crazy
It is snowing again.
Big fat flakes that are sticking to the grass and creating slush on the sidewalk.
Flowers for Friday – yellow orchids
and in large
I think that the large looks really neat on that one. Note that the flowers were only about 1 centimeter long (between 1/2 and 1 inch), so that is why the “close-ups” don’t look as close as they would on a regular-sized flower.
and in large
The large image of that one reminds me of an alien.
Oh, and the flowers were starting to fade a little when I took these, so they aren’t as pristine as they started. But I think that they still look pretty good. 
There are some pictures of buds on Flickr.
Well, that is all that I have time for, for now. I hope you are doing well!
Happy Easter!
Happy Easter everyone!
As the song goes, Jesus Christ is Risen Today, Alleluia!
It has been a good Lenten season. I did read my bible and prayed almost every day. I’ve resolved to keep up the pattern even now that we are at Easter. I have tried to read the entire bible in the past but kept getting stuck; I’d start at the beginning and get weighed down in the old testament. This time, I’m going to focus on the New Testament and work through that.
I thought maybe I’d take my camera to church and take some photos of the Easter Flowers, we’ll see. If so, I’ll post them here sometime after lunch.
In the meantime – Happy Easter and Happy Spring!
UPDATED: Here are the pics I took.
and in large
Flowers for Friday & Fuzzy Friend Friday – orchids
As per my usual photo-taking when I don’t use my lightbox, I set the flowers on the floor to get a wide shot.
And guess who came over to investigate?
Yes, the Girlie-girl had to get right in the center of things.
I actually had to herd her away to get that first shot, because she kept wanting to lie down in the sun. This made her tail, or some part of her, in the photo.
Finally, I shoo-ed her away and got a shot. But just one, because she was quickly back.
Close-ups will be here when I take the ones with my 70-210 mm lens with the Kenko extension tubes.
But here is a hint of some photos taken in the late afternoon sun with the lens that came with my camera.
A perfect snow?
and in large
As you know, I really try to make an effort to not talk about the weather. However, this particular snow was so out of the blue and looked so pretty, I thought I’d take a photo of the trees and share it with you.
I loved how the snow really piled up as a thick mass of white on the evergreen branches. And if you look closely, you’ll see how there is a stack of snow on top of the wind chimes too.
The part about this snow that made it a perfect one, is that it was so warm that the snow on the roads was all melted and my drive into work was completely unaffected by the snowfall. AND it all melted by the end of the day! I almost took an “after” picture to go with this “before”, but I decided that it wasn’t that remarkable that the snow melted. Well, I should clarify that. It is remarkable for Minnesota. But for the rest of you, this is probably not that out of the ordinary.
So, there you have it. Hopefully an event that was the last of the season. I’m ready for Spring!
Another Friday without flower photos
As you can see from the title, I have not yet taken any close-ups of the orchids. I will be taking them soon, though. Mark my words.
I ended up having a very special birthday. It was filled with many small moments of happiness, simple pleasures, if you will. Lunch was with a friend at a restaurant that was new to me and served Mediterranean food. It was really terrific; I would definitely go back there. We stopped in at a new tea place that I’d never been to. I guess it has only been there a couple of months, and since it is not within my usual walking distance, I had no idea it was there. I bought a couple of new loose, black, flavored teas. I have one cooling right now. I’ll let you know what I think shortly. 
Another simple pleasure is that my lab work was relatively light on Wednesday. That meant that I had time to work up my resume for another teaching position. It was odd to be turning my 6 page CV into a 2 page resume, but in the end, I’m quite happy with the results. It makes me contemplate changing my CV. Actually, now that I think about it, Was that a pleasure? I guess that it was good to not have the weight of a big experiment on my shoulders. And it was nice to not have to stay late for said experiment.
On my drive home, I decided that I really wanted the 6-8 layer chocolate cake that Outback sells as a dessert. No, I did not “eat dessert first.” Although it was quite tempting. Instead, I ate my Pad Thai, which was very good, and then ate a chunk of the cake. I’m actually still eating it. It is a 3-sitting sort of piece of cake; it is definitely too much for one sitting.
I received a lot of terrific presents from my parents and from my parents-in-law. Movies, and music, and books – who could ask for anything more? I’ve been wanting some new CDs to listen to on my drives to and from work, so this is perfect. Get this, 2 of the CDs are Pure Disco.
I realized watching a TV episode that had some throwback disco music in it, that I really get cheered up by disco and 70’s music in general. So, I put them on my Amazon list, and Tah-dah! now I have them. I listened to one last night.
And here is the tea report. This tea has the following description:
lili’uokalani
“combines the lush tropical richness and colours of such flavors as peach, apple, mango, orange, and guava, based in a Chinese black tea. a noble tea named in honor of the last queen of Hawaii”
From a first taste, I’m thinking that I didn’t brew it strong enough. The black tea flavor isn’t very strong. Of course, I am more of an Assam black tea, kind of girl, so sometimes Chinese black tea tastes weak to me. I can definitely taste the mango more than any other fruit flavor, which is fine, since I really like mango. But the end result is that it doesn’t seem all that different than some of the other teas I’ve drank. I was expecting something really wild and different. Would I drink it again? Yes, absolutely. And maybe with a slightly stronger brew, it will strike me more.
I guess that is all for now. This Saturday is when HB and I go to the museum and then out to eat. I hope he isn’t too pooped out from his conference. It sounds like it has really been wearing him down.
Have a good weekend!
Birthday orchids from HB!
A special delivery arrived today at the lab!
I’ve always wanted to have flowers delivered to my work-place. After all, it is the place where I spend the majority of my time everyday.
As you can see from the title, these are orchids. I had to go to several labs to find one with a digital camera and the zoom function for close-ups really didn’t work. But you’ll be seeing close-ups sometime after this weekend.
The small orchids are yellow with reddish flourishes near the center. The large orchids are pinkish-orange with yellow centers. I love orchids that change from one color to the other within the same flower. They are just gorgeous and are really making me grin from ear to ear!
this week
I guess it has been a week since I’ve posted and I’m due to fill you guys in on things.
1. HB’s b-day was Wednesday night. So instead of going to church and music practice, we went out to eat and watched some episodes on DVD of Homicide. It was a lot of fun. We had a really great conversation at supper.
2. HB is in Mexico for a week, starting yesterday. Nowhere really cool and touristy – he is in Mexico City for a conference. Of course, the average temp is 85. But you know how it is with conferences; you really don’t get outside much.
3. I’ve applied to 3 places now. The jobs are very different. One, the first one I sent that I told you about, is for a 2-year visiting professor position. One is for a community college. One is a tenure-track position at a small branch of a state school near where we live. Can you tell that I am open to all kinds of possibilities? I haven’t quite made my mind up about research – whether I’m ready to give it up entirely, or whether I want to pursue it. I am also open to being an adjunct, but it is such a tenuous situation. You work from semester to semester and from school to school. I’m not sure I would be able to deal with the instability. However, if it is the only thing that allows me to get more teaching experience, I’d probably do it with the hopes that I could apply to something more permanent later.
4. My b-day is Wednesday! I’m turning 34. I guess that makes me middle-aged. ? An odd label, middle-aged. But whatever. I don’t really fixate much on ages and labels. I figure you are as young as you feel.
5. In the midst of doing my first application for a job, I completely forgot Texas Seestor’s birthday. I am a bad seeeeestor. But she had a nice b-day, it sounded like.
Guess that is it for now. I hope all of you are doing well. I know about some of you from blogs – I know Jenski is BUSY like a beaver and is writing a post a day for 365 days, Kalki is busy with work and her EMT course and with stripping wallpaper in her kitchen, Texas Seestor I hear about on the phone and has a new job!, and Squirl… hmmm… I’m not sure what it up with you, Squirly-dear. Well, I know you have tried out photoshop lately and that you’ve had a ton of snow.
Talk to you later!
Flowers for the day after Friday – Valentine’s Day white rose
I had trouble yesterday getting the stars to align to allow me to post, so these are a day late.
That one reminds me of an onion.
I kept twisting the rose around to get the best angle for lighting. Since I like a bunch of them, I’m posting them all.
and in large
In the large view, the petal to the lower left has a lot of neat texture.
and in large
As you can see from the lighting, the sun was setting when I took these photos. The rose just happened to be on the right spot on the table to catch the light, and I just happened to get up to get a drink of water at the right time.
This rose lasted for 2 weeks. It was the only one in the bunch that made it past the one week mark (at which point I threw the others out). It looked really nice as a single solitary rose in a small vase. I’m glad it lasted so long.
Flowers for the day after Friday – Valentine’s Day white rose
I had trouble yesterday getting the stars to align to allow me to post, so these are a day late.
That one reminds me of an onion.
I kept twisting the rose around to get the best angle for lighting. Since I like a bunch of them, I’m posting them all.
and in large
In the large view, the petal to the lower left has a lot of neat texture.
and in large
As you can see from the lighting, the sun was setting when I took these photos. The rose just happened to be on the right spot on the table to catch the light, and I just happened to get up to get a drink of water at the right time.
This rose lasted for 2 weeks. It was the only one in the bunch that made it past the one week mark (at which point I threw the others out). It looked really nice as a single solitary rose in a small vase. I’m glad it lasted so long.