cee’s photo challenge

TWO BUT NOT OF A KIND IN BLACK & WHITE – Marilyn Armstrong

/ Marilyn Armstrong / 7 Comments

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Two of Anything

This time of year, I have a shortlist of things of which I take pictures.

  • Birds.
  • Squirrels.
  • Heaps of snow.
  • And occasionally, people.

That’s it. We don’t go to the falls or parks. We do very little traveling because there are crazy drivers out there and all the little parks and falls are blocked by snow. You can’t get there from here.

On the other hand, bird and squirrel watching is at its peak. Everything is hungry and we are the open banquet. I try not to think about how much it costs to buy all that birdseed. Yikes!

Two pink blossoms on the Christmas Cactus

Two hungry birds

Two!

A bit of red remaining on the Cardinal

Two chubby Doves

Two TV persons. Guess which one is the weather guy?

Cee's Black-White

BEHOLD THE PINK CACTUS FLOWERS – Marilyn Armstrong

/ Marilyn Armstrong / 10 Comments

Pink Cactus Flowers – December 1, 2019

The red cactus is still fully in bloom, but now, the pink is taking off too. I think this is the first time they have ever bloomed at the same time.

It was a fairly bright day today. Not sunny, but not dead and gray, either. The flowers bloomed yesterday, but it was such a busy day, I didn’t have time to take any pictures. I caught them today, though. I almost didn’t. I was setting up shots of old family pictures for Garry’s post.

Pink Cactus
Macro Pink
Blooming Pink
Macro Pink Cactus

I had pulled the chip and was going to the computer and then I realized the pink cactus look quite glorious, so I went back, picked up the Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark I which has the 25mm f1.8 lens on it. It’s not a macro lens, but it gets very close. I replaced the chip in the camera and took a few more pictures.

I have a macro lens, but I like to leave my cameras with a lens on it because by the time I get into sorting lenses, I’ve usually missed the shot … and you can get almost as close with the 25mm (50mm if it was a DSLR) lens and it’s two stops faster. And if I want to take any other picture, it’s the magic “do anything” lens.

You just never know what tomorrow might bring, so take your flowers today.

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! – Marilyn Armstrong, with Photos by Garry Armstrong

/ Marilyn Armstrong / 12 Comments

November 28, 2019 – Happy Thanksgiving

I couldn’t do this on Thanksgiving. The day was spent with family and chopping things for Waldorf Salad (https://wp.me/p2bT5l-1d8VE1), a roast leg of lamb, baked potatoes (which didn’t get eaten, still in the fridge), little potatoes cooked with the roast (they did get eaten), hot rolls, and green beans.

With fresh apple cider. There were apple pie and strawberry rhubarb pie for dessert — but we didn’t make it to dessert, either.


We passed along the apple pie and have been enjoying the strawberry-rhubarb pie. We sent leftovers, and today, with the last piece of lamb, I made a great little lamb curry. I have to admit, the curry is my favorite part of the lamb. All those yummy spices. Oh, and the salad went over very well.

I was too busy to take pictures, but Garry picked up the camera and here are a few. There were only four of us in the end. Sandy had to work. Healthcare workers often have to work on holidays. So do reporters, fire-fighters, police and, of course, retail workers.

Garry always worked on Thanksgiving until after we got married, but took Christmas off. Now we are both just plain OFF. All the time.

Gotta love retirement.

WHITE IS WONDERFUL BUT PLEASE, NOT YET! – Marilyn Armstrong

/ Marilyn Armstrong / 12 Comments

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: White

We know the big storm is on the way because the news has been full of it. What is funny is that they are talking about huge amounts of snow. Like … nine inches to a foot. We consider that a dusting. It doesn’t get serious until it tops 14 inches and really serious starts at about 18 inches.

I suppose that’s the difference between living in snow country and living in “sometimes it snows” country. I grew up in “sometimes it snows” (New York city and Long Island) as opposed to upstate New York which is like here. Although to be fair, we live in one of the heaviest snow areas in the country. Something about the way the snow goes up over the Worcester hills and when the ground drops away, the clouds just dump a ton of snow. Usually right on top of us. Unless the storm is coming in from the ocean, in which case Boston gets clobbered and we snicker … until the next storm.

Photo Garry Armstrong
By Garry Armstrong

CHRISTMAS CACTUS, NOVEMBER 25, 2019 — Marilyn Armstrong

/ Marilyn Armstrong / 13 Comments

Christmas Cactus — November 25, 2019

Mind you, I’m still waiting for my orchids to stop sending out shoots and start putting out buds. But — you can’t hurry a plant. You can’t force buds, at least not here in this house. So we have blooming cactus until we also having blooming orchids!

There are a lot more buds ready to pop and the first flower to open is beginning to droop. Should we get a little bit of sun one of these days, all will go better. Or so I believe.