Gone Lavender Picking...

Lavender  NOUN  /ˈlævəndə(r)/ 

1 : a a Mediterranean mint (Lavandula angustifolia syn. L. officinalis) widely cultivated for its narrow aromatic leaves and spikes of lilac-purple flowers which are dried and used in sachets and from which is extracted an aromatic oil used chiefly in perfumery

b : any of several plants congeneric with true lavender and used similarly but often considered inferior

     2 : a pale purple

I have always wanted to go lavender picking.  I just didn't know I could do it so close to my home (town).  We visited Yule Love Lavender in Leonard Michigan. 

After picking lavender, playing a couple rounds of lavender bingo and drinking lavender lemonade we gathered our bunches of lavender and headed home.  Next on the list is a visit to Greenfield Village.

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Summer Babies in a Tree!

 Just spent 2 weeks in Michigan with my family.    My brother Paul and his family were in town as well. He is an arborist in Charlotte, NC and whenever he comes up to visit, my parents have lots of work for him to do in their yard.

While in the process of trimming a few branches from some of their older trees they discovered that a squirrel's nest went down with one of the branches too!  Probably fell 30 feet but the 3 little squirelettes (?) were perfectly fine.  The nest was really cool and beautifully constructed with dried grass, leaves and branches.

3 new born squirrels

close-up

 Check out the nest.  Very well padded and beautiful in itself!!

After the guys completed work on the trees we put the nest in a basket and somehow my brother got it back up in the tree:

Peeking into the nest before going back into the tree.

Oh and baby squirrels are referred to as pups, kits or kittens!! Who knew?

Practicing Still-life Photography

It's the last day of March and I had to get in a last posting since I was so distracted this month and really ignored my blog.  I took our kiddles to Michigan for a family visit and I took a little time to set up some still- life 's.  Here are some of my favorites:

 

In case you are wondering the plant at the upper right is a fern. I haven't been able to find out the species  of fern but the dots are spores which are visible at certain periods of the fern's life cycle.

These were things around my parents house. You know how some people's houses are a photo opp waiting to happen well that isn't quite the case at my parents house... but there is always a still-life opp as long as you can ignore the stuff going on in the background.  They are big collectors and live in a beautiful old farmhouse- actually two that were fused together in the 20's.

Later I decided to try to make my own still life by scrounging around in my Dad's closet of "crap" (one of many closets) We have "craps" drawers and closets- always something beautiful to be found just gotta look for it amid all the crap!!!

I found some porcelain flowers , a gently- torn vintage fan, some pieces of a watch and a piece of linen with the help of my Pop.  (That's Glen Michaels- check out his new website)








I'm toying with the idea of changing my banner to one of these last 2 photos... We'll see. Any opinions from the peanut gallery? Would love to hear from you!!

The Last Vestiges of Winter.... in Michigan

I have been very remiss- Haven't posted more than once this month!   So here are some photos I took while I was away with my kids visiting family.

  I've just returned from a family visit in Michigan and took some pictures of what I thought might be the last of winter...  We had a lovely blustery snowfall...

I also  looked for new little buds.... Here are some beautiful snowdrops peeking out of the ground cover...  The photo below left is the remains of last summer's hydrangea bushes...

Now that I'm back I hear we will be having another snowfall in NYC this Friday!!!

Get your galoshes out girls. 

Spring may have started according to our calendars but we aren't there yet.