Month: June 2015

My friend Gene Lemos, our mentor at Famous Mo’s Coffeehouse & Theater (the coffeehouse part) and president of Vaneli’s Handcrafted Coffees, also grows grapes and makes his own wine. When Gene discovered my love for Zinfandel, he presented me with a case of his own Zin. The other night, I shared a couple of bottles of it with my friends Carly and Katie who worked with us at Famous Mo’s. We all agreed it was a pretty fabulous Zin. I saved the corks.

I was experimenting with lighting and used my portable quick box soft box about 18 inches away from the subject, and my macro lens. The corks were setting on my kitchen table on a piece of black granite with a small black background propped against a lens to keep it upright. The lens was set to ISO 100, f/22, 1/60s. I took two shots, one focusing on the lettering on the bottom cork, the other focusing on the lettering on the top cork, then blended them in Photoshop.

The weather forecasters gleefully predicted well above average temperatures Monday afternoon; interesting how they get a kick out of our misery. Their prediction: triple digits; 102°, 20° above normal. By late Monday afternoon, my iPhone told me it was 102°and I noticed the hummers were chasing the other birds away from “their” fountain but not bathing in it. Then I noticed the male perched above the fountain and he appeared to be panting; I guess breathing with their beaks open is a way for them to cool off. I noticed the bubble in the fountain was not as vigorous as usual so I got the hose and sprayed a stream of water into the fountain. The female hummer was very interested in the stream of water and hovered over and under it but not exactly in it. I frivolously sprayed a bit of extra water into the trees to cool the hummers and I expect the water police to knock on my door at any minute. When I turned off the hose, I noticed the female bathing in the fountain but by the time I returned with my camera, she’d finished her bath and was drying off, beak open like the male’s.

Here are three shots of the hummers as they try to cool off in the triple digit heat. The first is the male. The next two are of the female, one with her long hollow tongue protruding from her beak.

When I was a kid, I had a 78 RPM record called “Little Orley, His Adventures As A Cabbage Worm” as told by Uncle Lumpy with Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians! What I remember about that record was the thunderous voice from above saying, “Little Orley, BE a cabbage worm.” And he was. The only other thing I remember about that record is Little Orley narrowly missing being sliced into a coleslaw and being covered in mayonnaise. I don’t remember how he got out of his predicament. Sunday afternoon, as I chased a Cabbage White butterfly around the yard, I remembered Little Orley’s adventure and thought it was interesting that this Cabbage White preferred herbs to cabbage. However, since I’m not growing cabbage, herbs are just another type of culinary fodder, I suppose. In the first shot, “Orley” is feeding on an oregano flower; in the second, on lavender.

The California Foundation for Birds of Prey Open House was three weeks ago and I’m just now going through the photos to decide which to include in the CFBP newsletter. I already posted my favorite shots from the event click here and here, and here. On further review, I have discovered a few more that I like.

A red tail hawk waits for its handler while a group of attendees walked warily behind this bird on a tour of the facilities. I crouched down low to get this shot and the hawk doesn’t seem particularly pleased. It’s a good thing its jesses are tied.

Bob the Screech Owl, retired at 18 years a couple of years ago but he was brought out of retirement for the event because Ozzie, his replacement, stayed home. Since Bob lives at CFBP headquarters, he was enlisted to be on display and he doesn’t look too pleased at being recruited.

Finally, a baby hybrid falcon hybrid, only a few weeks old, is being fed with chopsticks but he looks a bit offended at what was being offered to him. I didn’t see him take a single bite.

No hotel here, just a photo of a plain, not especially exotic, marigold that I planted among my tomatoes to ward off evil spirits, or whatever they’re supposed to do for tomatoes. This one looked especially nice, if not particularly exotic, and I love its reddish mahogany color.

I’ve never tasted blueberries picked only a few hours before so I’ve never experienced the luscious flavor of a fresh ripe blueberry. . .until yesterday that is. Yesterday, Granny May’s Strawberry Stand a few blocks from my house offered something new. Blueberries! Yum. How can I ever go back to the overpriced, flavorless, “picked when green,” blueberries available in the markets these days? Yes, something to look forward to and to savor. Blueberry season is short.

It’s been a few years since I’ve grown tomatoes. When I bought my tomato plants several weeks ago, I knew the varieties I wanted to plant: Sweet 100, Patio, Brandywine, Brandyboy, and Dona. Dona is an early variety that I discovered was more flavorful than Early Girl but was not available the day I shopped so I bought and planted Juliet instead. Juliet is another variety I’d tried in the past, a Roma-like tomato, oblong and flavorful.

I’m enjoying my new garden but I’ve had my share of “tomato drama” this week. I’d inspected all the plants Saturday and I’d even tied up some branches a few days before that; I thought everything was fine. I did consider cutting up a pair of pantyhose to use for support, something I learned from Martha Stewart 25 years ago, but didn’t get around to it. I was shocked when I looked out Sunday morning to see three of my five tomato plants crumpled over from their weight. When I flew outside to check on them, I saw that several of the main branches on each were snapped or cracked. I spent several hours Sunday morning trying to repair the damage and pruning off lots of broken stems and tossing tomato flowers that had broken off. I finally cut up the pantyhose but I decided I still needed tomato cages despite the trellis. I used the three I had and added a few support stakes to help keep the tomato plants upright.

All is well now and the tomatoes seem to be thriving and growing. The ambrosia melon is already putting out tendrils so I suspect it will enjoy using the trellis for its intended purpose. Wednesday afternoon when I looked closely at the tomatoes, there, tucked deep under the leaves near the bottom, was a cluster of three Juliet tomatoes. They were probably tiny and pea sized on Sunday when I was untangling the snarl of branches and leaves and flowers so I didn’t notice them. Wednesday, they were the size of large marbles. Juliet has proven to be the “early girl” of this bunch.

I took the shot using my macro lens and stacked several together to get more of the fruit in focus. What fascinates me about macro photography is that I always discover things I didn’t notice with the naked eye. In this shot, the tomatoes themselves are covered in fine hairs. I always knew that the tomato plants were covered with fine hairs but I wasn’t aware that the tomatoes (at least the Juliet variety) themselves are, too!

I’ve been so busy lately I haven’t had much time to take the kinds of photographs I want to take; i.e., birds in flight. There haven’t been many birds in my yard lately and those that are there seem extremely wary. I guess they all have nests or young and want to be as inconspicuous as possible. Even the raucous scrub jays are hiding. I waited out a wary hummer late Tuesday afternoon. I sat with my long lens and he watched from various high perches, buzzed down near a feeder (there are now three) and finally came down to drink briefly. I am out of practice. I took forty shots in 36 seconds as the hummer drank from one of the feeders. Out of the forty, none of the flight shots was in focus and only a few of those while he was perched feeding are acceptable. Now that my life is settling down a little for a while, I should have more time to practice my ongoing, but mostly elusive, goal of photographing birds in flight that are in focus.

In 1960, my Mom won a first place ribbon at the Sonoma County Fair for her handwoven fine linen tablecloth. We ate many special family meals on this tablecloth and I now own it, although I don’t entertain using fine linen so it is unlikely to ever be used again…except as a photography prop or background. I discovered there are a few wine stains and oil spots that have accumulated in the fifty-five years that have passed since she wove it. The closeup shot reveals that the tiny gold wrapped linen threads accenting the piece are starting to lose their sheen but I decided to celebrate with a macro photograph of it today because we have accepted an offer on her house and, perhaps just as important, have found a new owner for her maple floor loom.

The scent of lavender is known for its soothing, relaxing qualities. The lavender in my garden is in full bloom now and when I looked at it this afternoon, after pouring myself a glass of Zinfandel, I can really appreciate the qualities it lends to my garden, especially today. After sitting as “Juror #3” for most of the day and inexplicably being thanked for my jury service and dismissed after 5 hours when I was convinced I was going to be seated on the jury, I was grateful for my soothing, relaxing garden, and, of course, my glass of Zinfandel. The composition was actually inspired by my friend Melinda’s Kansas Wheat post today. As I looked through the viewfinder at the lavender it reminded me of her stalks of wheat.