Branches



This is (part of) the giant maple tree at the bottom of our driveway. Its a pretty good summary of what the landscape looks like around here now that the snow is gone....all wet mossy branches or bare brown-ness.

~M

Birds of a Feather

We had a few inches of snow last night, not that you can see it in this picture, and the bird feeders out back were a hive of activity today.



This bunch looks like they've settled in to complain about the weather over snacks, a common topic of conversation for both birds and humans lately. :)

~M

"Meeting"

I was in Vancouver with a friend today, and stumbled across this outdoor art installation, part of the Vancouver Biennale. This is one of eight identical, life-sized monks crouching in a circle in Cardero Park in Coal Harbour.

Someone's gotten creative with a white marker on this one....

I'm pointing fingers at Shawna....or maybe Duncan? :)



~M

Friday Turnaround

So I decided (just today) that the setting sun is my favourite light source.



I really love the way it glows so warm at this time of day, and the low angle creates interesting highlights and shadows.

I can hang around outside (until my fingers go absolutely numb), trying out some back lighting and fiddling to get the sun to shine just exactly right through the leaves...

Or I can try to get the edge of just one leaf in focus while the light creates interesting shapes in the background.

Heck, I'm even liking the pictures that aren't it focus. Look at that sun shining through!

Ahh, some days it's the simple things that keep me happy.

(And compared to the rest of the week, I actually enjoyed doing this challenge today....it's interesting how taking pictures that you actually like can change your opinion about an entire week! :)

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

~M

Totally Tardy (on Posting) Thursday

 I was on my way to bed last night, after pretty much falling asleep in front of the tv, and I remembered....hell, I haven't done my photo for today.

So I snapped this one quickly and then went to sleep, without posting, because I'm a rebel that way. :)

Really...I've just been mostly fed up with this challenge this week, but that may have more to do with things carrying over from work than anything :)

~M



Heating Up

Well, it appears Mother Nature has decided to remind us that it really is still winter after all...temperatures are plummeting and the wind is howling.



This wood fire place is doing its part tonight to keep us warm. Even with the door closed like this, the heat is pouring out of if.

It's absolutely lovely!

~M

Option 2

This is Mum's camera.



It's what I end up using most of the time, it has a much nicer zoom and it takes better pictures in low light....which is when I seem to be taking most of them! :)

~M

Work With What You Got

So this is my camera, it's a Canon Powershot A540, a little older and scratched up, and the lens cover doesn't open properly anymore. I haven't used it much for this challenge, so far only having taken a couple of photos with it, because, when I have the option (and I usually do),  I 'borrow' Mum's camera...

...it has more setting to play with, and a much nicer zoom. :)

~M

Growing Things

We are getting more and more signs of spring lately.

Here are a few of them...

Enjoy!

~M



Smelling Sweet (Eventually)

Honeysuckle...straight out of the camera.

~M

Break of Day

It`s a good sign, weather-wise, when your day starts out by looking like this.

I took these photos through the window this morning at about 7:30 as the sun was coming up....

....and it turned into one of those lovely sunny, crisp days that we can get here in the winter. What a nice way to set ourselves up for the weekend! :)

~M

Losing My Mind

Take picture: check!

Transfer picture to computer: check!

Play with the saturation and contrast and sharpening: check!

Actually post said picture on this here little blog before going to bed: .......apparently not!

Oops.

~M

Complete With Cat Hair

It gets into everything, even stuck under the edges of the decals on my laptop!

~M



Blinded by the Light

I'm scraping the bottom of the photographic barrel film canister tonight.

I think Smudge may have finally figured out that my cell phone = a camera. Apparently it has a pretty strong flash, and she hates the lights and noises associated with the camera. She ran away right after I took this. :)

~M

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy

Not really.

I'm sick again (seriously, who's in charge of these things?!), my head is woozy and I was awake all night with chills...except for the one hour when I was hot enough to heat the whole house single handed. Mum made me hot lemonade this morning as I was heading in to work (seriously, why did I do that?), and I thought this evening that I'd make myself some more.

Easier said than done.



First, I filled the kettle for hot water, but forgot to turn on the switch that starts it heating. Then, after I got it heating, forgot about it, and then left it sitting too long and had to reheat the water. Then I poured boiling hot water into a glass mug (seriously, I'm smarter than that) which cracked in three places and I had boiling water, lemon juice and sugar pouring over the entire counter.

Ugh.

I switched to this giant green mug, and finally, and much more work than it should have needed, had my mug of steaming hot lemonade.

Seriously, totally worth it in the end :)

~M

PS: Seriously seems to be my word of the day. Blame the sickness. :)

Persistance Pays Off



This isn't the first time I've tried to take a photo of this plant, but the other times I haven't got the focus correct. This time I put the camera on supermacro mode and put the branch directly on the lens.

I'm probably not supposed to do it that way...but it worked! :)

~M

Hiding from the Rain



I took Calli out today for a walk down the road. Mum and Dad took Jake and Luna to an agility trial today, so it was just us girls at home for the morning. Of course, by the time I made it outside, the rain was pouring and the wind was howling....it still is in fact, as I'm now back inside typing this up.

What you can't really tell in this photo is how I'm holding the umbrella pretty much sideways as I take it so that it doesn't blow inside out. It was not a pleasant walk....even Calli was ready to turn around and head back home!

~M

Wishing and Hoping...



These are Jake's feet....and he's waiting not-so-patiently for this ball to be thrown.

There's nothing quite like obsessive Border Collies. :)

~M

Wordless....What Day Is It? I Was Hoping It Was Friday....

~M





Misleading Moon

So I had the idea, seeing as it's a nice clear night, to try take a picture of the moon. As I'm heading out onto the deck to try take photos, Mum tells me to leave the shutter speed open as long as possible. Not thinking about it, I take multiple shots with a shutter speed of 10-15 seconds. That would have been great, if blurry white blob was what I was going for :)



Turns out a faster shutter speed would have been better. This photo was taken at 1/200. (That makes sense, now that I stop to think about it. The moon does reflect quite a bit of light.)

I would have spent much less time freezing outside if I'd tried that the first time! :)

~M

Budding with Joy

So, no rainbows today, but since you need rain to have those....I'm okay with it!



The sun is shining, and it's amazing how good that can make you feel....even if you're headed into work and won't be leaving there until 9:00 tonight....

These buds are on some unknown shrub in the corner of our front yard. They are actually lying directly on the camera lens, and they're not really in focus, except for a couple of the buds, but I really like the softness and the spring colours. All that blue sky in the background doesn't hurt either!

~M

In Need of a Rainbow



Looking for my pot of gold!

~M

Sunday Showers

More photos of water droplets today, as the rain pours down. You can see the mist it's creating in the background, it's been a wet one today!

~M



Baa Baa Black Sheep

Well, I did say no macro shots this weekend. And I'm delivering.

Ahh, it's the small things that make me happy :)

This is a crop of the larger picture below, with the addition of some extra contrast and saturation. I never can resist playing with the colours in the photos...even with the bare bones editing program we have.

See if you can spot Waldo Luna hiding in the background.

Silly girl, she loves 'her' sheep. They, on the other hand, are not so fond of her! :)

~M



Blinded by the Light

So we had a break in the rain and wind today, and I made it home today just in time to catch it on film...or, you know, the digital version anyways.

This was the view from the bottom of our driveway, looking to the southwest.

This second picture was taken using the 'Sunset' mode on the camera. It's interesting to compare the two photos taken a few minutes apart from the same spot. The second one has definitely bumped up the orange/red values. It makes the sunset appear more dramatic, almost burning, but I'm missing the bluey-purple sky.

Of course, neither of these pictures quite captured the real thing! :)

~M



Pineapple Express

.....And, after a couple of lovely days around here weather-wise, the rain is back!

Yay?



This pineapple was on the counter after dinner....I had meant to take a picture of dinner as I was making it, but didn't actually remember that until until after it was done and eaten!

Also, my goal for this weekend, is to take pictures that aren't macro shots. :)

~M

My Girl Calli



Calli lounging in her favourite spot, on her mat in the basement/mud room.

~M

Spring is in the Air

So I'm probably a little in denial about the whole 'Spring' thing. Technically, we're what? Half way through winter? Maybe less than that? (Don't make me do the math...it was a long day at work.)



 On the other hand, looking at the buds on the cherry tree and the blue sky we had today, you can't really blame me for thinking about Spring now can you? :)

~M