Weekly Photo 23 & 24 / 52 for 2013: Anigozanthos & Photo Bomb

My posts might not look like I’m keeping up with my weekly photo project, but I have been taking the pictures. Our daughter has been borrowing my camera and I’m often left with a dead battery when I want to upload my photos for the week and then I forget to go back and get the charged battery until I want to take more pictures the next week. This photo is of the plant right beneath my kitchen window. The Bush Nugget Kangaroo Paw sounds so exotic, doesn’t it? I also just found out besides the lavender and rosemary we have growing in the yard, we also have a bed of chamomile right there at the base of this plant too.

As I said, our daughter has been on a photo shooting kick. This includes both taking them and posing for them in her various cosplay outfits. The last day of school she came up with an idea for a project she wanted to do this summer, and tried to fit it all in that afternoon. Well, at least the photo portion of it. The dog was quite amused by this and wondered why SHE wasn’t the star of the show as usual. Nothing like having the dog pull off a photo bomb, complete with the self-satisfied grin. She knew EXACTLY what she was doing.

Weekly Photo 21 & 22 / 52 for 2013: Agacanthus & Star of India

Being sick doesn’t make it easier to stay on top of thing like my weekly photo posts. I feel like I’ve been sick since February, but it may really be last Thanksgiving. I’m tired of coughing and no, I didn’t really want to research consumption first hand or even anything remotely like it. That said, it’s been good to take short breaks outside and enjoy the sunshine. Our yard is a giant kaleidoscope of color and the wheel keeps turning through the seasons. These flowers seem a bit early this year, as I think of them as 4th of July flowers but that might just be their resemblance to fireworks.

This weekend, DD and I went down to Seaport Village and spent the day there with some of her friends. I sat on the edge of the group, not really part of it, but available if needed, and did a bunch of brainstormy type things for my writing. I took my camera with me, but since we weren’t in the part I had thought we were going to, I didn’t really see much I wanted to capture. By the time we left, I was sunburned, tired and a bit cranky, but as we pulled around by the embarcadero, we passed the Star of India and got stuck at the light by it through two cycles. Yup! I pretended I was a tourist and whipped out my camera right there! At least there are some shots I can use with Regency Posts later on as well. =)

Weekly Photo 20/52 for 2013: Little Bird

Today’s weekly photo post continues the urban wildlife theme. We have a variety of birds that visit our back yard. Humming birds, some little yellow songbirds, a pair of hawks and we can hear an owl nearby at night.

I’m not sure exactly what type this little guy is, but I think he may be a junco? The ones we have love sitting on things that poke up. Like the chairs, the sprinkler heads, the head for the half-barrel fountain. Sometimes they sit in nearby trees or on the roof lines. But this little guy was happily sitting on one of the patio chairs when the dog decided he was invading HER space and told him off in no uncertain terms.

Settings: Sony A33-SLT • 1/500 • ƒ/5.6 • ISO 1000 • 300 mm

Weekly Photo 18 & 19 / 52 for 2013: Happy Dog & Rose

I got behind on posting my weekly photo last week, so you get a double dose again today. The kids are amazed that Olivia is quite comfortable laying this way. Of course, this dog lays in all sorts of ways I wouldn’t think were comfortable either. One of her favorites is upside down on her back on the hard tile. It’s cooler I guess.

We have a line of roses that runs across the hill behind our pool. I don’t think two of the varieties are the same and there are probably a dozen bushes along the row. Some are very dark, but I always seem to miss their peak blooms. Most of the others have variegated blooms and the colors range there from pale pink to almost a cantaloupe color to dark pink. Again, I’ve missed the peak of the blooms, but found this one interesting in how the edges of the petals contrasted with the rest of the bloom.

Weekly Photo 14/52 for 2013: Birthday Bouquet

Today’s weekly photo post prolongs my birthday celebration from Wednesday. These are the Peruvian lillies my mom sent and DH’s family also sent flowers too so even inside our house looks like Spring now! Hopefully everyone is starting to enjoy a little Spring in their corner of the world, well except for those of you in Australia or New Zealand and other areas south of the equator… time to snuggle up for some Autumn coziness!

If you’re curious about some trivia from my birthday, check out this post from 5 years ago where I did a Thursday Thirteen round-up of things that happened on April 3, 1968. And yeah… now you know exactly how old I am. And some days I feel it, plus a couple decades. =)

Thanks to everyone who sent me Happy Birthday wishes from all over the internet, they were greatly appreciated!

Weekly Photo 13/52 for 2013

I missed posting Sunday’s weekly photo, but I did take pictures last week! I didn’t like the way most of the ones of the white flowers came out, too over-exposed. I’ll have to find a better time of day for those. I’m still not happy with my candid shots of people.

Anyway, I hope everyone that celebrates had a great Easter Weekend. If you don’t celebrate, then I hope your weekend was fantastic too!

I couldn’t decide which Easter bunny I liked better, so you get both! The dog definitely found the “SPROING” noise that the ears made when squeezed on that red dot very interesting. That’s why she’s jumping up to grab the ears from off my daughter’s head. Olivia did sit still to pose with them for a bit, but only if someone sat with her to distract her from trying to paw that thing off her head.

Settings: Sony A33-SLT • Oops, I don’t have this handy since I combined the two into one.

Weekly Photo 12/52 for 2013: Iceplant

Today’s weekly photo post could be considered cruel and unusual punishment for those of you stuck in winter mode. Here, spring has definitely sprung and the hills are green (this is usually seen as a bad thing here because by fall it will make abundant tinder for raging wildfires) and the flowers and trees are blooming. From the amount of pollen on our cars, I’d think we were back in Austin, TX. I’ve never seen it so thick here. I got to watch a stand of pines dump pollen on a couple of students walking beneath them the other day. A good strong breeze caught the trees and it looked like someone had taken a huge bottle of yellow talcum power and dumped on them.

The iceplant pictured here is a succulent that’s used for sunny hillsides and in some of the medians on the streets. Once it gets in full bloom, like phlox, it looks like someone came along with a bucket of bright magenta paint and stood and swung it. Apparently, it also spreads to cover the area really well and can be quite invasive as well. Good thing it’s pretty.

Settings: Sony A33-SLT • 1/100 • ƒ/5.6 • ISO 100 • 35 mm

Weekly Photo 11/52 for 2013: Flowering Hedge

Today’s weekly photo post is NOT a daisy! Spring is starting to burgeon here in full force. It’s been in the low 80s this week and the flowers are loving it.

This also means that it’s warmer at night and that means foggy mornings. I was going to grab a shot of the sun coming over the hills this morning, but I got sidetracked and by the time I remembered I had been going to grab my camera, the effect I was looking at had gone.

Timing is everything. Ok, maybe not EVERYTHING, but certainly a huge chunk of getting some of those great shots! The other day I was coming back from school and a plane flew between me and the summit and the way the sun flashed off it was very cool, but of course, the plane veered off and I didn’t have my camera with me, let alone turned on and ready.

Settings: Sony A33-SLT • 1/100 • ƒ/5.6 • ISO 250 • 55 mm

Social Media: Where You’ll Find Me

This week my accountability group’s How I Write series asks, “Which social media platforms do you do? Which do you prefer and why?”

I’m not an extrovert by any means, but I can almost pretend to be one on the internet for short periods of time. I do have a tendency to lurk, but I have met some great people through various online social media networks that I wouldn’t have gotten to know otherwise.

I think the most important thing when trying one out is whether you like the atmosphere and the people you connect with. Surround yourself with positive people, people who inspire you, make you laugh. While it’s important to find “your tribe”, it’s also important to look beyond it to escape the filter bubble

Daily Social Media

Twitter

Likes: In and out quickly. The instant information when something happens. The cocktail party atmosphere. How approachable most people are.
Dislikes: 140 characters. Straight web interface. Impending death of Tweetdeck — I need to find a replacement.

Facebook

Likes: Games. Groups, ability to find people you’ve lost touch with. More than 140 characters. Ability to filter what updates you get from some people.
Dislikes: Games. Privacy issues. Repeated sharing of hoaxes or just plain misinformation.

Frequent Social Media

Flickr

Likes: Online photo sharing and organization. Groups if I want to read them. Random pic(k)s!
Dislikes: I always forget to check the groups. Some of the organization tools are a little clunky.

GoodReads

Likes: Finding new books from my friends! Tracking what I’ve read.
Dislikes: I tend to lurk on groups, not sure why.

Likes: Ooooooh, shiny! Lots of neat stuff out there.
Dislikes: Ooooooh, shiny!

Forgotten Social Media

Google+

Likes: Ability to do hangouts. Clean appearance. Communities seem like a good idea.
Dislikes: Circles aren’t necessarily intuitive to set up and use. Is it just me or is it still VERY quiet?

StumbleUpon

Likes: Easy to find cool new things! Great way to help spread the word about cool things on the net.
Dislikes: Remembering to use it! (Yeah, I never got into digg either.)

Spotify/last.fm

Likes: I like listening to new music. I like listening to old music.
Dislikes: Remembering to open up something other than iTunes, heck I even forget that some days.

Tumblr

Likes: Umm… I never really got into it. My kids use it and love it though. I like looking at other people’s when they’re linked from twitter.
Dislikes: Remembering it’s there?

I’m sure there are several others I’ve forgotten I signed up for. You’ve also probably noticed that LinkedIn isn’t on the list. I’ve gotten numerous invitations (Haven’t we all?), but don’t feel like I have time or really a good reason to be there. (I’m happy to listen to reasons why I’m wrong though.) I also currently use YouTube and IMDB, but I don’t post or comment on either of them.

I do also use NetworkedBlogs, Technorati, Gravatar, WordPress, and Blogger (for commenting on other blogs), but those are much more passive than the platforms listed above.

YOUR TURN: Which social media platforms do you do? Which do you prefer and why?

And if you’d like to check out the rest of my accountability group, you can find their blogs here:
• Alexia Reed • Kimberly Farris • Danie Ford • Emma G. Delaney • Susan Saxx •

Weekly Photo 10/52 for 2013: Purple Daisy 2

Today’s weekly photo post is another of the purple daisies from our front steps. The photo didn’t quite come out how I wanted it to. The flower itself looked as if it were purple in the center and white on the tips of the petals.

I should have gone back inside to grab my Sony, but we were heading out to the dog park with Olivia. Didn’t think to take pictures over there either.

It was rainy here last week, so we should be getting some more variety in what’s blooming soon as the temps this week are expected back in the upper 70s if not 80s.

Settings: iPhone 4S • 1/120 • ƒ/2.4 • ISO 50 • 4.3 mm