There have been many stories I wanted to keep this week. But I got busy and because there was not the obligation, I didn’t press. That’s me losing the habit of writing.

So now I have all these untold, unrecorded, really great stories. I have to do something about a posting schedule and the weight of sorting through all the images I take.

Here, let me distract you with some great flower pics made in the back and front yards this weekend while I talk about the issue of image management.

I am not sure what they all are yet, being in the gardens when we moved in. Actually, the above is on the neighbor’s side of the property line, so not technically my front yard.

This delightful morph of a hydrangea stays blooming through most if not all of the year. It also shifts color values from a pink to a deep cornflower blue. (I’m getting to the image management stuff).
As here, above.

And, below, this delightful wild flower, first mentioned in my second post on RTBT. The benefits of an uncut lawn in the winter.

So now, imagine for a moment that each photo that I upload has a measurement in mass equal to its size in bytes. So, a 6mb photo would be a 6lb photo. It feels like I am physically retrieving the 6lb image from the SD card, hefting it to the computer, then to the web server. For each image, you understand.

While you appreciate this small evidence of a tremendous outbreak of azalea in the front garden, let’s talk image management.

I actually thought I’d be better about it with the blog, since this is a definite and clear place to put them. Turns out my problems are more complex.

This flower on the bush by the patio screen is not one of those problems.

A peculiarly anemic looking bush that is both narrow and short, but densely packed foliage. It too, always seems in bloom.

The always present crepe myrtle. This explodes in intensity in the spring and summer, but maintains a bloom all year.

Another crepe myrtle. This one is near death, looks like, but it also flowers in the spring and summer. It sit in a cozy spot, too shaded for its needs next to what was a pretty nice rose garden. The soil back there probably also needs some amelioration. I’m not sure.

The humble croton. Variable and translucent, it changes colors as the sun changes angles.

So, what stories have gone missing so far? Yesterday, four separate and individual raccoons showed up in the little cove across the water. Let’s call it Raccoon’s Cove, shall we? Or Otter Bay, or Heron Inlet. I’ll let you pick. It’s where all the animals go to thrill me.

I was very excited by the raccoons. I had stopped out with the D3300 to try to get better acquainted. But I grabbed the Canon because I don’t have a zoom lens for the Nikon. The day was chilly and grey and I did not expect to need it.

Then I saw a great blue heron on the other side. And just the slightest, vaguest sense of motion beside it.

Yep. Raccoons. See their tails.

 

 

Then there is the fact that an osprey flew directly overhead. I originally thought this was probably a buzzard/vulture/crow, but there was just something about this particular bird’s behavior that made me snap a few images against the light blue sky with the D3300.

And it turns out this was actually an Osprey. Can that be believed? I’d only just really seen one for the first time on Friday, and here I was, a day later, with one flying directly overhead. I do hope there is a nest over there across the water so I will see it again. I’ll probably suddenly start seeing moorhens around here, too. That would be lucky!

We’ll stop here for now. Even though there was more in the backyard. Including  yet another potential new bird in the backyard.

 

• Aperture: ƒ/5.6
• Camera: NIKON D3300
• Taken: 6 February, 2016
• Focal length: 55mm
• ISO: 400
• Shutter speed: 1/100s