Monday, August 31, 2009

Rag Rug

New rag rug for our kitchen. See how well it matches the tile? Thanks, Linda!

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Beautiful!

And about as close as I dare get, with all the bees, wasps and hornets flying around.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Late Summer Bees

The bees are all over everything in my garden.

See how this one is balancing on one leg?

I read in the paper last week how important late flowering plants are to the bees.

How they use the honey they're gathering now to sustain them through the winter.

I'm glad to know I'm doing my part to help the bees.

Heaven knows, they've provided me with hours of entertainment this summer.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Photoshop

I got Photoshop Elements for my birthday. That was over 4 months ago. I still don't know how to do even the simplest of adjustments to my photos. Since I had some time to kill tonight, I decided to see if I could "fix" this photo.

I like the composition of the shot, but I hate the way the sky is completely blown out and I don't like the way the mountains look. Everything seems a little washed out to me.
I actually tried to use layers at first. The idea is to layer a better sky over the blown out one. But what I needed was a plain sky picture (with no clouds) to really make that work, and I didn't have any. Every time I tried, using some of my skies with clouds, it made the sky look totally fake and obviously Photoshopped in. So two hours (and much frustration) later, this is the result. Mostly I used the PSE Auto functions to fix the color and then brightened the sky.
I do like it better. I like the colors better and the fact that you can see the mountains in the distance. But was it worth 2 hours?? Or would the time have been better spent standing in this spot and adjusting the settings on my camera until I took a better picture? I'm thinking the latter.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Fifty-six percent

The moon, just over half full.

And this shot is sort of a cheat. It's from a couple of nights ago.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

It's August, people...

August. Summer.
The weatherman is predicting temperatures in the 90's for the next couple of days.

Not September. Not Fall. Not "leaves turning red" time of the year.

Not.

Not!

NOT! NOT! NOT!
Not yet!

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Monday, August 24, 2009

Flowers, Flowers, Flowers

Hyssop

Penstemon

Keys of Heaven

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Wooden Boats

We went to the Wooden Boat Show today.
The weather was gorgeous. So were the boats.



This qualifies. [grin] It was on a wooden kayak.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Friday, August 21, 2009

Fountain Angel

I like the bright sunlight & dark shadow.

Prey

Red garden spider with hornet.

Black garden spider with moth.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Outside & Inside

And abstract all over.


Monday, August 17, 2009

Dahlia


And a strawberry pie made with strawberries from the garden. Yum!

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Another Day in the Garden

Hyssop. It's so pretty, and smells like Sprite.


Coneflowers, Blackeyed Susans, and a Gargoyle, of course.

Cosmos. (I sense a pink theme....)

Bee on Butterfly Bush. Well, that's not exactly true, is it?? It's not ON the bush. Not yet.

And finally, Blazing Stars.
I'm really going to miss all this when winter comes.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Another Rainy Night

We spent the afternoon, after the shop closed, window shopping in Sandpoint. Luckily, this held off, for the most part, until we got home. There were a few sprinkles in Sandpoint. I got drenched taking this (one) picture.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Growing in the gravel

Look at all the rogue flowers growing in and around my gravel driveway!
I don't even have any petunias this color this year.

This has to be a leftover from last year, too.

This is in front of the gargoyle planter.
This is in back.

And this alyssum is growing in the middle of my patio.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009