Scentsational Rosebud

Sometimes, things just work out...this picture is exactly what I wanted it to be. I was playing with my new camera, still trying to get the hang of some of the settings and options. I did some exposure shots and several macro of various flowers, among other things. This bud was where the sun just slightly lit it and I could take the photo without casting a shadow, while getting up close and personal. I'm still loving spring pictures!

Volleyball anyone?

Tonight was the first practice of the "Setting Ducks" volleyball team. It was great, we had a lot of fun meeting, greeting and hitting around. When I came home, I set the ball on the bed and got the laptop out to work on shirts for the team. Sophie, being the cat that she is, had to lay on the computer bag and with the volleyball. I didn't quite catch her playing with the ball, but the image I got here is different but I like it. The extra fuzziness of her and the face she's giving me are cute.

Roses

I just couldn't help but take a picture of my rose bushes today. I didn't take the time to make it a great picture, but I wanted to show the quantity of roses in bloom. I don't remember ever having this many all at one time. There are dozens of buds also visible. This plant is loving the spring we are having here. The other bush below I have is doing quite well, although it's not quite as productive as this first one. Besides having the gorgeous blooms now, this also means I will have a lot of rose petals to make paper and other projects this summer. These are called Scentsational Roses, they have streaks of white on dark red petals and a great smell. My other bush of the same variety produces white roses with large dark red stripes, they are opposites but both beautiful.

Sand Volleyball

Tonight I subbed on a sand volleyball team. I had forgotten how very much I love playing! The nice thing was that is is like riding a bike...comes right back, that muscle memory kicked in and I was ready. The diving into the sand and running and some hitting at the big green cabana all made for a very enjoyable evening. Then some shopping with Julie made for a very fun night. I think I'll be finding sand in various parts of my body for days though ;)

New Camera

I've been wanting a new "little" camera to carry around with me. Of course, I can't have just any cheap little camera, it has to have a real zoom and various settings. I asked for one for my birthday and I was surprised by an early gift today! We were headed out to the Arts & Jazz Fest and stopped by the office and there was a pretty blue Nikon CoolPix L22 box :)
I've been researching and playing with them for months, trying to figure out what I really want to do with one. This is not to replace the digital SLR, it's purpose is to let me always have a camera with me. I finally narrowed it down to a couple and today I got the one! I haven't edited this picture at all, it was shot in the action setting on a very sunny afternoon, using the full 3.6X optical zoom. It seems to be slightly overexposing shots, and I played with some of that today but will spend much more time getting to know my new camera. I'm excited to see what I can do with it.

Duck, duck, GOOSE

I started the morning with a scheduled walk with friends at a local park. There was some sort of event just wrapping up as we arrived, so we started with a small nature trail off the main trail. Just off the path were a pair of geese. They were out of their usual spot near the lake, most likely due to the overabundance of people around the lake. They had found themselves a small area off the beaten path with some spots of water to drink. I went a bit off my path to go check them out and had a good time getting some shots of them up close and personal.

Denton Arts & Jazz Fest

Tonight we worked a shift out at the annual Arts & Jazz Fest. It's a great time out with good food and great music, and of course lots of shopping. The weather was absolutely perfect this evening, though the morning didn't look promising. The sun came out and the temperature got up to about 80 degrees. While we were there, I took the opportunity to try and capture the feeling of the Festival. I took some crowd shots, some band shots, some nature shots even but what I really tried to get was the food. When you have roasted corn on the cob, funnel cakes, kettle corn, sausage on a stick, fried everything...the food does define the festival atmosphere. This was the shot that most captured what I was looking for in my images today.