Feathery Flowers in Sonoma

Hello, all,

I took this photo of  pink and feathery flowers in August but it seems like just yesterday. The canadian geese in the background are a long ways from home but are a great backdrop to their feathery flower friends.  They were milling around this pond at the Sonoma University.  I find that Universities are great places to take photos of the flora and fauna.  This tree had some very airy and light flowers which I loved!  They reminded me of little fan shaped paintbrushes...and when I brought a flower close to my face it was soft and tickled.    The pond also added to the charm. It was a little overcast making the water look greenish...well I think that was why..:)  Have a great day or night and I'll try to catch up on my journal visits to you!   Maria

Blue Glories - a flower of a different color

Hello, all,

The morning glory flower is usually white around where I live.  I have some good shots of the white ones in my photo collection.  In Sonoma County, California these blue morning glories were growing at the hotel we stayed at recently.  I'm always finding wonderful flowers when I travel.   These were definitely of a different color than what I'm used to seeing.  These had purple bases which really made the blue color jump out. The light was just right.    

Speaking of finding things...in the last couple of days I found two things I thought I had lost.  One was a green trench coat style jacket and the other was my little digital Olympus camera I had bought a few weeks back.  I found both after some agony...the coat under a bunch of drycleaning waiting to be taken in that  I had somehow placed on top of the jacket.  The camera was in the pocket of a warm vest I had worn to a recent soccer game.  I just kept thinking positive and guess what...it worked!   Retracing my steps helped as well because I just kept thinking it's just got to be here somewhere. 

I was blue for awhile but then came the glories when I found what was once lost.  Yay!

Maria 

Orange you glad?

Hello all,

Orange is a great color!  September and October promises to bring plenty of it.  I'm seeing lots of pumpkin carving ideas in the magazines stands already.  These flowers are surprisingly appealing with the little purple centers.   Amazing color combinations exist in nature and it works.  A close cousin to orange is coral.  As September starts to wane away I've got dreams of October in my mind.   Can't wait to see what I will find.  Keep an eye out for some great color explosions coming your way!   Orange you glad it's orange? (or was that banana? remember that old knock knock joke?)     Maria

Framing your outlook

Hello all!

The results are so much more interesting when I stop and think about how I want to frame my photos.  In this case I found a little row of trees whose leaves were touching each other making a perfect frame for a photo of the boats at the Elliot Bay Marina in Seattle.  I used to have a boss that always felt you needed a framework for what you did.  A way to put things into perspective.  I loved it. We always started our meetings with a high level purpose in mind and he would write them down because it was a way of framing the whole thing.  It helps people know where you were going and what you wanted to accomplish.  

By framing the photo here below you can see that I was walking along a path with trees planted alongside and that it's summer since the leaves are green.   My purpose is to show the boats from a different perspective than just the water and the marina.   I hope to get back there in the fall to take a similar shot when the leaves turn colors....then in the winter when they are gone.  This would mean some forethought and preplanning.   What do you know,  Fall is almost upon us.  Seasons changing can give us different frames for the same view.   Isn't nature grand?      Maria :)

The Cosmos Call

The Cosmos call is hard to resist....no not the greater Cosmos as in the Universe but the littler one as in the flower.   These Cosmos blooms were just bursting with whiteness as bright as bleached white sheets.  They definitely called to my camera.  These flowers are very fragile.   They are not like daisies.   Instead of inspiring you to pluck each petal to find the answer to does he love me or love me not,  these flowers brighten and uplift the spirit.  The little yellow centers like suns in the center of the universe...the white petals radiating like multiple milky ways.  Is our galaxy like a flower?  You never know.   Maybe the Cosmos call does beckon us to think up up and away.   Time to dream. 

Maria  

A Calla Lily Flourish for Ida

There are some people who enter your life and add a flourish that is  refreshing and energizing. 

Much like this photo of an elegantly twirled white calla lily. 

When they leave unexpectedly you feel the loss and wish that you could have spent more time with them.  Yesterday, Ida,  a friend in the neighborhood passed away from cancer.  She didn't battle it long.  A couple of months ago she found out about it and that  it had spread to her bones and liver.   She was such a trooper, so amazingly positive and strong minded even give her 65+ years of age.  She loved flowers and was always in her yard...it was and still is the best and prettiest yard in the neighborhood.   She had lots of friends and family over to visit and keep her company during these last few weeks. 

I had intentions of spending more time with Ida....I did not realize how quickly time was passing...and I did not spend near enough of my time since I was thinking I had plenty of it.   Nope,  that is one thing we don't have much of...time.  Give it where you can, make it count because it is precious as gold.   Think of how flowers bring beauty and how quickly they pass as a reminder to us to share our time before we or our loved ones fade.    

In the grander scheme of things we are all beautiful like the flowers and we quickly pass too...so let's live in the moment, remember to make time to enjoy the beauty of our friends and family before their flourishes are gone.   I'm glad I got to know Ida and can only hope that she was glad to have known me too.   What a wonderful lady she was to have known.  She flourishes in my memory and will live on.       Maria 

 

 

Call me Mellow Yellow

How many remember the song by Donovan called 'Mellow Yellow'?  That song makes me think of the mellow days of summer.  I had to post a photo of yellow sunflowers in honor of that feeling now that we are 2/3 of the way through summer.....  if you look closely you can find the little bee hanging from the seedpod area.   I almost missed it the first time I saw the file.   It was a gorgeous day in Seattle yesterday and today.   The temperature in the lower 70 degrees Fahrenheit.   Almost balmy.   Not much wind but nice.  Drove around today in my convertible with the top down..topless so to speak.    Had lunch at a restaurent at the Elliott Bay Marina and took lots of boat and flower pictures to add to my collections.   I took a chance and entered the red sunflower photo in my last entry in the Comcast photo of the day cameo.  We will see how it does....;)   It's time to get some shuteye!  Happy Labor Day, everyone!

Maria

Sunflower of a different color

Whoa, I've let too much time slip by without an entry.   Today's photo of the moment is a sunflower of a different color.   Yes, it's rusty colored.  I'm always amazed and pleased when I see things out of the ordinary like this reddish sunflower in the photo below.  I'd never seen one before and I think  I've seen a lot of flowers in my life.  Now if I reflect on this one thought for a moment and extend it to other things in life like places  and people I would have much more of an appreciation for those who are different and out of the ordinary.   Somehow it's easier to appreciate it with places and flowers.  Sometimes when people aren't like us it's hard to understand them....it's the unexpected responses and reactions, the fear you might offend or that you did offend and didn't even know it.  Communication is such a challenge.  Yet, there are so many different cultures and the richness and experience of those cultures is so worth it.   I say, keep an open mind for those rusty colored sunflowers in your life.   See!  The bee still sees the flower for the joy it brings..be the bee....:)

 

Maria