Tag: Flowers

Candy Stripe Peony Bud

This isn’t actually a striped peony, it just has those darker pink lines on the outer petals just before it opens and it makes me think of peppermint candy. Sadly, these are already done for the season. It seems like the day they bloomed or just started blooming is when we got hit by storms and it beat the hell out these before I really got a chance to get some pictures.

I’ll have daylilies soon, though. I already have a couple that have opened, but haven’t been able to get any pictures because it was raining yesterday.

Stop And Smell The Roses

I had fully intended to post a book review after I finished painting today, but I’m done in. I am so not nearly as young or as in shape as I used to be and all that climbing and crawling and pretzel twisting kicked my old ass. I’m just gonna give you some flowers instead then find the least movement inducing thing I can until tomorrow.

The bathroom looks killer, by the way. I wasn’t sure how good it would be with her already rather vibrant room, but it actually works. Besides, she loves it, so that is all that really matters.

Painting Day

I’m finally getting around to doing something I promised BG a year ago or more. Painting her bathroom. I am so not looking forward to it because it is a small space with not a whole lot of solid wall. That means there is going to be a crap ton of up and down on the step ladder, crawling around on the floor, hugging a toilet and basically bending myself into a pretzel to get it done because it is almost all edges, hence the nearly a year to get around to doing what I said I would.

Hopefully I wont kill myself in the process and can actually get to writing that book review I need to do. So far, this summer has been a series of stuff to do and interruptions and sickies and weird, random allergy outbreaks on both BG’s part and mine. I am ready for things to get to some semblance of a normal summer routine, but I have a feeling that isn’t going to happen this year.

Original for the above manipulated image:

Cherry Blossoms
Cherry Blossoms

New Pretties!

I wanted more variety in my plants and flowers so I have more options for pictures. I also have an area we are working on trying to fill, but it stays super wet all the time and our options are really limited. I only managed to find some hostas I wanted and none of the other plants I was looking for, probably because we aren’t in the right season for some of them. I did find this pretty flower that I plan on putting in one of my beds. I’ve seen purple balloon flowers before, but never a pink one, so I was really excited about this. Sadly, this means I have to actually get out in the yard and dig. At least I’ll get some pretty out of it.

More Playing

I wanted to play again just to see if I could do another one that came out as cool as the first. I’m wondering if that first was a fluke or just the perfect image for what I did, because I haven’t been able to get another one to look nearly as good. I still prefer doing basic color adjustments like going with a desaturated look or to black and white. This one is more along the lines of the desaturated, but also with a sepia filter.

Here is the original.

Purple & Cream Iris
Purple & Cream Iris

Manipulated Rusty Iris

Normally I don’t touch my photos with the exception of a little adjustments on color or lighting if the image I take doesn’t come out quite on par with what I saw or a little cropping. Every once in a while, I’ll make one black and white or even just reduce the color saturation. Overall, though, I just don’t mess with them as I’m not a huge fan of artistic manipulations. Some are really cool, but it isn’t what I personally want out of my images.

That said, I felt like playing. The result is by no means super amazing, but I did think it was interesting. I love the grainy look and feel of really old photos as well as their sepia tones and this kind of has a similar feel. Like I said, this was just for fun and it came out interesting.

Here is the original.

Rain Kissed Rusty Iris
Rain Kissed Rusty Iris

Pale Purple Iris

My Iris are almost done for the year. I’m lucky I was able to get the photos I did as the rain and wind did a number on them. I had one dark purple Iris that was blooming for a day that I managed to get a picture of that day and it was on the ground by the following morning after a storm. I’ll have Lilies soon, but I don’t have nearly enough flowering plants in my yard. That may have to change this summer.