utenzi

Happy almost Easter. These are some flowers I sent my Mom. Her birthday is in just a couple of days so it was a bouquet that did double duty. My trip south was mostly uneventful but I arrived to my parents' house with one of my tires almost flat. There was a place in NC, maybe 30 miles east of Charlotte where I saw nearly 20 cars on the sides of the road with their blinkers on. At the time I though there might have been something spilled on the road that caused flats---but I didn't see anything. Maybe there was something there after all.

Kinda makes you think of show tunes, huh? But that's not the subject here. Roses, like the one over there on the left, are just the starting point. And no, whiskers on kittens isn't the next point. Get your mind off that song! This rose adorns a bush that is growing on the side of my backyard shed. I took the picture the evening I'd gotten so wet and dirty while hiking. Since I was already soaked, I didn't mind wading through the wet grass to take pictures of wet flowers. They're so much prettier when they have drops of water on them. These might be going a little too far though. Since it was still raining when I took the pictures, there were raindrops all over and maybe the effect was a little too pronounced. Raindrops might be one of those things best left as an accent not the main course. This next picture was taken just a foot or so away from the rose. While I think the flower portion is pretty with its faint blue or purplish color, this weed is vicious. Admitte

I've been barraged lately by Email ads for Mother's Day gifts. ProFlowers is the worst culprit. They've been sending me at least 2 Emails a day for the past few days and a couple a week for the month leading up to now. *whew* And in a weak moment I eventually succumbed and bought this. 16 pink tulips and 16 blue iris in a clear glass vase. Kinda pretty if you like that sorta thing. I wonder if Judy ever used Internet florists? She's rather hooked into the local shops due to working in the industry for a few decades. Before that she was a cytotechnologist, if I recall correctly. Anyway, pink and purple are colors that my Mom likes so hopefully she'll forgive me not making a house call this coming Sunday. I can't get out of work on either Friday or Monday and I hate driving that far for just a day or so. And besides, my parents are going to be in Atlanta on Sunday anyway so it'd be a very short visit. And speaking of House calls, what do you think of recent

I came across this Cowboy Act a couple of weeks ago at Sarah Duke Gardens. The bug was on a cluster of flowers well off the path so I held out my camera, all zoomed out, and hit the shutter a few times and hoped for the best. I was amazed to find that I actually had a shot with a fairly good focus on the bug. To me, this picture reminds me of the album cover of some 80s hair band. Or maybe something that Meatloaf would have liked to have on one of his covers. LOL Ride 'em Cowbug!

This morning Ren and I went to the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh, just off of the NC State campus. While it's a bit early in Spring for a lot of the flora to be really pretty, there's still plenty there to take pictures of--and I did just that. I think the tree below is called a Carolina Silverbell. It's very pretty. I like the purity of the white and the innocent look of the bell shape. Reminds me of Lilies of the Valley, one of my favorite shade plants. I don't have any shade at all at my house--and I'm a bit far south anyway--so I can't grow Lily of the Valley. Shame, huh? I really like the exotic look of "hairy" trunked palms and I took a few pictures of this one trying to get something I could put on my laptop at work. I don't think any of the 4 pictures I took will work but this one is kinda interesting. Nice green fronds and a good view of the trunk.