I thought this was...

Spring Break!

It appears as though Mother Nature has a different idea. I awoke this morning to 15 degrees and a bit of snow. It snowed off and on during the day, and more of the same is predicted tomorrow.

Any blooms that thought they might raise their colorful heads are now either frozen or under a white blanket.

Give us another week or two and the local grandeur will be astounding.

In the interim, I purchased an Asiatic Lilly the other day. I needed the color. It's blooming right now, so I thought I would give my camera the choice as to whether or not it wanted to view some color. Luckily, it felt the same as I did.



Gary

Happy Easter!

I'm not usually political, but...

If you didn't see Barack Obama's speech last night, you really missed something special. I was very impressed not only with his words, but at something a little more simple. He never looked down for written words. Nobody wrote this for him. He appeared to speak from his heart. I respect that - very much.

Heck GB jr can't even tell a story without pulling out crib notes. But, as we all know, he is (pardon me) an all around dumbass.

See Obama's speech here

Gary

From ear to ear!

I am divorced and have a 13-year old daughter, along with an 11-yr old son.I cherish them both beyond explanation. When kids are at that age (and post divorce) it is sometimes hard to figure out how they feel about their natural, but somewhat out of place Dad. They are struggling with so many new emotions and feelings at this age that sometimes it feels that they have cast Dad off as old news. I try my best to be a good parent, but sometimes you never know how your efforts are being accepted by your children.

My son hasn’t started this yet, but my daughter has become the stereotypical teenager that spends a lot of her time “texting”. Sometimes I get in on it too. I know, mid-40s and texting, but if that’s what it takes to keep in touch with my kids, I am more than willing to do so.

It absolutely makes my day when I get a chance to exchange “text messages” with her. She hasn’t been feeling good the last couple of days, so this evening I wanted to check in and see how she was doing. It was a quick exchange that ended with a final reply from her.

“Love you too. Night”

This short reply made me smile from ear to ear.

My typical day ended majestically.

Thanks for that M. I love you too.

Are those Jay's Italian?

My day started with a pronounced pain in my neck. You know, one of those "I can't turn my head to the left" kind of pains. I was hoping to hit the river, but instead decided that I would stay at home. After a while, my mind began to wander. I knew I should be doing chores, but I just couldn't help myself. I had been wanting to experiment with a technique that my friend Dave shared, and today was just the right time. So, out the back door I went.

I was surprised to see a Blue Jay checking me out from the top of the privacy fence. He just stood there wondering what the heck I was doing infringing on his space. My thoughts quickly changed. I decided that I would try and photograph this raucous bird instead. But how do I get him back to that lofty perch? I've got to have something here that can help.

Lo, and behold, there's some salami in the refrigerator. That should work.

It worked like a charm. I set up the big lens on a tripod just inside the patio door. I then placed a small piece of the sliced salami on the top of the perch. The bird(s) noticed immediately and decided to come back and give me permission to make images of them.



After a few minutes, I decided to continue my search for something to put on the scanner. I finally found some little red berries, and got to try out Dave's experiment. It took a few tries, and I'm not sure the subject matter was the best, but it was still fun. It was an experience in seeing.

The results were not very spectacular, although the experiment was both entertaining and enlightening.

I always enjoy it when a plan sometimes has unknown circumstances. In todays case, it was very enjoyable.

Gary

Differently Expressive

I have had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with a lot of people who spend their time experiencing the things that they enjoy. Many of these people have become good friends.

Friends that I admire. Friends that I aspire to.

Each of these fine people have shown me the ability to express their personal view of a similar vision. I like that their views are all a little bit different. I learn from that. I see from that.

While chatting recently with a good friend, the term "differently expressive" came to be. I like that. I am somehow challenged by that. We both have our individual talents, and are always asking each other for opinions. Still, it seems that we both need to learn from others, but still be differently expressive.

Gary