As promised, and I’m sure you all can’t wait for more flower photos like the other day, (and in case you missed them and want to see them, they are here) here are the water lilies.

In this photo I was purposely not focusing on the reflection but on the lily pads themselves.

Breakfast:

Bacon corn hash from Smitten Kitchen! We had this two days in a row. Really tasty. The corn added sweetness that was kind of unexpected.

On Saturday we dragged the Booster Bath out into the driveway and gave all three dogs a much needed bath. It was not too hot and overcast so it was perfect weather for dog bathing. None of them were really excited about it but I know they feel better when they are clean, and god knows they certainly smell better than they did!

We bobbed around the pool in the afternoon after running errands (pool store, grocery, liquor store) and the weather was beautiful by then. Not too hot; not too humid with a nice breeze. The pool had cooled off by four degrees with all the rain and cooler nighttime temps of the past few days, so we didn’t swim. Dinner was a very disappointing pizza that I had remembered was better the first time we tried it. Blech!

After walking the dogs on Sunday morning we headed to the Warwick Farmers Market per usual. We needed pesto and goat cheese but came back with beautiful orange beets, a french baguette and some beef jerky too.

Instead of buying ingredients for our lunch we opted to eat the Warwick Valley Winery instead. I still had not satisfied my pizza craving, so pizza it was! And a bottle of wine of course.

When we got home we realized we had had a visitor in our absence. One of the deck flower pots was off the railing, the potted petunias laying on their sides on the deck and the bird feeder hanger was bent all to heck. A bear. Nice. My Squirrel-Buster bird feeder held up pretty well, but the bear managed to poke a few holes in the heavy duty plastic … again. The iron hanger did not fare as well. It even bent the bolt! We haven’t had any bear activity since just before my sister’s visit, so we were kind of surprised. And all the way up on our deck!

A little more pooling (we both fell asleep on our floats) and grilled tequila-jalapeno shrimp for dinner and our weekend was done! The bear, by the way, did not make a return visit.

Friday night I did something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time. I took a 3-hour photography class. Well, not really about photography, but more about how to use my camera to better advantage. The class was called “Canon EOS Discovery Days” and was all about Canon cameras and the buttons and settings.

The class was held at Unique Photo in Fairfield, NJ, about 45 minutes from my house. So, not a really local in-town event.

Imagine my utter surprise then to walk into the classroom and see my neighbor at the end of the street, Larry (remember? Larry gifted me the fig tree). We stared at each other in equal astonishment! I didn’t even know he liked photography. He on the other hand, has seen me with the camera slung around my neck walking by his house numerous times. Life can be amazing sometimes. We sat next to each other.

They gave us a gorgeous full color, slick-paged spiral-bound workbook to follow the instructor with. I have to tell you that I coveted that workbook the minute I set eyes on it at Unique’s open house a month or so ago. The book includes everything we covered complete with little workshops at the end of each chapter.

Some of the information was repetitive for me, but I did learn several things I didn’t know before that are going to be useful. It always helps to understand your camera and how it reacts to different settings and modes.

He did talk about one thing that hit home with me. In this digital age we tend to take photos and stick them on the computer or a disk somewhere and hardly ever print them out. He encouraged us all to start printing out our favorite photos and putting them in an album: one (album) for each year and fill it as we go through the year. Or print them out and frame them on the wall.

Maybe he was just trying to sell us a Canon printer (which we already purchased a month ago) but I think he just felt strongly about it. It is true though. At least for me. Although, we did print out some photos I took in San Miguel, Mexico a few years ago and hung them in the guest bath. So I guess that’s a start.

Unique also has a four course class that I plan to take as soon as they offer it again. Learning more about the hobby I love can’t be a bad thing now can it?

Coolness. Air conditioning off. Windows open.

Finally. A rainy day. A welcome relief from the dry, hot weather we’ve been experiencing.

From drops softly splashing into puddles, to drops angrily pelleting the roof.
It’s all good.

The thirsty ground greedily drinks in the welcome moisture. —slurp!—

The flowers bow under the weight of the drops, grateful to be washed clean.

Trees softly stir in the light breeze, shedding water from their leaves like a dog shaking after a bath.

Rivulets of water run down the incline of our driveway.

The gutters on the house gurgle and splash.

And I am renewed with every drop that falls.

Reflection of water lilies: Skylands Botanical Garden.

I had an intense urge to take some photographs (thinking mostly flowers here) and what better place than Skylands Botanical Gardens only ten minutes from my house?

I always enjoy going over to Skylands because I never know what I am going to see. Every season varies with different blooming cycles.

I did a lot of experimenting with aperture and shutter priority and various lenses. I’m never quite sure how they are going to turn out. Sometimes I come back with not much to show for my visit but a bunch of disappointing images. But sometimes I come back with several good images and a few surprises thrown in.

It was hot hot hot on Tuesday when I decided to go. The bullfrogs were croaking in their slime-covered pond. There were a few cicadas making noise and lots of different bird song. I heard a wood thrush (my particular favorite). And this cardinal with his equally as beautiful song was my constant companion as I made my way through the perennial beds.

I didn’t even realize he had something in his mouth until I downloaded the photo! See? A surprise! Also proof that you can still sing with your mouth (or in this case, beak) full.

The perennial beds were glorious!

But it did seem that everywhere I pointed the camera I captured bugs! See the little green bug on the flower above? More surprises. And in the photo below features a tiny bug as well.

Other creatures were also enjoying the blooms like this Snowberry Clearwing Hummingbird Moth.

And HUGE bees.

Not sure if this is some kind of monster mosquito or what, but I was really trying to get the texture of the cone of this flower. I love the honeycomb texture.

Color, color everywhere I looked!

I loved the tiger lilies!!

I went on to spend about an hour with the water lilies but those shots are for another day. I was sweating like crazy by the time I finally gave in and walked to my car. I’ll be going back again soon but maybe on a a day when the humidity and heat aren’t quite so bad!