We've been waiting all day for the scheduled snow and it is finally here. Gavin's school has already called to inform parents that school is canceled. I am just hoping the UPS man will still be able to deliver me a very special package tomorrow. But for now I will focus on how snowy nights are so beautiful.
I just recently started to buy cut flowers for the dining table. This is what's currently on there. I really love the fall color.
As you can see, I'm new at this! I didn't realize until after I put the flowers and lotus pods in a vase that I really should have bought more for a fuller look! Next time will be better.
Outside around the house...
Mossy mossy! Did you know moss is faerie carpet?
No 4-leaf, I checked!
I don' t know why I really like this one.
Can you believe I wanted to get rid of these grasses? That was before their blooms came, showing me how neat they looked. They are all around lining the front, side and back of the house.My son Gavin and I spent the day watching Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow, playing Dance Dance Revolution, flying his SpongeBob kite and taking pictures. I must be an irritating photographer, because he sure was getting tired of me. I really wanted to get some photos of him though before his official initiation into 1st grade.
He spotted a helicopter in this photo, tried to get me to look at it so he could run away from taking anymore pictures. Didn't work.
This was his photo idea, not mine - posing with sticks! It seems to be a theme with him.
This tree and little bench is in our front yard. When the tree is full of blossoms, it has hoards of bees all over it. This is was the perfect time to take advantage of the situation.
He loves flying that thing.I really enjoy using matcha, whole green tea in a fine powdered form. I usually use it as a superfood boost to my recipes. Recently I've been making Green Tea Vanilla Milkshakes. So delicious and creamy!
Yum! It has fresh vanilla beans in it too!
What a gorgeous green hue! It radiates health! Click image for website.While talking to my son earlier today, I was distracted by a bright yellow and black color in the backyard. I hurried and ran to get my camera, warning my son not to scare it away before I could get some snaps of it. It was a beautiful American Goldfinch! And yes, I had to look up the name! It was tearing up a clump of dandelion weeds like no one's business. Here's the best shot that I took. I had to take the photos through 2 glass doors, so don't expect much!
Largely ignored until today, I finally took the time to take a few snaps of this red flower bush in front of the house.
Tiny spiders that live in flowers are the only type that don't freak me the hell out!
click photo to enlargeWe saw a hummingbird moth today! It took me awhile to research exactly what this bug was but now I know. But while outside snapping shots and wondering what the heck type of bug this was, I had to double check my eyes to make sure it WASN'T a hummingbird. The nickname for these moths suit them extremely well.
I am exposing my amateur ways as a photographer with this one: It took me a few aggravating and desperate snaps of my camera before a light bulb went on in my head to switch to sports mode for a faster shutter speed. Though I think next time I'll see if I can also manually adjust the speed to get clearer shots of wings. This moth here had beautiful translucent wings, hence the "Clearwing".
My wheatgrass is growing beautifully! I think it may soon be time to start another tray up so I will have a continuous supply without having to wait. Check out the lovely Green Sunshine below:
This is growing in the backyard (we have a tree of it in our front yard). This is called "Pink Velour" Crape Myrtle. The petals are known for looking like tissue paper. If you enlarge the photo by clicking on it, you will see the center better. It's not opened all the way yet but this stage made a neat photo opportunity. Weird but cool huh?
I don't know the name of this but they are growing up from the green and white grass bunches that are all around the house. I didn't even know they made this purple thing until Gavin pointed it out to me. I thought they were just little boring grass bunches and nothing else, so I was surprised to see they made interesting pretty purple clusters. I have no idea if each purple thing is going to open up and bloom or if they are stamens. *Edited: This is Variegated Lily Turf Grass.
This is the Lantana plant we bought from Lowe's. We have 3 hanging baskets of these, though 2 are currently on the ground on the side of the house so they can get better sunlight. I think the stamens of these are so very interesting! And I didn't really notice until today what exactly it looked like so close up. They look like little bowtie or butterfly pillows! I am starting to wonder if I like the sexual organs of flowers more than I like the petals!!!
I believe this is ragwort. That bug was cool, I was a little nervous getting close to take a photo and I think he was too at first. He flew to me to check me out as if to say, "And you are?!" and then he flew back to the flower! I am proud of myself for not freaking out.
Today I was surprised with beautiful blooms from one of the plants that my mother-in-law gave to me a few weeks ago. Beautiful Tiger Lilies!
What's not to love about stepping outside and seeing beautiful plant life? When you think about it and really take a close look, flowers are very peculiar and interesting. Here are a couple of the better shots I took of some and also a macro shot. I love macro photography. I think it has to be my favorite type of photo--getting up close and seeing what's really there, what we may be missing or too busy to care to take a deeper look for.
