Hey Bud!

I mentioned in this post how bummed I was that I had barely any lilacs this spring. While that is still true, it appears as though my bearded irises are planning to make up for the lilac lack!

I’ve got lots of iris buds. I counted over 50 when I took these pictures!

I’m thrilled with the abundance of buds. They should be opening any day now. This blog will likely be flooded with their photos in the near future.

The peonies are budding too – and the ants have definitely found their way to that sweet scent.

I guess you can’t call them buds, but the vegetable garden is under way as well. Despite a minor injury to my ankle that I suffered at Zumba class Saturday morning, with some help and some bribery of the teenagers in my life it is all planted. I got my girls’ and daughter’s boyfriend to do the clearing away of last year’s garden debris. Then I was able to comfortably scoot around and do the actual planting.

This year I’ve planted 2 types of tomatoes, yellow bell peppers, jalepenos, cayennes, zucchini, cucumbers, broccoli and eggplant. I’ve never had a heck of a lot of luck with eggplant or bell peppers, but I decided to give them another try. Some little critter has already nibbled the leaves of the of one of the eggplant seedlings, so we’ll see what happens there.

I did plant all those annual flowers I showed you in my last post too. Those were mostly for containers, so that was easy, pleasant work.

I’ve been contemplating some kind of photo challenge too. As I told you at the beginning of the year (or technically at the end of last year) I’ve been trying to focus on the simple joys this year. There have been some rather trying events for both me and someone very close to me over the last couple weeks that, while I cannot discuss them here, have affected me deeply. They have left me feeling bereft of joy at times and attempting to seek it out wherever possible. I’d like to have a joy-themed photo hunt for June. It wouldn’t be a Karma kind of hunt if I just left it at that, though, would it? You awesome bloggers so often inspire me. Would you do me the favor of leaving some joyful comments or ideas or links? I think I could come up with just the thing with a little help from my friends!

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

Waiting. I did a lot of it today. I sat in my car, waiting for Sarah…

…for an hour! Sarah was taking the SAT’s today. The SAT website said 3 hours and 45 minutes should be allowed for the test. The SAT website said no phones are allowed, and they will be confiscated if students are found with them. So I arrived at the school 3 hours and 45 minutes after the test should have begun. No Sarah. Wait. Groups of kids begin to emerge from school. No Sarah. More groups. Frustration builds. Finally Sarah. Test started late. Lots of kids brought phones – were only told to power them down. Those kids’ parents, most likely did not spend an hour of their Saturday sitting in the parking lot of a high school, waiting. *Sigh*

Waiting for pizza…

Pizzaria Uno has a nice online ordering system and curb side pick up. Order and pay online, they bring the food out to your car. I pull in and….wait. About 15 minutes after the time my order was to be done, a server appears at my window explaining that our pizzas were dropped and had to be re-made, but would be out in just a few minutes. Wait some more. Pizzas arrive, I take them home. Sarah’s is fresh and hot – mine, not so much. Obviously Sarah’s was dropped and remade while mine sat under a heat lamp and waited. *Sigh*

Waiting for spring…

My world’s latest daffodils are just starting to bloom. I don’t think I’ve ever waited until May to have them begin. Things seem to be several weeks behind in growth and bloom around here.
I’m still waiting for lilac buds:

Last year at this time, my lilacs looked like this:

That shot was taken on May 4, 2013.

Bleeding hearts are still just little drops right now…

Last year:

Are you experiencing a similar slowness of the season this year?

My profusely blooming rhodo-azalea bush seems to be the only one who didn’t get the message that spring is late this year.

The bumble bees just love this shrub. I tried to get a photo for you of all the buzzing going on, but I was surprised at the agressiveness of the fuzzy buggers! A couple of them zoomed out and buzzed my head until I backed off when they thought I was getting a little too close for their comfort. Once this bush does its blooming, usually the hummingbirds are not too far behind. I wonder if I will be waiting for them this year too.

This picture is from 3 years ago, but it is still a favorite despite the graininess, and definitely something good that came to someone who waited.

Wait, wait! Don’t go yet! I have something funny to share with you.
My birthday card from my sister:

Was that worth waiting for? 😉

Desperately Seeking Springtime

Like so many of us in the northern parts of this country, I am more than ready for springtime warmth to take over. The sun actually came out today, but the beautiful blue skies might fool one into believing that it was warmer outside than the thermometer displayed.

Those blue skies and visible sunshine lured me outside with my camera in a hunt for any possible signs of spring around my yard. I was surprised to find a few.
The snow is thankfully melting and I’m hoping we are done with accumulating snow for the season.

At the edge of my yard, where the snow banks were, I noticed an array of shapes were left behind.

The more I looked, the more I noticed a little menagerie lined up at the edge of my lawn. Can you guess what I saw? Leave your guesses in the comment section and I’ll tell you what I saw in my next post.

In addition to the melting snow, I found
daffodil shoots

lilac buds

iris sprouts

rhododendron buds

new chives

and tree buds

I’m trying very hard to convince myself that weather that feels like spring isn’t too far away. The birds that were singing while I was outside today seem to believe it is true. It is time, Old Man Winter, to release us from your clutches!

Happy Spring!

Spring officially starts in less than 4 hours as I am typing this post.  It has sure felt like spring in most of the country for a couple weeks now.  I’m not complaining!  I’ll jump on the band wagon and share a few fun signs of spring from my little part of the world.

Lilac bud

Daylily sprouts

Chives sprouting in my herb bucket

My bare feet!

See ya later!

My Spring Photo Hunt

The April photo scavenger hunt results are rolling in and I can tell you I’m loving them so far!  I’m really enjoying seeing everyone’s take on the shots.  You  have until tomorrow to post and drop me a link or drop me a note letting me know you need a couple more days to finish up.  Like our friend Scott, I will write a wrap-up post about the results.  Here’s my look at the list.

Body of water:

Nantucket Sound from Smuggler’s Beach in South Yarmouth, MA

When I first thought of this prompt, I worded it the way I did because I thought it left it wide open for interpretation.  I had the idea in my head to try to create the shape of a body, perhaps in the sand, and then fill it with water for an extra cutesy interpretation, but I went traditional.  It’s got me thinking about coming up with more word-play fun for June though!

Train:

This is part of my husband’s HO scale Tyco toy train from when he was a little boy.  There are actually train tracks in my town, but I never managed to have a camera available when I was out and a train went by.  I was poking through my girls’ old toys in the basement when my husband came home and asked what I was doing.  “A train?” he asked, “I’ve got a train,” and promptly came up with an old box with all his train cars and track pieces.

Hood:

Sarah, in action, doing her math homework, wearing one of her favorite hooded sweatshirts.

Sprout:

Bleeding Heart sprouts in morning light

Bud:

 Lilac buds from the other evening I wrote about with all three extension tubes attached to the 55-250mm lens.  I’m still wondering if anyone is going the Budweiser route for this one!

Basket:

The favorite basket of Teddy and Daphne – it stores the leashes and collars for “walkies.”  Teddy regulary nudges this basket with his nose to try to give me a hint about what he’d like to do!

Bunny:

He wasn’t carrying any treats or colored eggs, but a bunny nonetheless, spotted at the edge of our driveway.

Bonus:

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If ever there was karma, this had to be it.  The day after I posted my list for this hunt, including my bonus of a close-up Mr. Cardinal, this guy landed on my suet cage and hung around to enjoy a snack while I got to take as many pictures as I liked!  Ever since, it seems, he’s been hanging around more than I’ve ever had a cardinal hang around.

Remember it isn’t too late to get your photos posted!

Pleased as Punch

I know I said I wasn’t going to blog again before the weekend was over, but as I turned down my street last evening, I was taken with the color of the sky.  I decided I wanted to get outside and try to capture it.  My nifty-fifty did a nice job of recording just how the sky looked:

That’s SOOC.  Since the light was so beautiful, I decided to poke around the yard for signs of spring.  I found one that really pleased me.  I was going to save this for my photo hunt, but it was just so pretty and I was so happy with how it came out, I just had to share:

I normally don’t like to toot my own horn, but I just love this picture.  It was mostly a happy accident.  I was, as I said, poking for signs of spring when I noticed the lilac buds had turned purple.  I was having issues focusing on these sweet little buds, so I decided to grab my tripod to see if I could get a sharp picture in the fading light.  As I moved the lens around looking for a pretty angle, I caught sight of the lovely orangy-pinky glow of the fading sun behind this bud.  Auto-focus was arguing with me again, probably due to all the greenery around, so I took my chances with manual focus.

Settings for those who like that info: 1/25, f5.6, ISO 800, 250mm focal length, 0 EV.