Wednesday, 4 March 2020
This moss is shaded much of the growing season, so it’s getting a jump on its 2020 progress now that it’s warm enough.
Tricked once again: this is winter jasmine, not forsythia. With a holly-leaf background. Did you know there are twelve holly species native to Georgia? I read that somewhere…oh, in Athens at the BotGarden.
Tuesday, 3 March 2020
I was antsy and left the house shortly after the rain stopped; that’s why it was still flowing in the gutters.
The rain brought down a good crop of camellias under this bush/tree.
Loving a new sighting of purple crocuses; lovely color.
Monday, 2 March 2020
Early on, sunlight appeared, colorfully.
Then, things became grey and overcast. Never seen this stockinged grey cat before, yet he appeared today in my regular activity area. I heard his bell first. Tag indicates he’s named Hugo. More of a mule name than a cat name, but still okay.
We must be due for rain; this birdbath (previously featured in this space, I admit), was totally dry. By an hour later: rainfall arrived…and is supposed to continue off and on until sometimes Thursday. Sigh.
Oh, the title…I realized as I walked that I was hearing more birdcalls, more calls and more species…even the one I call the Rarebit Bird, because the call sounded like that to me when I noticed it and I was, I dunno, four big years old…and still sounds to me like “Rarebit.” I did identify the species a time or two, then forgot each time, but I need to do so again.
And the bees part…I walked around a corner and could smell smoke, not dominant like a house fire, but more ephemeral, as from a fireplace. But the odor was a bit off for firewood, although I cannot describe it. I looked high for a white wisp; nope, but a movement caught my eye. A man stood on a nearby porch wearing a funny outfit, with a strange and lively box at his feet. I looked closer. A man in a protective suit with a bee-box…and on the opposite corner of the porch: a bee smoker. It all fell into place.
Sunday, 1 March 2020
I didn’t even try to portrait these apple blossoms; too irregular.
This bloom, however, is perfect: round. I don’t know what it is called; I’m calling pretty purple not-poppy.
Tried to portrait this decorative cabbage. Nope. I guess the flopping leaves sufficiently de-round it and the algorithm rejects it as a face.
People okay. Pets okay—cats anyway. I have it from a roving reported that goat-faces are not accepted for portraitizing, although I have not yet performed that particular experiment.
Saturday, 29 February 2020
While out for my walk, I experimented with portrait mode on flowers again.
Also shot old school.
Night light fun: computational photo. I’m pretty sure the metal steps are painted black. The red came from fancy-SUV taillights, but the blue is a mystery to me.
Before I walked, I encountered a quote from Autumn de Wilde, director of the very recently released movie “Emma,” Jane Austin retold. She told the New Yorker/Sarah Larson that for the decor of Emma’s home: “I wanted it to be like a pastry shop. I told my departments, ‘The colors need to feel edible.'” I wondered what the most edible colors are. She went, the article says with a pink and green combo. Hmm. Depends on the food, but the flower and the lichen-on-brick seem to offer workable shades—the staircase not so much.
Friday, 28 February 2020
I’m hypothesizing that because today was rather gloomy (despite several shy outbreaks of sunshine), I was drawn to hyper-colorful visuals.
Chocolate bunny display at Tar-zhay.
Wee blue flowers (ground cover?) I can’t remember.
Camellia. Portraited.
Thursday, 27 February 2020
Bark. Crepe myrtle, I think (wait! I know this! Spacey brain right at the moment). Rotated 90° because I thought it would look better in this presentation; maybe it just looks strange.
Nandina berries, portrait mode.
Daffy trio, portraited. [Tentatively voting for making “portrait” a verb.]
Wednesday, 26 February 2020
I experimented with portrait mode today, using flowers as subjects. And a bee.
Twins.
Ruby camellia. Didn’t work as well with the nearby vegetation.
This one didn’t work either, with the wood-chip background so close, but you get an idea what the programming is optimized to do. Ugly, and I’m a fan of evergreens.
Monday, 24 February 2020
Wet wet and more rain. In January we got almost twice as much rainfall as the historic average. I’m guessing similar excess in February, but can’t find this month’s data…. Puddles reformed and drained several times today.
I’m still collecting the water when I wait for the hot water to get to the shower head, every time. I started this when we had a serious drought, was it fifteen years ago? No drought now!
