Day 150- Starbuckians

It’s Macro Monday, so I took my camera and macro lens to Starbucks this morning.  We spend a lot more time (and money) in Starbucks than I care to admit.  It began over 10 years ago- whenever Starbucks came to town- as a weekly Friday before school meetup with my first grade teacher friends, a tradition that continues to this day.  As the years went by it also became a place to meet friends on a weekend morning or afternoon, as well as a place where my husband and I would stop after our gym workouts.  Now that I am retired, my husband and I continue our after-gym routine- and, on non-gym days, my husband will often make a Starbucks run for the two of us.  Living in a small town, we often see people we know there, so it’s a social outing as well.

So today’s photo (actually a collage) is a tribute to our life at Starbucks.

 

Melinda3 Comments

Day 147- Uninvited

We have some uninvited guests in our front yard who seem to be making themselves at home and staying a long time (and perhaps inviting their friends). No, I’m not talking about the squirrels this time.

I mean these guys.

f/5.6, 1/80, ISO 800, 200mm

These flowers started appearing about a month or so ago- and are growing REALLY BIG.  I have noticed some neighbors who also have them growing in their gardens (perhaps deliberately).  My father always referred to flowers you don’t plant as volunteers- but I’m thinking they could be weeds.  Weeds are defined by my friend, Kathryn, as any plant that you don’t want, so .  .  .

I dressed them up a bit by adding some textures (just in the mood today). Anyone know what kind of weeds volunteers flowers they are?

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Day 146- More Bird Drama

Today I visited my college roommate and photoblogging friend, Carol for the second time ever at her home in Antelope.  You may recall that she is a volunteer for a bird rescue organization and that she received her first call the only other time I had been to her house.

Well, you guessed it- she got her second call today shortly after I arrived. What are the chances of that?

A baby hawk had been found on a golf course.  It was unable to fly or get around- and had already been put in a box by the man who had found it (another baby was found with it- already dead).  Apparently, the hawks had fallen out of their nest.

The baby hawk was about the size of a kitten and was downy and fluffy- very cute. Yes, I am still squeamish about touching birds- but I enjoyed being a part of the rescue process.  I hope baby makes it!

f/5.3, 1/1600, ISO 200, 95mm

Melinda3 Comments

Day 145- Not a camera!

It’s not a camera.

It really isn’t.

It just looks like a camera.

It’s really a . . .

Pencil sharpener!

Cool, huh?  We have been friends with Joan and Rudy for over forty years (yikes!), and we always celebrate Joan and my birthdays together- we are five days apart.  We met in Napa today for our birthday lunch and gift exchange, and  Joan gave me this fun pencil sharpener in honor of my new retirement obsession hobby!  Usually our birthdays take place in gorgeous, sunny California weather- but today we were wearing raincoats and carrying umbrellas. Oh well- it was still a lot of fun!

Melinda2 Comments

Day 144- Gold Star

When I was a very little girl, my father made me a small, wooden gold star with a special opening in the back that was just the right size for a quarter, my allowance.  Each Saturday, if I had been good, I would go on a hunt for my special star, which would be hidden somewhere around the house.  When my children were small, they took turns hunting for their allowance using the same gold star.

f/5, 1/160, ISO 800, 85mm

Melinda2 Comments

Day 143- Squirrel Drama

Yes, I know it is Macro Monday- and I did take a macro shot of some coffee beans this morning.

But we had squirrel drama!

Early this morning, I looked out the window to see a PARADE of squirrels scampering from branch to branch across our backyard making a huge commotion.  The smallest one at the rear was having trouble keeping up and was clinging for dear life to the branches.  Then they disappeared into the neighbors’ trees.  I broke the bad news to my husband that there was more than one squirrel- and that there appears to be a family. Years ago we had skunks nesting under our house- and it appears we now may have squirrels nesting in the roof, in the attic- who knows?

A bit later on, after I had taken my macro shot, I sat outside to drink my coffee and play Words With Friends on my iPhone.  All of a sudden, the parade of squirrels noisily started making their way back across the treetops from the neighbors’ yard.  The little one at the rear again had trouble keeping up- and this time could NOT get up the nerve to jump to the final tree before our roof. His family seemed to have disappeared, and he just sat there in the branches looking up. He then climbed up and down every which way trying to figure out what to do, and I could hear the mama chattering to him. I took a quick shot (not blogworthy) of baby, and then all of a sudden he was down the tree and on the ground! Mama was chattering to him, so I went back into the house to let them work it out.

Awhile later I went outside and sat back down with my coffee and Words With Friends.  There were no signs of any squirrels- until all of a sudden an adult (mama?) squirrel came confidently running down a tree limb, leaped onto a beam of the deck covering and was suddenly sitting right above me- a little too close for comfort.  I watched for a bit as (s)he ran along the beams and disappeared (into our house???). I am hoping that- wherever they are- they are all together.

And that they are OUTSIDE!

This image is of the “mama” as she came down the branch right before she jumped onto the deck railing.

f/5.6, 1/1000, ISO 200, 300mm

Melinda2 Comments

Day 142- Bird Drama

I told myself today that, although I am staying at home, I would not take any flower or bird photos.  Instead, I would try to take artsy photos of things outside using new and interesting angles.  Welllll . . . that didn’t last long. This whole photography thing has got me interested in the birds in my backyard.

I watched the scrub jays poking around in the dirt and then a woodpecker(?) in the neighbors pine tree.  Suddenly a robin landed ten feet in front of me- and the jay swooped down to chase him away. I gave up my idea of being artsy and went inside to get my longest lens (70-300mm) in case there was any more interesting bird action. I had one of my custom user settings set up for just such occurrences (aperture priority, continuous autofocus, auto ISO).  Today I changed that custom setting from auto ISO to ISO 200, because I really do not like the lack of control using auto ISO.  I was playing around in manual, taking flower photos, when all of a sudden, the robin returned, landing on the deck railing.  I quickly switched to my custom setting and captured some quick photos as he looked around.

f/5.6, 1/400, ISO 200, 240mm

Melinda1 Comment

Day 141- What’s around the bend?

The redwoods of the Santa Cruz Mountains made a beautiful setting for a conference we attended today.  We drove up a windy road to get there- guided by carefully placed reflectors on the trees so that we could see what was coming around the bend. A wonderful day with beautiful people doing important work!

f/5.6, 1/125, ISO 200, 135mm

Melinda1 Comment

Day 140- Backyard Birdwatching

I’m on my way out to a retirement party and had really good intentions of taking my photo in my friend Kathryn’s beautiful yard- but decided to look outside here for another photo- just in case!

And my friend the scrub jay (thank you, Carol) came to call.  I’ve actually seen two in our garden recently and wasn’t sure what they were.

(S)he spent some time on our lawn eating worms (ewww….)- so here is my photo of the day!

f 5.6, 1/320, ISO 900, 200 mm

Weird settings- I used aperture priority and auto ISO. You would think the camera would choose a lower ISO. I know my camera is smarter than me, but still…

Melinda1 Comment

Day 139- Lunch

Between computer problems, changing ink cartridges, some photo editing, laundry, cleaning out the fridge, phone calls etc. etc.- I didn’t take time to think of what my photo of the day might be.

Then it was time for lunch.

I was about to grab an apple when I decided that a still life of the apples might not be a bad photo for today. So I quickly took a few shots and then…

I ate one of the apples!

Mission accomplished.

f/3.2, 1/60, ISO 1600, 35mm

Melinda1 Comment

Day 138- Under

The rain we’ve had the last few days seems to have gone, and, as I wandered out to the yard this morning, I noticed how different everything looks with the trees trimmed.  “Our” squirrel was bounding about as usual, but is having to learn new paths among the branches.  Our pin oak’s limbs used to droop and were entangled with the magnolia and laurel nearby.  Now I can stand UNDER the pin oak and look UP!

f/3.8, 1/200, ISO 300, 24mm

Melinda4 Comments

Day 137- A Night at the Opera

No, I’m not going to the opera- but I photographed my great-grandmother’s opera-going gear for this week’s vintage theme for Kim Klassen’s Texture Tuesday.  I know the opera glasses are hers (they have her initials) and I’m pretty certain about the fan.  I am not sure about the money holder in the foreground.  It has spots for coins, as well as a money clip inside.  The initial on the case is B (for Bean, I believe)- and it could have belonged to her husband, Charles H. Bean- or even his father.

I used two layers of Kim’s luminous texture for this image.

kimklassencafe

Melinda8 Comments

Day 136- Lucky Macro

Hello- it’s Macro Monday! Today I photographed my little Lucky Bamboo plant with my macro lens. I had an image in my mind of how I wanted the shot to look, but ended up liking this very simple composition of just the stem better than what I originally envisioned.

f/5, 1/60, ISO 1600, 85mm

Melinda1 Comment