THE HIDDEN WORLD

Lately I've been using my camera to explore the world of macro photography. What I love about macro photography is that sometimes you discover things in the shot that you didn't even notice until you uploaded the picture to the computer. You also gain a new perspective that helps you focus more on the shape and color. When taking this picture below, I didn't even see the bugs. But looking at the picture on a large computer screen, I could even see their little wings.

The black dots are tiny gnats on this Variegated Yucca

We have a Red Barberry bush beside our driveway that is absolutely huge, and this time of year it is gorgeous.

Red Barberry bush

The color right now melds into a beautiful pinkish-red from afar. But when you get in close, the tone changes and you can really see the leaves as individual colors.

Close-up of Barberry leaves

Focusing on only red, brightly-lit leaves and getting in even closer, the camera reveals a resulting color intensity that is very striking. In this picture below, my camera lens was about 1/2 inch from the leaves.

A study in pink

Light and shadow play a major part in the color that is perceived by our eyes. The close-up of the Barberry leaves looks very different from this one below, because of the lighting.

A bit in the shadows

You have probably guessed by now that I was walking around the yard, looking for anything that would lend itself to extreme close-up. I came upon the Kale plants that we have in the back yard, which are still living despite having endured below-freezing temperatures. The leaves are actually looking the best they have all season. You can see the intricate design of the leaf in this picture below.

Close-up of Kale leaf

Photographing the tops of the Kale leaves from just an inch or so shows the curly frills that are the hallmark of this type of Kale plant.

Curly-leaf Kale

Moving on around the yard, I noticed another good macro photography opportunity. The picture below is of a piece of driftwood we found on a beach in California. You can use your imagination to transform the swirl in the middle into a bubbling witch's cauldron, or perhaps a spiral galaxy out in distant space. Or you can just see a knot in the wood.

What do you see?

Speaking of space, this picture below looks like it might be stars in that far-off galaxy. But in reality, it's just a close-up of a piece of obsidian, a type of volcanic rock.

In a galaxy far, far away

You can use macro photography to reveal the hidden beauty in almost any object. In the picture below, the camera enables you to see the beautiful coloring from which these beans get their name.

Cranberry Beans, similar to Pinto Beans

PARTING SHOT

This week's parting shot has been relinquished by Summer Girl so that I can mention something that has been on my mind lately.

What a difference a year makes. Last year this time we were still down at Dad's, taking care of him while Linda's sister and brother-in-law took a much-needed vacation. We all had no idea what the near future would bring. We left there on November 2nd, saying goodbye to Dad for the last time. This is the last picture I took of him.

And on that note, I leave you until next week.

A WALK AROUND THE YARD, AUTUMN EDITION ~~ PARTING SHOT

A WALK AROUND THE YARD, AUTUMN EDITION

Back in the summer when everything was in full bloom, I liked to take a walk around the yard and photograph all the pretty flowers. By now they are almost all gone, save for a few die-hards that are refusing to give up.

The Gallardia plant is very resilient!

Seed heads are abundant this time of year, and that's a good thing. They provide needed nourishment for the birds, and the seeds that don't get eaten fall off the seed head onto the ground, reseeding the plant again for next Spring. This is the way we get a lot of volunteer plants in our yard. It's a win-win situation, food for the birds and free plants for us! Click here on the link to read an interesting article about this process.

Gallardia seed head

Some plants produce seed, but do not reseed themselves. They still provide food for the birds, and beautiful color for us to enjoy. Another win-win situation!

Dwarf Japanese Barberry seeds

One of the most stunning plants in the autumn and winter landscape, at least in our yard, is the Pyracantha bush (<--link), also called Firethorn. I believe that we always had a pyracantha bush in our yard in Lumberton. I have seen pictures of huge pyracanta bushes outside the house we lived in when I was a small child. My mother had a couple of them at our house on 14th Street. Linda and I planted one at our house on 17th Street, because it is a prerequisite when you live in the South to have one in your yard. When we moved to Yakima, we planned to have a pyracantha hedge along the back of our property, but the bushes we planted kept dying on us over the cold winters. A friend gave us a bush that was growing in the wild, and we finally got one that we bought to survive. So now we have two. When the berries are fully ripe in the winter, they are a brilliant red.

Pyracantha berries in their Autumn garb

Take a look at the Gallardia seed head above, and then look at this picture below of a Rudbekia (Black-Eyed Susan) seed head. The flowers from these plants are very similar, but when you focus down onto the seed heads, you can see that they are different. These seed heads seem to be more compact with many more seeds than the Gallardia has.

Rudbekia seed head

This picture below shows some dried up Golden Currant berries. The seeds for this plant are located  inside the berries. These berries provide food for the birds, and if I have the energy to pick them off of the stems, (a very tedious task), I can make jam out of the berries.

Golden Currant berries

Although the brown seed heads and Golden Currant berries add textural interest to the landscape, they do not add much in the way of color. That is taken care of by some of our other plants that still have their leaves. In the past couple of weeks the color on the Drinking Gourd hosta has intensified into a beautiful deep yellow/gold. This close-up of a leaf below shows the seersucker look that this particular hosta leaf possesses. The cupped form of the leaf entraps rainwater and is often used by birds for drinking or taking a bath.

Drinking Gourd hosta

Close-up of Drinking Gourd hosta leaf

The top picture above of the hosta was taken last Friday. I took this picture below this morning. The increasingly cooler temperatures have changed the color of this hosta in just a few days.

Drinking Gourd hosta today

The little Dwarf Japanese Barberry bush that we have in our front yard is absolutely gorgeous this time of year, with green and yellow foliage and bright red berries.

Dwarf Japanese Barberry

Our Catalpa tree in the back yard has survived another year of dropping a lot of its leaves during the summer. This time of year it also drops leaves, but that is a normal thing. It looks like we will be having a raking party soon!

Catalpa leaves in back yard

PARTING SHOT

Since the temperatures are starting to consistently drop, Summer Girl has taken to her favorite spot for the next few months...except for when she is inside sitting on my lap and trying to bite me!

Snug as a bug in a rug

That's all for this week, my friends. Check back again next week to see what's up around these parts!

AUTUMN AT TAHOMA CEMETERY ~ A MOVIE RECOMMENDATION ~ PUZZLE OF THE MOMENT ~ PARTING SHOT

AUTUMN AT TAHOMA CEMETERY

Linda and I took a walk yesterday at the nearby Tahoma Cemetery. I decided that I wanted to walk somewhere there were big trees. One big difference between Eastern Washington and North Carolina is the fact that there are far fewer trees here. There are places in Yakima where you can go and see a view that has no trees whatsoever. You would be hard-pressed to do that in North Carolina, there are trees everywhere there. Out in the desert proper they are nonexistent. So we are glad that we have a place close by that has huge trees.

A gorgeous sight

By now the trees are starting to lose their leaves, but they still look beautiful dressed out in their fall colors. Although the temperature the night before took a nose-dive well below freezing (27 degrees), yesterday was a nice sunny day with the high in the mid-60's.

Sun's out!

I have tended to be a couch potato the last couple of weeks. The weather has been getting slowly colder, and so my activity level usually drops when that happens. There is nothing out in the garden to go check on, so I've been busy dehydrating and making various pepper relishes and pickles. But that didn't occupy much of my time, so I've been kind of lazy. After several days of not doing much, I felt the need to get out in nature and look at the fall colors, because soon the predominate color around here will be brown...and white.

Fall shades of brown

There were a few other interesting things on our walk besides the trees. We came upon a rose bush that was almost bloomed out. There was one lavender rose left on it, a silent testament to the resiliency of rose bushes here. They seem to thrive in this hot, dry climate, as long as you give them enough water to survive.

One perfect bud

It's always a good thing to have more than one set of eyes when looking for photo opportunities. Linda is good at spotting a nice scene or still life that is just begging to be photographed. She is much more in tune with her surroundings than I am, so she often points out something that turns out making a great photograph. Here are a couple of examples below of things she pointed out to me.

Beautiful rose hips

The evergreens are loaded with cones

Some of my favorite trees that we see all around Yakima are these weeping trees with white bark that I have been told are Paper Birch trees. I think these are so beautiful.

Some kind of Birch tree

Close-up of the Birch tree bark

Everything is not golden at the cemetery. There are several trees there that turn a different color before they drop their leaves. Soon they will all be bare and the beautiful colors will just be a memory.

A study in red

Red and green on one tree

The trees are so beautiful from afar, but if you move in closer you can see the individual leaves and the intricate detail of their veins.

Getting ready to let go

Sunlight through the leaves

Towards the end of our walk Linda spotted another good photo op. There was a large evergreen tree right beside the paved road that was just oozing sap. Although it made for a beautiful photograph, it isn't a healthy thing for a tree to be doing.

Sparkling diamonds on a tree

Not only does Linda spot a good shot every now and then, she also takes them with her iPad. Here is a photograph she took that same morning, evidence of the cold temperatures the night before. The birdies had to wait for it to warm up to get their morning drink!

Ice in the bird bath

A MOVIE RECOMMENDATION

We don't often go to the movies, usually about once or twice a year. This year, however, seems to be a good year for movies because there are several coming out that we want to see. So this past week we decided to go see the new version of A Star Is Born, featuring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. We both adore Lady Gaga, so it was definitely a given to go see her. But Bradley Cooper, who we remembered from his days on the TV show Alias, was an unexpected delight. Who knew he could sing so well? In my personal opinion, he held his own with Lady Gaga (although just barely). Linda and I both gave this movie a "thumbs up." But having said all that, the definitive version of this movie, for me, will always be the one with Barbra Streisand. She is most definitely in a league by herself.

Go see it

PUZZLE OF THE MOMENT

We've done a few puzzles lately that I haven't posted, mainly because they were repeats of ones we had already done. We stopped by our local senior center, The Harmon Senior Center, a few weeks ago and picked up a couple. One of them was unopened, so we were stoked as this one would most likely not have any missing pieces. We've been working on this one for the past couple of weeks, and we are all done with it except for the black area. This is going to be hard, which is why we saved it for last. But when we get done, I think it is going to be one of my favorite puzzles, for obvious reasons.

Drinkiepoo time!

PARTING SHOT

When we got back from our walk at the cemetery, there was one absolutely beautiful photo opportunity in our own front yard. I couldn't pass it up.

Behaving herself for a change

That's all for this week, folks. Please join me again next week, when it is bound to be even colder! LOL

SPECIAL EDITION: BITS & PIECES ~~ PARTING SHOT

BITS & PIECES

Every week when I sit down at the computer to do my blog, I wonder what in the world I am going to write about. Sometimes I do have a few topics in mind ahead of time, but then other times I have nothing when I sit down. But it usually comes to me when I look back over my pictures. Most weeks I have WAY more pictures than I can post. I'm sure the photographers out there understand this! Inevitably things keep getting put off. So this week's post is going to include some of those pictures that were previously consigned to oblivion.

Let's start off with a new restaurant in the area that we tried out a couple weeks ago, Provisions Restaurant & Market (click on the link to go to their web page). This one is located in Terrace Heights and is both a restaurant and a little attached market. Linda had a gift card that the school had given her for her volunteer efforts last year, so we were excited to give it a try for lunch. 

A new favorite place to eat!

The menu has lots of choices on it, and also has vegetarian and gluten-free options (Emily, take note!).  I ordered a small BBQ Chicken Pizza and Linda had the Three-Cheese Pasta. Both were hearty-sized servings so we had enough for lunch the next day! If you are in the Yakima area, check it out!

Pizza at top, pasta below

Since last week's post, Linda and I have picked all of our produce and pulled up the garden. I know, it's sad. The only thing left is one Delicata Squash plant that still has 2 squash on it. I let it go an extra week so they could get a bit bigger, but I am going to pull it up tomorrow. 

What's left in the garden

A sad sight

We dug up all our potatoes this past week. We didn't get as many as we did last year, but some of them were absolutely HUGE!

Red potatoes

Despite my bemoaning the fact that the garden didn't produce as well this year as previous years, I still managed to get a lot of peppers that I don't know what to do with. In years past I could always make Jalapeno Jelly or Hot Sauce and take it down to Dad, as he loved spicy food. Alas, that is no longer an option, and since I am the only one here who eats anything approaching "hot," I can only make as much as I can eat. I did make a nice Jalapeno Relish...and let me tell you, it is hot, hot, hot! Good on hot dogs, sausages, and such! I also dehydrated some peppers and tomatoes, and ground them up separately into powders to use in spice mixes.

Jalapeno Relish

Getting ready to dehydrate

Speaking of Dad, Linda cut this beautiful rose off of the "Dad Rose" bush this past week. We put it in a vase behind our favorite picture of the three of us. 

We still miss him terribly!

This time last year we were getting ready to head down there to spend three weeks with Dad. It was the last time we would ever see him. He was doing pretty good and we had no idea what would happen in just a few short months. But we cherish all the time that we had with him and are glad that we made the trip so often. Because...you never know.

While we're on the subject of roses, below is a picture Linda took a few days ago. We actually had rain here in Yakima. Not the little sprinkle like we usually get and everyone calls it "rain." No, this was a hard rain that happened during the night. Everything was soaking wet the next morning. It made pulling the garden up so much easier!

The "Precious Rose" with rain drops

Since it is the Fall season, I thought I would include a picture of our current flag in the front yard. You can probably guess why I love this one!

A southern flag in the PNW!

A couple of weeks ago I got my hair cut and my hairdresser friend gave me some eggs. They weren't your usual eggs, though. These came from "mini-chickens" and they were cute as a button! Here's a picture showing the size of these eggs compared to a regular egg. The chickens themselves are so cute! Sorry, I didn't get a picture of them. Thanks, Tina, for the eggs, they were delicious!

Mini-chicken eggs

I belong to a lot of Facebook groups, several of which are nature-oriented. Lots of people post pictures of insects to these groups, and you can learn some fascinating things on there. One thing I learned is what this black stuff is on the lettuce plants that are being eaten by the caterpillars. It's poop! Here's a picture of a caterpillar pooping. Never let it be said that my blog isn't educational!

There is no privacy on the Internet!

We had our last drinkiepoo outside a couple of week's ago as the weather is just too cool at that time of day to sit outside now. This picture shows our set-up for having drinks on the porch. It is so nice and relaxing to sit out there, listening to and watching the birds. The owl statue is one that belonged to Linda's mom, and the little table is one that belonged to my mom. So we have a piece of both of our mom's on the front porch to accompany us.

Front porch drinks

Speaking of birds, you probably notice that I don't have any bird pictures posted so far. That's because the only birds around now for the most part are sparrows and house finches. They are going bonkers eating, though. Getting ready for that cold weather that they KNOW will be here soon! So, in the absence of any new bird pictures, I am going to include one from our walk at Randall Park the other week. I just love this one!

Leaving a trail of diamonds in his wake

I'm including this picture below especially for L.H. I know she loves flower pictures and this shows the last of the sunflowers that I picked and put in a vase, about a week ago. They are all gone now.

We miss our sunflowers already!

PARTING SHOT

I have a few pictures of Summer Girl that have never made it to the blog. I usually have several pictures of her each week, and I have to decide which one or two I want to include. These never made the cut before, so I think they deserve to be in this week's "special" edition. We all know how "special" Summer Girl is, after all.

See those sharply honed blades of death?

This is why one of Summer Girl's nicknames is "PigPen"

She can be so cute...look at those feeties!

That's all for this week's edition, my friends. Be sure to check us out next week for more of what's happening around these parts!