Add Sunshine, Dog, and Blue Skies

Sometimes you just have to get out under the clouds and blue skies...

I did that with the 'grands' on Saturday, what a rare day.  Sunshine!

We took young Dixie for a walk up the road.  We made a stop in our neighbor's hay field and I turned everyone loose.
I told them to go ahead and run.

 So you take two kids, one young hound dawg...and turn them all loose.

You get fresh air, sunshine, giggles and laughter.
You get kids with grass stained knees and rosey cheeks.
You get happy pups and happy children under blue perfect skies.

What more could you ask for?

Oh ... I suppose a trip to the creek to wade.

Thank you to Dixie, the marvelous young hound dog for being such a good sport.
Thanks to my grandkids for playing and enjoying the fresh air.

I hope to post later about the creek adventure.

Checking Fences ~ After the Storm

The storm brought 1 3/4" of rain in a very short time.  The power went out with some extremley strong wind gusts.

The National Weather Service did report that our area had 60mph wind gusts.  Well, I believe that could be right.  It felt like the house was being battered.

The lightening was spectacular.  Yes, we watched it as we had no power. We sat and chatted and after it was obvious that the power wasn't coming back on, we decided to go ahead and get some sleep.

The sound of the rain and the thunder lulled us to sleep.

The first job of the morning was to go and check fence lines.  
Of course Morris is a very important part of that.

He went along for the inspection.

Along the way we found a huge Morel mushroom.  No rhyme or reason for where it was located.

Of course I had my little camera with me so I could take a few shots.

With all the rain we've been having, I thought it would be easy to grab some shots of water-droplets.

Dry Run [Morris's rear end for...perspective]:

Beautiful columbine flowers:

The grandkids are here, they arrived last night.  Hopefully the rain will hold off for a bit today.

I know that the 'kids' said they'd like to go down to the creek today.

If the weather holds, we'll go.

After all, it is fun to explore.

Just feel like colors today...

I've been trying to distract myself from all the rainfall and dreary weather we've been having.  The program is Flame Painter 2 Pro.  Quite fun.

However I did get out and see some of Nature's Colors yesterday and got soaked in a downpour.
Good thing my camera was my pocket ... all weather camera.

 

Topaz Annouces Clarity ~ Clarity Review.

Topaz Labs announces Topaz Clarity!

Well okay.  It is hard to really get much better than there products I use most often which are:
Topaz Adjust 5
Topaz Detail 3
Topaz ReMask
Topaz Simplify 
Topaz B&W 2

Here is an untouched photo of the sky.  It is not a stellar shot, but I wanted to see what Topaz Clarify would do with a fairly mundane shot:

Clarify on Clouds II preset

Adjust with Classic preset:

Then Topaz B&W Classic preset [with 'red' filter]:

If you already have Adjust 5, I'm not sure what Clarify will do for you.  It has some great new bells and whistles that allow you to do 'masking' without leaving the Topaz plug in.

For the above photos I just really hit presets just to get a quick feel for it.

Here are some samples comparing Clarify and Adjust 5, side by side.

Less Halo effect in Clarity without the added work in the above sample.  Richer greens without the extra effort.

In this Hawaiian sunset, the Clarity preset was faster and easier to choose and work with.
With a bit more experimenting the average user could get some fantastic results.

But I am a user of Adjust since the very first version Topaz created...and can quickly achieve the same results.

Clarity clearly has some advantages.  But for me I don't think at the moment I will be able to add it to my Topaz Plugins as I can rapidly get to the same point quickly with the Topaz products I have.

However.  
If you are not one that wants to mess with all of the other plugins, this would be a steal.
Right now Topaz Labs is offering this plug in for $29.99.

On June 1st it will be $49.99.

Sunday, ... Trees

I'm going out to check out some trees this morning and of course check the forest floor for anything interesting.

I would like to take a few shots of a Poplar tree too.

I found some rather striking weeds the other day...their bright yellow colors were quite cheerful.
Yellow Rocket:

I had a disagreement with someone that thought my photo of the Basswood was a Quaking Aspen.  Apparently unless you can see the bark, you may not be able to tell the difference.

I photographed this Birch in two ways, one way was just the leaves and another was with a branch dangling down over the trunk of the tree.

Birch tree:

 No doubts here about it being a birch.  And yes the tree was leaning, not me!

I hope you all have a great Sunday!
Tomorrow is Parade day with Opal and a hot dog cook out over a fire.

 

Talking to my mom...

Yesterday I called my mom.  I'm supposed to be a good daughter and call her weekly.
Last time we parted ways, we promised each other that we'd talk each and every week.  If I didn't call, she would...well okay, she might.

Anyway let's just say, I'm not the 'good' daughter in that way.  I don't call every week, but I should because you should hear my mom's voice perk up when she hears my voice on the phone.

She wanted to know what I was doing on a certain date and I told her that my schedule wasn't out yet for that.  But I'd let her know as soon as possible.  She told me that she was putting on an ice cream banana split party on that Friday and I should come.

She also told me about her group of Seniors that went out on Friday nights and had Fish Fry or Pizza and how much fun they had.

I actually decided that this could be fun to do.  So I'll check into my schedule as soon as it is posted.
My mom's senior friends are a real hoot.
What's more, is that my mom loves it when I go with her to meet her friends and do things with them all.

If you think a Senior has nothing to offer, then you haven't been around this group of folks.  I've always enjoyed time with them.
I do hope I get scheduled so that I can 'run' down and see her soon!
 

 Hawthorne Tree Blossoms ~ May 23rd 2013

Morels Oh Morels!

A Spring ritual we have each year is looking for the elusive Morel Mushroom!

Last year, it was so terribly hot and dry that the 'mushroom' hunt was pretty poor.  This year we have been moist...well, wet!  And a bit cool.

Morels are not easy to spot.  They are generally the same color as what surrounds them.  There are all sorts of 'hints' as to 'how' to find them.  Dead Elms, Dead Apple Trees, and Pines are all supposed to be good for finding them.

However, I am not that good at that aspect.  I am however, excellent about wandering around in the woods and just looking.
That way I find other things like Wild Ramps.

Or Wild Parsnips.
Or Meadow Onions [very tasty if fried].

I intend to get out today and take a look around for what I can find in the woods that is interesting.
The wild apple trees have lost their blossoms, but I should be able to find some Bellwort and Trillium!

Who knows, perhaps I'll find some more Morel Mushrooms also!

My next big decision is whether I take Morris or Dixie..or both of them!