This is why I live in Seattle.....

During those 6 months of gray and rainy weather, it's easy forget why we live in Seattle. Days like today are the reason why! It was 75 degrees, and just gorgeous out today. Brett and I have been very preoccupied with getting my business off the ground the last while, so today we totally played hooky, hopped on a ferry, and went to Bainbridge Island for the day. It was absolutely heavenly! We hadn't been there in years. We just walked around the town of Winslow, which is just a short walk from the ferry terminal, had a really good lunch at a little cafe, window shopped a bit, and thoroughly enjoyed each other's company.

On the way back, the ferry had to slow to a crawl to make way for 3 (yes 3) cruise ships leaving port for Alaska. One of these days I would really love to take that cruise!

I did nothing to enhance the colors in these pics, the sky really was THAT blue today!



It's hard to believe that this building in the background (Smith Tower) was the tallest building west of the Mississippi when it was built. It's pretty dinky by today's standards!



A couple more from the boat:







Only took a couple of flower shots in Winslow, nothing of note, but the daylilies are in full bloom around here now, and the colors are always so pretty:



I wish I could run away and play like this every day, it's good for the soul!

I wish you could smell my house right now....

...imagine the BEST raspberry smell, multiply it by, oh, say 100, and that's how my house smells right now. Fresh baked raspberry pie, yummmmmm. Brett just came in here, chomping at the bit for a slice....but I think we should to wait for it to cool a little bit till we cut into it, otherwise it's going to be a sloppy mess! Poor guy!

Brett said to me as I was uploading this "but you didn't get the whole pie in the shot." Yup, I know, I am soooooooooo not a product photographer!



So yesterday I went to the nursery. I had bought a hibiscus there a couple of weeks ago that turned out to be covered with aphids :(, so I returned it. The first time I've ever returned a plant before...and they were really nice about it. BUT....as I was being rung out (of course I had to buy a few plants while there), the guy asked me if I qualified for the senior citizen discount!!! It's for those over age 55. Can you believe it?!? Now granted, I'm no spring chicken, but I'm only 45. Of course, he was all of probably 19, so to him, I probably do look like a senior citizen. Talk about ruining a girls day! Brett just laughed hysterically when I told him. MEN!

So, here's a quick snap of my hibiscus:



I found a yellow ladybug today, cool, eh?!?



And just some random shots...

Summer is out in full force...

What my hair looks like in the morning:

In honor of Heather's news today....

As I was editing this, I kept thinking it reminded me of a belly. Yes, I can be kind of odd sometimes . So, I'm posting it honor of Heather's baby news. Do you prefer horizontal or vertical?





We have about 25 feet of raspberry vines on the side of the house. My grandfather gave me them from his garden about 12 or so years ago. YUM! The thing is, we have too many! From now until about the middle of July, every time we get together with someone, we give away raspberries (as in quarts of them). Every time we see a neighbor, we invite them over to pick. We make eat them by the bowlful, make ice cream, jam, syrup, shortcake, etc...but still end up freezing so many that they last us the entire year. When we move next summer, I'm only planting 10 feet of them in the new garden!

My sister figured out how to keep me from photographing her :)

Like most of the women (and men) I know, my dear, darling sister doesn't like it much when I have my camera with me, So, she figured out the ultimate way to keep me from shooting pics of her, she invited my me and our mom up for the day, to go to a tea and book signing event at a nursery up near where she lives. I didn't realize until I got home, just how sneaky she was ;) All kidding aside, it was a nice afternoon, thanks Teri!

A few pics from the afternoon:





I am in love with these fringed poppies. I need some for my garden, they are gorgeous, these photos do not do them justice at all!





And snapped a couple while waiting for the ferry to take us over to Whidbey:

Not shy, just really fast!

Discovered this ladybug when I was out watering some pots this afternoon. I thought by the time I grabbed my camera she'd be gone, but she stuck around. Once I nudged her to turn around so I could see her face, she hightailed it up some grasses that were waving in the breeze. I did managed to capture a few in focus :) it's the little things in life (pun intended) that make me happy!











I do wish the breezes we've had lately would die down a bit, it makes it difficult to shoot. When I got up at 6 this morning the air was so calm, would have been wonderful to go out shooting then, but I had other commitments.

Guess I'm in a softer mood these last couple of days

This first one is the same plant from yesterday. I love the way one little plant can give several different looks.


A couple of my roses. I am more than a little aggravated with the noise issues I am still having with reds. I posted about it today on one of my boards, along with a couple of 100% crops to try and get some advice.

Brett could even see the issues I was talking about, which is pretty unusual for him. So then after I told him about Canons not having these noise problems, he brought up me jumping ship to Canon before I get any more $$$ invested in Nikon equipment. As tempting as that is, I am comfortable with Nikon, and I LOVE my macro lens, and Canon does not make one that has VR like mine does, so that would essentially mean no more hand-holding for me......I think I'm going to have to just live with the noise.




I finally found a slow moving bug in the garden, but doesn't it just figure, she was camera shy. No matter what I did, she just wouldn't turn around :(


Is it odd that when I look at plants and/or flowers now, I am obsessed with how they might photograph?

Oh, and as of 12 noon today, I am officially the mother of a high school senior. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? The time went too fast, I blinked my eyes and he became a man. Trust me people, I am not old enough for this! ;)

If you give a girl a plant and a camera...

...she can sit in the backyard for an hour and a half, shooting it, losing all track of time. I had fun playing with super-duper shallow DOF.

Big news. Big, BIG news! ....at least to me :)

But, you're going to have to wait until you get to the bottom of this entry to hear about it. OR...if you're anything like me, you'll just scroll on down right away :)

I could have stayed in the buterfly exhibit all day shooting. We lucked out and got there early, so the butterflies weren't very active yet. Much easier to take pictures of them when they're just hanging out, getting ready to start their day. It was pretty funny though, imagine all 3 of us trying to get shots of the same butterfly at the same time. Poor guys, they were probably feeling like the paparazzi was stalking them :)

It was difficult to get a decent DOF while hand holding. If the admission to the zoo wasn't $15 (ouch), I'd go back again soon and try again. It'll have to wait a while....























Ok, and now for the big news. It's big news for me, anyhow. It's been in the works for a while now, and we're not quite ready, but I just can't keep it quiet any longer!
Click here for Lauren's BIG NEWS!