Before The Snow Arrives

I thought I should post this photograph which I took nearly a month ago. September 22, to be exact.  It has been sitting on my desktop while I shoot other things and if I wait any longer it will not be relevant to the season!  These blossoms are long gone, of course but they were a joy to look at this fall.  There is a funny thing when photographing flowers with a digital camera, that the colors never seem true.  I promise I did not enhance this at all.  But in real life it is not quite this bright.  But it is so beautiful.

 

Oh No! More Ghosts!

I took a run over to the grocery store and as I was coming back I saw these ghosts fly by out of the corner of my eye!  So I pulled over, got a camera out of the trunk with a telephoto lens on it because the house was set way back.  Then I stood on the sidewalk and did this shot.  What a beautiful, stunning ghost in the middle of the photo!  Wow.  And she is mainly made up of "netting."  So I had to look up the name of the fabric.  It is called "Tulle":  "A very fine, lightweight, net-like fabric with tiny hexagonal or diamond-shaped holes, commonly used for wedding veils, tutus, and dress overlays."  I love Wikipedia!

I decided that this ghost is so well done, I should include a close up photo of it so you can see more detail.  So beautifully done!

 

A Quick Trip in the Rain

I got the yearning for some ice cream.  The kind of upscale grocery store nearby is a great place to shop for everything BUT ice cream.   They charge full price all the time.  As most of you know, Stop & Shop always has at least one brand of ice cream on sale.  So I felt the need to take a drive.  Who would know it would be in a downpour?  It's OK because the heavy rain quit when I was halfway to the store.  I thought this was pretty, shot with my iPhone.  OK, I will answer the question on everyone's mind before you can ask.  Tillamook was the brand, and mint chocolate chip was the flavor!  We are new to this brand.  It says it uses more cream than required, and it sure is creamy, and delicious as well!  It was worth the drive!

 

To All Gardeners: Help!

Although I have done enormous amounts of garden photography, I don't know the first about plant and flowere identification.  So I need help here!  Is there anyone who can identify this plant with the green leaves with white spots on them?  I am totally at a loss!. Thanks for any help you can give me.  I know there are so many of you who are seriousl gardeners and who can identify this plant!

 

OK, So I am "Old School"

OK, so I freely admit that I am "Old School." I do some things the "old" way.  Like paying my bills. I love using my fountain pen to write checks.  I love to mail the checks as well, and yes, I know it costs me $.82 for each to mail.  I love writing addresses on the envelopes when necessary, and I really love using postage stamps.  Guilty as charged!  I am eccentric sometimes.  I get that.  So here's the story:  A good friend of ours sent a check to a charity and their bank called and asked her to come down to verify a check because it was of high value.  She was shocked to see that someone had "kited" her check and increased the value by some thousands of dollars!  Fortunately the bank caught it.  So I am aware that crooks can do that.  I use a fountain pen and I have read about special archival inks.  So I wondered if one of my checks, if stolen could have been increased in value - "kited."  I took two checks, used a roller ball, and then my fountain pen with Parker Quink black ink, and then used a ballpoint. After I let the inks dry for an hour I put some acetone in a small dish and "washed" one of the checks, as it is called.  I read somewhere that acetone had been used for such a thing.  The GREAT news is that acetone would not touch the rollerball, or my fountain pen ink.  But look at the ballpoint - I was shocked!  That ink was almost completely gone.  Notice the area circled in red where you can see that some of the ink of the check was dissolved (the check was not completely immersed in acetone).  Bottom line I am safe with my checks written with my fountain pen or the rollerball pens I have around!  I can continue to be "old school" when it comes to paying my 3 or 4 bills each month!  This is fascinating, isn't it?

 

Finally! Back on the Bike!

Finally!  I am back on the bike!  I have been so busy with painting that I have not done a bike ride for 5 1/2 weeks!  And I felt it today when I went for a nice ride.  I keep an eye on my pulse rate when riding, using my Apple watch.  Normally my pulse rate runs about 115 going up the hills.  In the summer when the days are close to 80 degrees (I don't ride if it is warmer than 80) I work really hard to keep my pulse at 110 or below so that I don't get overheated.  Today, going up some of my long hills my pulse was 128.  I am in good shape so that rate is OK, but it shows that I have lost some fitness in the 5 1/2 weeks I have not been on the bike.  It was a joy to ride today with a temperature of 68 and blue sky and sunshine and not much wind.  And my painting is done as well!  Oh happy day.  Oh, I wanted to have some kind of photo of me riding for the blog but the only thing I could think of was to use my iPhone, holding it in one hand while slowly riding and then photographing my shadow.  This worked out OK and thankfully I did not drop my phone!

 

Just Clouds

I hate to give away family secrets, but here goes.  We have gotten into the habit of perhaps twice a month driving down to Wendy's to get their little chicken sandwich!  We first had these in Los Angeles when visiting the girls.  I will tell you that the BEST sandwich was the Spicy Chicken Sandwich!  Wow!  But it is twice the size and twice the calories, so we just get the Crispy Chicken Sandwich and bring it home to eat.  When walking back to the car after getting our sandwiches I noticed these Cirrus clouds in the western sky.  This is a subtle photograph, as opposed to being dramatic, as some of my cloud photographs have been.  But I love all the subtle shapes overlaying other shapes.  There is something so beautiful about Cirrus clouds and I cannot not photograph them.  Please click on the image to see it larger - there is much to see in this.