Visiting Family...

We spent a nice long weekend visiting family that live outside of Washington DC and while there we took a day trip to Dumbarton Oaks Gardens...It turned out to be a good place for three generations to wander about...and a good place to take lots of photos...

Pink and Green...

It stopped raining long enough to get outside and take a few pictures...


The crabapple tree is in full blossom...

And the bleeding hearts are too...

There are a few late tulips still unfolding...

And the hostas are backing it all up...


...This is the only time of year that I think my yard looks really nice.

Wind Power...

For Theme Thursday I'm sharing a few pictures from an exhibit at the Children's Museum I take my grandchildren to... The tubes have air moving through them that propels any light weight item put in the tube as well as the pinwheels...It all happens too fast to get a picture!

First you put a scarf or light ball in the tube and let the flap close...

...The scarf goes flying through the tubes via air pressure...

...and shoots out the top...can you see the scarf in the air?

Evening...

...Catching up

Six Unimportant Things...

Susan of Bear Swamp Reflections tagged me to name six unimportant things that make me happy...I thought that if I'm going to do this I'll do it with photos...and in no particular order...




1...The ocean and the sound of the waves , whether gently lapping or raging surf...



2...Hot soup on a cold night...and now that I think of it, the pictured flatware found at a flea market...




3... A glass of wine in the evening...and having it on the beach at sunset doesn't hurt...




4...This tree along my local walk that looks like it is eating a no trespassing sign...

5...The smell of fresh basil...

6...And the sound of peepers in spring...

...Instead of tagging six more people I will leave it up to any visitors who would like to participate...consider yourself tagged!

Finished...

The floor is refinished, the new curtains are hung, and the furniture is back in place...

Spring ephemerals and tadpoles...

These pictures were taken during a recent walk near my home...a little swampy at this time of year...



Spring ephemerals are blooming...I think this may be a false rue anemone...



...they grow in clusters...



The beech trees have finally dropped last years leaves....


...and this year's leaves are starting to unfurl...


The skunk cabbage is bright green and completely open...

Ferns in their fiddlehead stage...


...are starting to unfurl...

...And the vernal pools are full of polliwogs...

Too Much Water...

Just in time for Theme Thursday I started filling the sink to wash dishes, then went online and forgot about the running water...

...reading blogs does get you in trouble!

Jump!...

Even if I don't actually enter them, I am still trying to do weekly photography assignments as proposed by online Digital Photography School ...It is inspiring to have a new topic to work on weekly and fun to see the many, many different submissions...from great to so-so. Sometimes the assignments are technical but this week the assignment is "Jump"....So over the weekend my daughter and her family obliged by taking a few jumps for me...

...Even Mr. O. jumped in!..

For half of the shots I had my camera on the wrong setting...and the bright overhead sun made it challenging for me to get the correct exposure... but I did learn more while doing this and everyone had fun...and that is the whole idea!

Posing with the Daffodils...

I have managed to take pictures of my grandchildren sitting amongst the daffodils in my yard every spring ...They really do not like to pose and I don't blame them...so looking at these pictures I realize how kind they were being by putting up with Gigi and her camera...Most of the shots I took by putting my camera on continuous shoot and just holding down the button... See how they have changed over the years....

Mr. J.

2006...

2007...


2008...
2009...

........


Miss E.

2008...

2009...