A Happy Birthday, the Great Escape, and Adventures in Macro...

First, and seriously the most important item of the day...

Happy Birthday, Mr. Sunshine!!
(and Bonnie, I know you're out there...this is your gift for him all wrapped up!)


It's a beautiful day in Northern New York, a perfect day to celebrate a birthday, and celebrate we will!

Nothing specific planned, but sleeping in was high on the big guy's agenda (you don't get to do much of that in Iraq)...cake is baked, still needs to be iced (home made butter cream frosting- NO Exceptions!)...and I am enjoying the beautiful morning on my own, for the time being....


On a normal day, this is the view beyond my laptop....not bad, there's a grove of trees right across the street...pretty and lush and green.


This morning when I sat to down to check email and various shops, this was the view I was treated to. I know I have posted pictures of deer before, but I just can't help it. They enchant me. They seem like such gentle and innocent creatures and they are just so delicately pretty. I know they can be pests but please don't burst my bubble this morning. I'm communing with nature and whatnot....

So I took a few shots through my window, and then I decided to try to sneak outside and get a bit closer. She was still far enough away that I could tip toe just a bit closer and cut our vehicles out of the pictures...

THIS would be the "whatnot"...


As I was taking my pictures of the pretty doe, my cat Casey, otherwise known as "the cranky tank", thought he would make a mad dash for freedom ....he's not normally an outside cat, although we do let him out back because, quite frankly, I don't think he could scale the fence if he wanted to. And he loves to roll around on the concrete porch on a sunny afternoon. But the front yard is different...he can roam out here. So back inside you go, fat cat.


While I was out snapping shots, I decided to play with the camera. I like to just walk around, shooting things that catch my interest. And I learned a new (for me) camera trick that I would like to use on product shots: playing with the macro (and super macro) mode and depth of field by custom setting the f-stop (great article in the Storque- click *here* to read). I think these geranium shots are a pretty good example for a beginner....see how the background is kind of fuzzy? That's what I am trying to learn how to do....

Doesn't hurt that I absolutely love geraniums. Seriously, my favorite flower and I could shoot pics of them all day. As a newlywed living in Germany, nothing made me happier than a sunny summer drive through small villages, narrow streets lines with ancient homes, window baskets crammed full of ivy geraniums tumbling down. It is one of my fondest memories of our time there.

I couldn't decide which of these shots I liked more, so you get two for the price of one...

I love these "candy cane" (my term for them- not sure of their actual name) ivy geraniums...this bloom is on the downside, but it's still might purty...

Speaking of Germany, this is a beer bottle collected during our time there. They were everywhere, so I felt a little silly packing one up when we moved back to the States, but I am so glad I did. I still find it very pretty and in most houses we live in, it earns a spot in a particularly sunny window sill (the laundry room this time).

Oh and just for fun, how about one more shot of something green I brought home from Germany (it's funny how posts sometimes form a theme unintentionally). I seem to have singled out many of my German finds to practice my new acquired depth of field skills on. This is the spigot of an old galvanized watering can. I picked it up at a flea Market a long time ago and it has sat on the porch of every house since. The patina is a naturally earned crackle, as it has always been outside. It gets a little chippier with every passing season.

I think that's enough pics for today- I have a birthday to celebrate!
Hope everyone has a wonderful warm and sunny Thursday!

Until Next Time,