Following the ducks is a bit of “macro madness” — I found various interesting critters in the iris and roses. While I was out moving hoses to hook up drip systems, this female mallard hopped up on the neighbor’s wall. Then she hopped back down, and I could hear her making little quacking noises. When I looked over the wall, she was marching off with four ducklings in a row behind her.
We had several thunderstorms move through yesterday, including a heavy hailstorm. When I got home, Laurie told me the pink peony had bloomed and ask me to go out and see if the flowers survived the hailstorm. Many of the blooms were a little beaten down, but they survived the storm. I couldn’t resist photographing the wet roses while I was out, and I ended up pretty wet myself.
Even with frost damage and aphids, our roses are looking pretty good.
Our roses are starting to bloom and the ladybug larvae are working on the aphids.
Along with the Canon F-1, I ended up with three lenses: a Canon EF 35-105mm (digital), a Canon EF 35-80mm with macro (digital) and a Canon FD 135mm (film). The lenses were described as “For parts or not working…” I dinked around with each lens — cleaned up contacts, loosened up things that seemed to tight, tightened up parts that seem too loose, cleaned the elements the best I could, and then I tried them out. I tested the 35-105mm and 35-80mm on a Canon 5D and a Canon 1Ds (both full frame digital bodies), and the 135mm on the Canon F-1 (35mm film body). There are two photos produced with each lens in this series. I believe I got the broken lenses working pretty well — can you guess which lens was used to produce each photo? “If you can’t be handsome, at least be handy” and produce beautiful photos!
Austrian Copper, Lady Banks, a yellow iris and a tulip with ram’s horns are some of our most recent blooms. Austrian Copper and Lady Banks are our first roses to bloom. Lady banks is a tiny rose.
Despite hard frosts, and high winds, Rio Samba managed to put out one last beautifully shaped rose. Rio Samba is complementing the Phalaenopsis Orchid that hangs its blossoms over my commuter screen.
I went out before sunrise to see if the test balloon from the balloon fiesta might fly over, which would mean the mass ascension would follow. No balloons flew over today, but I discovered Mother’s Rose glowing in the pre-dawn light. Then I came out of retirement from baking and, with René’s help, made Laurie a chocolate mocha cake for her birthday.
Our yard has gone from a parched desert in the beginning of July, when we had less than 9/10 for an inch of rain for the entire first half of 2013, to a colorful jungle since we have received over 6 inches of rain since the beginning of July. I took the photos just after sunrise, before I spent the day pulling morning glories off of rose bushes and other plants, clearing paths, laying cardboard on the paths and spreading mulch on the cardboard. It’s still a jungle out there, but at least we don’t need a machete to cut our way from one end of the garden to the other.
Off Center & Not Even 