Farming in Broad Brook, CT

Farming in Broad Brook, CT

After posting last night's shot of this tractor, my son let me know that this was not actually Bolton, CT. Since he was the one driving, and I was doing the shooting, I hadn't been paying attention to where we actually were. We were in Broad Brook, CT on East St. My apologies for any confusion and for my error.

As you can see by the dust this farmer is kicking up, he was going at a pretty good clip. I'm not sure what he's doing, but maybe one of my readers can tell me.

Luna Hibiscus Seed Pod

It had just stopped raining, and I just had to go out and shoot something. So, my son and I went looking at their pretty much spent Fall garden. I was looking for water drops to shoot to try to capture the garden in a water drop. That's one thing I've never been able to accomplish. It just never works out well for me. I finally did it, but that's not the photo I decided to post tonight. It'll show up in a later post, so if you want to see it, you'll have to check my blog out often so you don't miss it.

These Luna Hibiscus seed pods were just begging to be photographed. The water drops on the leaves, and that deep purple color with the light green pods just captured my eye. It helped that the lighting was perfect for this kind of shot as well.

I hope you like it as much as I do. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Hint of Fall Color in New England

Bolton, CT

While I was on vacation in Connecticut, I realized I planned the date about 10 days too early to see the amazing foliage in New England. The weather was very good; only 1 rainy day in the 10 days I was there.

My son, Joey, and I took a day trip to Bolton. We were born and raised in CT, but we came upon this little pond in a park we'd never heard of. What a surprise! The leaves were just beginning to turn and it made for just a hint of color. There was a lot of vegetation on the pond, so we had to look for a fairly clear area when we spotted this tiny island in the pond. There were just a few reds and yellows to add a bit of color to this photo.

Let me know how you like this photo in the comments below.

Pretty Pink Flower

I haven't posted any photos of flowers lately, so I thought I'd add this one taken last May. I didn't post it before because I have no idea what kind of flower it is, unless it is a Peony of some sort. Maybe some of you might know what it is.

This flower was part of a get well bouquet sent to my daughter after her operation. I was there in CT because she couldn't be left alone and I was the only one who could get time off. Since I couldn't go outside until she was able to be out walking around, I had to shoot whatever I could find in the house. I like this composition and love this flower.

Bud

It's surprising what you can come up with when you're out walking around on your own property, or any place for that matter. All you have to do is look.

I came across this bud on a weed along the driveway at my daughter's house. I have no idea what it is; I don't even know if it's going to be a flower.

The pattern it formed is what caught my eye. Lucky for me, I had my trusty Tamron 90mm lens on my camera at the time.

For a closer look, just click on the photo. Does anyone have any idea what this is? Please let me know in your comments.

Fancy Iris

My daughter has planted some fancy Irises in one of her gardens. We've been waiting for more than 2 weeks for these to finally bloom. Unfortunately, with more than 260 varieties, I'm not able to identify the name of this one. If anyone out there knows what variety this one is, I'd sure appreciate it if you could put it in the comments.

I photographed this particular bloom because I like the way it looks with the boulder in the background. It looks like I used a Photoshop technique called Selective Color. However, I didn't have to use any Photoshop on this shot.

For a better look at this shot, just click on it and a larger version will come up.

Venusta Orchard Spider

I know not many people like to look at spiders and insects, but what amazes me are the beautiful colors. When we look at them with our eyes, all we see is a black tiny creepy crawler. As you can see by looking closely with a macro lens the colors are amazing.

I am especially proud of this shot. I've been trying to capture one of these spiders for over ten years. The Florida sun is too strong and these cunning little spiders (less than 1/4 inch) seem to always build their webs in the sunlight. I had to come to CT to find one that was not in the bright sun. I still want to capture one in Florida because I can't stand it if I can't do something, but I'm happy with this one for now.

Eastern Tent Caterpillar Moth

The Eastern Tent Caterpillar Moth is in the Lasiocampidae family and it's Scientific name is: Malacosoma americanum.

This moth was on the window that leads to the deck at my daughter's house in Brooklyn, CT. It was great because I was able to photograph him from the back, then the front, and then a macro of his face. How lucky is that? You just don't get this lucky when photographing nature--especially bugs and butterflies.

I love photographing bugs, butterflies, and moths. Their faces are so interesting. Just check out the closeup here. He reminds me of ZZ Top with the dark eyes that look like he's wearing sunglasses and the long beard. What do you all think?

Petunia

While in CT, I stayed at my son and daughter-in-law's house. I just love it there. Their yard is like a park. Donna loves flowers and her home and yard show it.

This is only one of the many varieties of Petunias she has planted. I love the delicate petals and the soft color of this variety.

Donna is smart enough to plan her gardens to get the most of every one of them. She plants early Spring bloomers, Summer bloomers and Fall bloomers so she can enjoy them through the 3 seasons. During the Winter, she has fine art flower paintings in every room. It makes for a cheery atmosphere. No wonder I like it there so much.

New Pine Cones Macro

You've all probably wondered where I've been in the last few weeks. I've been traveling a lot, visiting my kids and grandkids. Last week, I went to Connecticut to celebrate my son's 50th birthday.

My son didn't want to have a birthday party, but he wanted to get all the siblings together and have a huge reunion. My sisters and brothers, Joe's wife, Donna's, sister and brothers, and Joe's sisters and brother were all invited. It was a great party, and it was awesome to have all my siblings in one place at the same time. My youngest brother was born after I was married, so unless there was a funeral, we were never together. All my siblings still live in Connecticut, where we grew up except for me. My daughter-in-law took a photo of the five of us. It's the first time we've ever had a photo of all of us taken. My brother didn't really want to take the photo, but I insisted stating that at our ages, (40's, 50's & 60's) anything could happen. He finally relented and I'm thrilled to have this photo.

While I was walking around in Joe and Donna's yard, which is more like a botanical gardens, with all their little garden areas and it's perfect grooming, I came across this low branch on a pine tree where the little pine cones are just starting to grow. I couldn't resist a macro shot of it. Being so short (5'0"), I rarely get to see something like this.

Winter Wonderland

Well I just got back from a 3,000 mile road trip up north to see my kids and grandkids and SNOW.

I got my wish on the snow, that's for sure. This image was taken in S. Windsor, CT from my son and daughter-in-law's home. As you can see, there's plenty of snow.

Since I hadn't taken any photos of snow in many, many years, I had to play to get the exposures correct. It's just like riding a bike, though. Once I took a few shots everything came back to me, including how cold it is.

I wondered what possessed me to go up north this time of year. Oh yeah, I know; I missed my kids and grandchildren. In addition, I got to see my brothers who, we figured it had been 16 years since we saw one another. My visit was wonderful and I really enjoyed seeing everyone and the snow.

I'll be posting more images from up north very soon, so check often.