This is an image of a lovely sunset we had a couple of weeks ago. You can see my gazebo where the lights have come on for the evening. Also visible is my 550 gallon rainwater collection tank to fill my large pond which the gazebo sits on the edge of.
TGIF! We made it to Friday! Last week we had crazy weather setting record lows for the month. It was like January in October with highs in the 20s and snow. This is an image of a few of my Marigolds still covered in snow before they turned brown. Because Friday's are Bokehlicious, this image has some lovely soft bokeh created by other flowers and snow behind them.
Normally my butterfly shots are good for bokeh images too. This one has basically the absence of bokeh or in reality, quite smooth bokeh. Anyway, this is a Painted Lady I captured on the Butterfly bush enjoying the blooms one afternoon.
It's Wildflower Wednesday on the Blog! With the bitter cold temps we had, almost 20F a couple of nights, last week, I was surprised to see any wildflowers still alive. This group of Aromatic Asters surprised me though. I wonder if the heat from the sidewalk helped. They were very short due to being mowed over several times. They do normally bloom into October.
Today is Election Day, I hope you got out and voted.
Last week we had record cold and our first snow of the year. This week it is back in the 50s and 60s. Crazy weather. Anyway, I was able to capture my first snowflakes. I only got a few due to issues with my light having a short and not lighting correctly and also the snow was very light at the time. These were 2 of the ones I captured. They had a lot of rhime, or sleet, on them but I thought their general shapes were lovely through it. They are both focus stacked images and cropped a good deal. In my haste I also forgot my macro extender. Hope to get another chance this winter where I am better prepared.
Every once in a while I see my frog buddies doing cliché things like sitting on a Lily pad. I think I have a closer up photo somewhere but I liked this one because it showed how huge the Lily pads got on this plant. This is the new one that I just transferred over to this pond and some of the pads were at least 8 inches across. This is one of my Leopard frog buddies hanging out on one.
Today's image is going back in the archives quite a bit, as will most images from this point on due to this wacky year and not being able to do steamy things. This is another image from the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, it's a beautiful, well set up and displayed museum and you should go when it opens again, it's well worth the trip. This is North Pacific Coast Railroad No. 12 Sonoma built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1876. The locomotive has been restored by the museum, after acquiring it in 1978, to it's as built appearance.
