Dean's Light Box

Hippy Garden

Welcome to our hippy garden.

Most of the green in the yard there consists of clumps of the native grass.  DD's heirloom rose bush sits at the end of the patio.  But this year we went really hippy and added some raised beds with vegetables and sprinkled more wildflower seed including flax, sunflowers, penstemon and yarrow.  Totally drop by some time for a wholesome hippy meal--guaranteed to be gluten free!

Come to think of it, we're probably more yippy (fusion of yuppy and hippy) than hippy if you're willing to still consider us young.  I'll be hitting the 38th birthday next week.  And maybe this is just a justification to myself but I'm still finding that each year is more fun--I'm a tiny bit more skilled each year and seem to enjoy a little more freedom as well.  And if the birthday fairy deems my behavior over the last year satisfactory, I might just find myself the happy owner of a new Nikkor lens next Saturday!

More Outdoors

EV and I spent more time outside today and in addition to pulling the weeds out of the new grassy patch, replanting some indoor starters outside, and spreading some bark, we also enjoyed some of the existing flowers, butterflies, and other critters.

 

EV wanted to catch a grasshopper and keep it as a pet but later abandoned her efforts when the wind blew over the little container that held her new friend.  We had the talk about how the grasshopper would probably be happier outside anyway.  I think she's come to terms with the short-term pet ownership.

I've really gotten into the macro photography lately.  I enjoy the little details that you don't normally get to see.  Do you suppose that any of these are worthy of entry in the upcoming county fair?

Brasilian Winter, Summer Flowers

A week ago last Thursday, I received word that I was to travel to Sao Paulo, Brasil on the following Sunday for a quick four-days-in-the-office-and-back business trip.  As predicted, I had time only for the 11 hour work days, dinner, and then back to the hotel to call the girls and fall quickly to sleep from exhaustion.  No photos at all.  Drat.  On the bright side, winter in Sao Paulo offers incredibly comfortable temperatures, perfect for dinner at the outdoor restaurants.

The Brasilians seem to really, really like red meat, as evidenced by the seemingly endless number of churasco (Brazilian BBQ) restaurants.  I have to hand it to them, they do their form of barbecue with passion and style.  Once you turn your little red/green disc to green, you're inundated with all forms of red meat.  When you turn that little disc back over to red, it usually takes the zealous servers a few more rounds before they realize that you're really stuffed with all the red meat that you can possibly digest in the next 30 - 60 days and that they really should stop bringing more.  It might help if I spoke a tad more Portuguese.

Upon my return on the 4th, DD strongly encouraged me to bring the camera over to her folks house for the Independence day dinner to get some shots of the garden that is blooming quite nicely, thanks to our moderate, wet spring.  I rarely get any sleep on international flights for a variety of reasons, but photo opportunities and a little holiday dinner with the family kept me going. I arrived home from the airport, showered, and headed over to meet everyone for dinner. Fortunately, the clouds provided some nice light for flower shots: