We had exceptionally warm weather on Sunday, and so we traveled with the traffic to the top of the New Jersey shore to a wonderful beach called Sandy Hook. More Sandy Hook photos coming on Thursday, as part of Sky Watch.
Have you ever been to the Jersey Shore? Where did you go?
For more watery posts, visit Watery Wednesday:
I appreciate grape hyacinths, small cone-like flowers that grow from fall-planted bulbs, more now that I have whole bunches of them popping up in front of my home.
The grape hyancinths go nicely with the creeping phlox blooming in patches of my front yard.
For more flowers, visit Today’s Flowers:
The Rebbetzin’s Husband has a radiant Haveil Havalim, the blog carnival of the Jewish blogosphere, posted. I thank him for including my Windows of Jerusalem post, which has a detail of the above photo. And for connecting my post to Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day, which is at the end of this month of Iyar.
Klara correctly identified the building on Agron Road as the U.S. Consulate:
On Agron Street there is a U.S. consulate building, not THE Embassy, but definitely has an American flag there. I have to agree with Batya that the building (stone) and the windows (and trissim, shutters) are common in many older buildings.
I was about to go to sleep for the night when I decided to click on Google Reader and visit Robin’s blog. What? Mary has a new meme? I must check this out! It’s called Window Views. This is my first entry.
Two points to anyone who can tell me the name of the street in Jerusalem where this photo was taken. Five points if you can name the building (I can’t do either, but I’m guessing both are important- busy street, U.S. related building).
Michelle at Rambling Woods writes:
I am going to challenge myself and hopefully you to take a look at nature. What is going on in your area? Is it spring in your part of the world or are you heading into cold weather. Take a little walk….. look at something you might never had paid attention to..a flower…a plant..an animal…What changes are taking place?..Is your garden starting to come to life again?..Step outside and close your eyes. What do you hear? …take a deep breath…What do you smell?
I’d really like to know how my blogger friends feel about what they observe in nature. Post a photo..a poem..artwork or a even few words about what you see and how it made you feel…
Focusing on trees that are changing in the spring, here’s a photo of a cherry blossom on my neighbor’s tree. I love the green, yellow and blue that I achieved in the background of this photo.
Another photo of a cherry blossom is presented.
My little bald cypress tree is growing and thriving. The leaves are now green, but last fall they had a bright orange brown hue (bald cypress is the tree in foreground):
You may recall that I initially thought this tree in Donaldson Park was a red bud tree, but in fact it was identified as a red maple. The photo above shows a red bud tree that is growing in front of my neighbor’s home.
The red bud tree looks so pretty in the spring; I think the red is of a purplish shade.
Some birds have built a nest in our air-conditioner. We don’t know why or how they fit in that tiny space, but we sometimes hear them tweeting in there during the day. My neighbor thinks they are sparrows.
A photo meme is about sharing: you put up your photos on your blog, then you put the link on the photo meme blog. Most important, you visit as many other players as you can and comment on their blogs. If you just add your own link but don’t visit and comment, you are missing out on the best part of a photo meme.
I love photographing flowers. Here are just a few flowers I have submitted:
Hosted by Mary, all you need to do is post a photo with a little bit of red or a lot of red. Some tell great stories or add descriptions to go with their red photo(s). Others let the photo speak.
Hosted by 2sweetnsaxy, water abounds. View water pictures from all around the globe.
If you want to pick a photography meme in which you will learn a variety of photo editing techniques, this is the one to try. Everyone posts a photo in sepia, the tan brownish color that was sometimes used in old photographs. You can achieve sepia toning either by setting your camera to a sepia setting or you can use a photo editor like Photoshop to get good results. I haven’t participated in a while, but my favorite sepia post was of my daughter’s ballet class. You’ll see how I left in some of the color.
Here’s a post on free design software.
Photographers who don’t play any other memes often play this one. A theme is set each Thursday for the next week. At right are the pottery bowls I photographed for the last time I played this meme. I remarked how much I have learned in the past year about photography from playing all these different memes.
A photo meme with photos of sunrises, sunsets, blue skies, gray skies, pink skies, dark skies and any other kind of sky posted by bloggers all over the planet: you might also learn about clouds, weather and hydrology, too.
Janet of Fond of Snape has a wonderful post of purple for the latest Photo Hunt. A few weeks ago EG Wow hunted and found stripes.
Jientje of Heaven is in Belgium plays this meme. Savor over her latest weekly winners.
How can you learn by playing photo memes? Many of the participants are excellent photographers. If you see a photo you like, feel free to ask a question in your comment. On some of these memes, such as Sepia Scenes, photographic tips are often given. Some photo bloggers post camera information on their posts or on the sidebar of their blog. Again, show interest and ask questions. People love flattery!
Warning: these photo memes are addictive. Be prepared to want to participate often. And enjoy the new friends you gather as you click and post.
My daughter and I visited the circus in New York City last week. Here are four photos (of the 108 photos I took that day) that have some red. All can be enlarged by clicking. What is this person doing with his body?
My favorite part of the whole Barnum and Bailey Ringling Brothers Circus was the elephants.
These acrobats had dim lighting, but the reds attracted my eye.
One can understand why they call this the Greatest Show on Earth. Everywhere you look on stage, there is some action. One act is starting when the previous finishes its presentation. The dancers with the swinging skirts were marvelous.
For more posts with a lot or a little red, visit Ruby Tuesday:
Flowers: Forsythia, Daffodil, Red Tulip and Magnolia
Many links to photos of Birkat HaChama (Blessing of the Sun, every 28 years) and other Pesach links
What I Would Blog About If I Had More Time to Blog
Highland Park Featured Event: Found Objects Art Show at Pinos
Yesterday my daughter and I (and her friend and her friend’s sister and her friend’s mom, who arranged the whole trip) went to New York City. When you are six years old, this is a real adventure. I enjoy when my daughter is inspired, awed, and thrilled with a trip. The top photo was taken outside Macy’s; to me, it says “Spring in New York City.”
Our first stop after riding a double-decker New Jersey transit car (we rode on the top level) and venturing through Penn Station, a sight in itself if you don’t have to go there every day was Macy’s, for the Macy’s Flower Show. As you may be able to see above, the flowers were situated above the stations that sell jewelry. Tours were going round every half hour explaining the different flowers on display. My daughter took a photo of one of the three flowered flamingos (I’ll save that photo for a future post, as it needs a bit of Photoshop work to cut off someone’s head that shouldn’t have been in the composition). I didn’t care for the noise inside Macy’s, but I did enjoy when the perfume ladies gave their scented cards to my curious and inquisitive daughter (she learn to ask for a card with a perfume scent after the first two were handed to her).
Here is a hint of the Barnum Bailey Circus at Madison Square Garden; more about the circus in a future post (or two or three).
My neighbor’s magnolia tree is in bloom.
This magnolia flower has a black dot toward the top.
I enlarged the dot, and I discovered it is a fly. Or some kind of bug.
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There are few more days left of Passover, so blogging will be light until next week. One of the names for Passover is “Holiday of the Spring.”