Not all is politics and work here in the land of beer and cheese. The storm windows are down and stored, the screens are up, the house is open and the sun is shining. Spring has come, and it's time to celebrate it.
Crocuses are among the first flowers of spring, but most of them are gone by now. Now is the time for the daffodils:
I got lucky with that bumblebee. I waited and tried to get him in another shot, but he wouldn't cooperate.
Along with the daffodils are the
chionodoxa. They're great small flowers that self-seed and spread into a big mat:
Scilla or Squill are another small bulb that naturalizes well, and is forming mats in our backyard:
One of my best investments was my 100mm macro lens. Many of the pictures I'm showing here were taken with that. It's a beast, and it's slow to focus, but it's a lot of fun!
Especially when you start looking at the wildflowers, like the violets:
Or trout lilies:
We've also got a lot of bloodroot growing in the wilder places.
And the bleeding hearts are just about ready to flower.
Of course, no backyard would be complete without an occasional spawn of dinosaur visitor
This photo is a great example of what's called chromatic aberration. Notice the colored lines around the woodpecker? It's hard to design a lens that doesn't give this effect. Or, I should say, it's hard for me to afford a lens that doesn't do this!
Finally, you can never make everyone happy. Someone was giving me a good scolding during my shooting.
Meantime, someone inside wanted to get out to have a word or two with the scolder. A pootie can dream, can't she?
Thanks for viewing!