Sunday, June 12, 2011

More flowers and a morning visitor



I love the spidery petals of bachelor buttons (although I definitely do not like spiders).


Someone else loves them too. While I was moving in for a close shot, this bee zoomed in and claimed territorial rights.


Out on my walk today, I decided to take a few shots of the lowly daisy. And yes, another bee said, This is mine. Now I am very familiar with this flower, yet until I saw it close up on the computer screen, I'd never noticed that the center has that spiral thing going on that sunflowers do.


Not about to go unnoticed is the orange hawkweed, such a vibrant splash of color.



And here's my visitor. There's a herd of deer that feed across the field from me near the tree line. I know they wander close to the house even though I don't catch them, but this morning this lone fella was chomping on dandelions and nibbling on the plum trees along the backyard fence. Pretty flighty though - he saw me as I moved past the kitchen window and moved along himself.

The lake, by the way, reached flood stage this morning. While it doesn't effect me, it may top over my landlord's waterfront property. I took some pictures this morning that you can see here.

12 comments:

Chris said...

Nice close ups of those flowers. I love the blue one. I forget what they are called... You are calling that other one Orange Hawkweed. I see something like that when I visit New England and they call it Indian Paint Brush.

The Idaho Beauty said...

I'm calling the purple one Bachelor Buttons - I'm pretty sure that's right. I saw lots of orange hawkweed when I lived in Wisconsin, thinking it was a midwest plant, but here it is in my own backyard of Idaho - follow this link for more info: http://tinyurl.com/3eehcp9. What we call Indian paintbrush out here is a whole different flower - go here to see: http://tinyurl.com/6fmbsr

I'm always interested that inspite of proper scientific and even common names, local tradition can identify flora and fauna differently. Thanks for your input.

Anonymous said...

Show that deer your moose head. That will probably keep all of them away.

BC

The Idaho Beauty said...

You have a knack, BC for making me smile. So very true - maybe I should get a big stuffed moose like the deer targets I remember from Wisconsin. Set it out under the plum tree...

Diane Elizabeth Apple said...

Your photographs are sooooo professional. I have signed up for a 4 monthe class with a highly recommended instructor. He says the first 4 weeks are like boot camp and will will work with 35mm film camera and learn about light. I'm a bit intimidated but looking forward to it just the same.

Thanks for sharing the beauty that surrounds you and thanks for checking out my blog. I have finally committed to staying with it. I think when I first started it I was a bit bemused by the fact that it went out to the whole world. Of course, I have about 5 readers at this point!

The Idaho Beauty said...

Thanks, Diane, for the compliment. I started off back in the 70's with a 35mm Canon that was totally manual. My husband and I took a lot of slides back in those days which he processed himself. Since converting to digital cameras, I've forgotten pretty much everything I knew about f-stops and shutter speeds, not to mention film speeds. Although my digitals have the option for manual settings, I often just let the auto setting do its thing. And of course, there's a lot of cleaning up and some cropping thanks to software. I think I have gotten better simply because digital allows nearly unlimited shooting and instant checking of the results, and that software lets you experiment after the fact. Practice definitely improves one's eye which is half the battle!

Good luck with your class - I'm just a bit envious...

Diane Elizabeth Apple said...

I canpt remember if I already asked you this, but what kind of digital camera are you using. I am camera shopping and haven't got a clue.

The Idaho Beauty said...

I am currently using a Canon PowerShot SX20IS which has since been replaced by an updated model. While it has manual settings as well as the auto functions, it does not have the option of interchangeable lenses. For that you would probably have to step up to the Canon Rebel at the least. I've heard really good things about the Rebel, but it was more money than I wanted to spend and realistically I did not think I'd much use the extra features. My original 35mm was a Canon TX so you see, I've been a Canon fan forever. I still have that camera, but I doubt I will ever use it again. Should probably think about selling it to someone who would.

Anonymous said...

Becca bought a Rebel used for her photography class. She loved it...until the mother board died. It'll be ready in just $250. Still a good deal, but not as good as it was.

BC

The Idaho Beauty said...

Mother board? Oh Lordy, I never thought about that. But I guess anything computerized would have to have one. I know my sewing machines do because I had to have one replaced. The sad thing is how much it costs to repair these things.

Margaret Cooter said...

The bee (or hoverfly?) on the daisy stopped me in my tracks - "what's that bit of barcode doing there?" - "oh, it's an insect!" Barcode insects ... I feel a quilt coming on ...

The Idaho Beauty said...

Yes, that was an odd one - don't remember seeing one quite like it before. Yes, barcode is an apt description - go for it!