Tulips of Steel

This is our maple tree in our back yard....notice the relationship to the metal poles - seems pretty straight. This is after the 56 MPH storm on Friday night.

This is our maple tree today. Another storm hit last night with winds of 70 MPH. I was sitting here in my office watching the tree move from the base of the trunk. I really thought it might blow over! It was horrible. Now, the tree is shifted and leaning to the left.... At least we still have a beautiful tree.

And these are the tulips....survived 56 MPH winds on Friday & 70 MPH winds on Saturday. Maybe they're actually silk instead of real??? Who's been in my flower garden!

A very stormy night - tent testing with Darwin

First of all watch this video on the tent that we own...
http://www.nemoequipment.com/jour_newspop.php?id=65

Darwin decided to do his own test last night. He knew a storm was coming. We decided to see if we could sit 2 people in this tent and watch a movie. It was cosy, but very comforatble! Passed that test.

So, I go inside and go to bed with the dogs. At 3 am, his Blackberry goes off. I got up and looked out the window. It was raining sideways! The wind was almost 60 MPH!!! I put on some clothes and went outside. First, it was really easy to get in the tent, even when it was blowing. Second, Darwin was still sleeping - even in the storm!

I woke him up, sat in the tent for a few minutes and then came inside. I went to my desk and looked outside to see that not 2 but now 3 sections of our fence had blown down. I had just made the comment last week that we had not had a home repair project for a long time...

I opened up my office window and took a picture in the storm. You can see that the tent is not having any problem! The tent has air beams - no metal rods, so it just flops in the gusts and then pops right back up. Really cool design! It's only anchored to the ground, there are no other ropes or anything.

So, you can see the 2 new metal fence posts in the ground. That's what we did today. It was actually really easy and a beautiful day.

My friend Maxine

This is my friend Maxine. I've been visiting her for several months. I recently found out that she is a bridge player! Now, I go in an hour early and we play 2 person bridge. We keep a running score. She loves Zephyr and is going to be featured in an article next week. It will actually be a black and white picture, so I thought I'd throw one of those in as well.

This Morning at Bread and Cup

I went down to the Bread & Cup this morning to begin taking pictures for them. There really wasn't a plan, so I just started looking around. They had very good counter light and then I noticed the lights from the oven. I thought that might look really good. I used my 60mm macro lens in all the pictures except the single rising loaf where I wanted a really small depth of field, so I used my 50mm lens. All of these pictures were handheld, using only available light. I think we got off to a good start.

Yet more tulips!

They are almost all up!! I can't believe that we had such success. We're planning a few more tulip areas for next year. They are just so fun this time of year!

Zephyr's IQ

There are baby birds in the birdhouse. Zephyr is convinced that they are living in the grass/flowers.

Lunchtime.....

I stepped outside just to notice that this itsy bitsy spider had just had lunch flown in. I love the violas in the background and the leading line caught by a ray of sun.

More Tulips

It's another cool, overcast day today. I still went out with my flash and shot in M mode. It has been an amazing year for tulips. When I'm alone outside, Zephyr sits on my desk and watches my every move.

Afternoon Tulips

At first, I really didn't care much for these tulips. But, the more I look at them, the more I enjoy them. I took this picture with my 200L, so I had a long focal distance. The background was in the shade, which made the tulips explode. Pretty neat.

Red & White

I went back to my garden after the sun had gone behind the spruce tree. The red & white tulips are about the size of an orange - huge for tulips that I've grown. I took the pictures using my flash on M. I didn't have lot of time, but wanted to get them anyway.

Happy May - Color

Some colors from my back yard......it is a beautiful day!

Grape Hyacinths

I think I got a package of 100 tiny, tiny bulbs about 8 years ago. Now I have a gazillion of these!!! They grow in clumps and so that's not all bad. I just dug up 2 clumps and gave them to my friend Pam. I think they've already grown back!! I still have 5 beautiful clumps along my short fence. It's been really windy the last week, so I haven't been out too much taking pictures. Today, I just decided to get out and try.