Rock Flowering Succulent

Hello,

As you read in the last post I have always had a lot of plants around me growing up and succulent type plants were always my favorite.  They are hardy and seem to be able to grow in places that even grass refuse to grow.  Some like cactus you shouldn't touch but when they bloom and fruit out that's all I wanted to do.  Most of the year these plants are almost boring but for that short amount of time they are like a supernova burning bright.

This one was flowering with that wonderful yellow and orange flower.  It was growing out of a rock crack on a wall that was three feet off the ground.  By the looks of things I had missed two other flowers but that meant that this third was most likely the last for this year.  It struggles, survives, and looks great doing it as well.

Thank you for looking.

Flower Sky

Hello,

In spring I was in California visiting my parents and as always I was amazed by all the flowers.  In California you can see flowers all year round all over the place.  My mom has a yard that she loves to have all kinds of plants in it.  Orchids, roses, decorative grasses, fruit trees, vegetables, flowering plants, and just about anything unusual.  This plant is growing right near my old bedroom, so at night I used to smell the lovely scent they would give off.

This photo was taken then I was just getting used my Sony A55.  I was working so hard to learn how to use it that I was taking a bunch of photos of everything.  I was under the plant looking up to get the great light and color that was there at the time.  The pink and white of the flowers with the green of the leafs make a wonderful color foreground to the blue sky.  To me the little bit a cloud coming from the sky is breathtaking.

Thank you very much.

Morning Glory

Hello,

This beautiful morning glory looks more like the sun in a blue sky to me.  The blue is almost perfect for the sky color.  The yellow center with the rays stretching out is a great sun as well.  The fade from the center seems to me like when you look right at the sun then the blue sky gets darker as you look away from it. Without a single cloud, how lovely an image that is.

When I saw this on one of my walks I just had to take a picture of it.  One shot and one photo, which rarely happens to me, I normally take five pictures and maybe one is good.  There are many different colors and different people that have morning glories around me that I see a different one almost every time I take a walk.

Thank you for looking

Zenkoji Cat

Hello,

This cat loves to be touched and to be in the way.  As you can see he loves to be touched and petted by anyone that passes by.  He loves it so much so that he lays down in the middle of the walkway so that people can see him.  I think he might be a stray but there is an elderly couple that looks after him.  He was sick for a little while so they took him to the hospital, but he is better now and getting in people's way.

This picture was taken in a warm summer day in Nagano, Japan.  Just a little bit south of Zenkoji temple at a place called Daimon or big gate.  I love to stroll in this area and take tons of photos of everything.   The grounds leading up to it are great, the shops are fun, and it has great atmosphere all around it.  I have many more photos of it so I will talk more about it later, to go with them.

Thank you for looking.

White Flower

Hello,

This picture is one of the first with my new camera that I was actually happy with.  This was taken with a Sony A55 which is my first DSLR, before I only had two bridge digital cameras and one film point and shoot.  The film one was a challenge mostly because I was in high school and was using it for school.  I loved my two bridge camera, one a Fujifilm and the other a Nikon.  Both took pictures very well and easy to boot but I could use any filters for them realistically.  I have some photos from both to upload onto this blog.

Now it comes to my current camera the Sony.  When I first unpacked the camera I was overjoyed, in my mind it was my first "Real" camera.  I could control everything but it and then I could get the pictures that were in my head.  I took a bunch of photos right off the bat and was nervous to see them.  I think that first week I took about five hundred photos, I kept two, only because I felt I had to.  It was so nerve racking to see the pictures were so bad, at first I thought is was the lens but I knew it was me.

I have been working steadily toward getting better and this beautiful flower is one of the fruit of my labor.  The sharpness in the stamen and pollen itches my nose.  The white petals folding over on themselves makes me think of a blanket.  Even the little peek of green and purple background adds a little jab of color.  I am working hard everyday to get better and I hope you all love the results.

Thank you for looking.

Cat Avatar

Hello,

I was doing some updating to Google+ and thought I should add some type of avatar for myself.  I don't have that many photos of myself so I went through some of the pictures I am going to upload.  The photo I picked was this one of a cat.  I don't own or look after this cat at all it is a stray that likes my garden.  My name for him is "Dirty Face" but that doesn't mean I don't like him though.

He is just one of three cats that like my garden.  They lay on the big stones, sunbath in the grass, and hide from the sun in the shrubs.  None of them like me at all though.  I try to feed them fish or milk, they run away.  I try to take their photos, they run away.  I talk to them, they run away, you get the idea.  I have gotten used to the idea that I can only look at them and smile.

Thank you for looking.

Farmer's Market

Hello,

Yesterday I walked to a little farmer's market in the area and had a great time.  As I was there I bought a few things that looked very good and fresh.  The red apples in the picture were from a nice old man in a stylish business suit.  The yellow apple was from a young man that came down from his apartment to sell some of his family's apples, I think.  I had more but I gave some to my elderly neighbor that I talk to regularly.  Lastly, the long onions from a little shop that sells mostly purses and backpacks for children.  They also gave me the mango looking fruit and a couple of mandarin oranges but I ate them.

After having the big haul of fruit and vegetables, I got a surprise this morning.  My elderly neighbor rang my doorbell and told me he had some daikon for me.  I was thinking he had one or two for me but he had gone to his farm and had two tons of them!  I ended up with seven big daikon with one in the refrigerator and he ended up with some of my apples.  He seems happy about the exchange and so was I.  He was so happy in fact that he gave me some more long onions as well.  I made onion fried rice with them because of how fresh they were.

Thank you for looking.

Melting Can

Hello,

Today is a picture of a can.  I know that doesn't sound like much but I love it none the less.  I noticed it about 4 months ago and thought it would be gone soon.  I didn't have my camera that day so I was a little bit upset that there wasn't a picture of it.  Two months and a few rain storms later I was passing by the ditch again and to my surprise it was still in the same place as before.  This time though I had my camera and of course I took enough pictures to feel content.  I see the hard life of something that wasn't made for it and should have been recycled long ago and it makes me happy. 

Thank you for looking.

Cosmos

Hello,

This photo is not that old but I fell in love with it the second I saw it on my computer.  The color is so striking and varied it almost feels like I used Photoshop to create the image from nothing.  The green and black background with the wonderful purple petals showing you the way to the beautiful yellow center.  For a flower on the side of the road in Japan I think it tells a great story and a happy one at that.

Thank you for looking.

California Kingfisher

Hello,

I feel I really have to start with this photo of a Kingfisher.  I took this photo about two hours before sunset as I was fishing with my father and wife.  The fishing was slow,so I got out the new camera I just purchased and started taking pictures of everything.  A week later, as I was sorting through all the photos, I saw this one I showed it to a few people and everyone liked it.  This with about ten others turned into a photo-book I got printed about the trip.  I hope you all enjoy it.