SO, SO much!!
I am truly, TRULY blessed to have so many wonderful Gather friends!
Words just can't describe... **sniff**
:o)
I got, like THREE, GREAT shots of them yesterday... perfectly "framed"... perfectly "exposed"... and nice and tight with the macro lens, there... And, in wrestling with the darned thing last night, I accidently wiped them all offa there... DUH!!!!
They'll be back this afternoon, though, BETCHA!
And there's a ruby-throated hummingbird around here that snuck up on me yesterday and then flew like THE WIND when I turned my head really, really slowly after I heard him hovering about 3 feet away... I SWEAR I'm gonna get a GOOD shot of him SOON! He was AMAZING!!!
Beautiful pictures. :-)
I KNOW, Alison! I just LOVED that! :^D And I didn't see that "mist" at ALL when I took the photo! **whistles eerily**
Awwww... Thanks so much, my friend Tinch... (and you needn't worry about ME taking any pictures of MY feet! Unless, of course, I was invited to put my footprints in front of Grauman's Chinese in Hollywood or sumpthin' like that... Not bloody likely! LOL!)
Hey, Tanya!! **waves** Thanks, schweetie! The "stars" are really unusual, aren't they? I just LOVE that "magenta/purpley" color! They're quite common wildflowers around these here parts... ;o)
Uhm... yah, Tanya... I'll get right on that... uhm... you DO know there's a reason WHY they call 'em "wildflowers" doncha? (and it really doesn't have anything to do with the fact that they like to party...) ROFL!
Thanks, Toni! My PLEASURE! :o)