Fallen Spring Leaf

Some of you may remember my interest (okay, obsession) I have with autumn leaves (check out the autumn category of this here site for examples).

Well, it seems some of those autumn leaves stuck around and decided to fall in the spring. Which, despite them being dead and brown, made me happy. So here's a dead, crumbly, brown leaf. Enjoy. ;)

Icy Ivy

The day before yesterday, we had a ton of hail. But apparently that's not good enough, because we had snow yesterday morning.

Snow.

In the middle of April.

What's up with that?

The photo above is where it stuck for a bit on some ivy in my backyard. The snow actually lasted for quite some time, but it only stuck a bit on some plants (at least at my house) before it left and was replaced by more hail. Repeatedly. This is really getting old.

Of course, come August when it's in the 90's (F) I'll be yearning for days like today.

Well, Hail

We had a heck of a lot of hail yesterday. It was in the mid-30's (F), and we had a big huge amount of hail. It is spring, right? Because it certainly doesn't seem like it.

My photo above shows part of that large quantity of hail covering my driveway. Guest photographer Moe's photo, at right, shows some lovely tulips with, as Moe put it, a hail garnish.

Right-hand side photo is copyright © Moe. All rights reserved. Do not copy or reproduce in any way without permission of photographer.

Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival II

As promised, I've posted several more photos from the tulip festival I attended on Saturday (see also yesterday's post) to my Flickr photoset.

If anyone is anywhere near the Woodburn area, be sure to check out this festival before it ends on the 27th. There's a kids' area, booths, food, not to mention acres and acres of gorgeous flowers. It was my first time attending the festival, but hopefully it won't be the last.

I am so glad I was able to borrow a macro lens that day... it just made it that much better.

Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival

On Saturday I attended the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival outside of Woodburn, a town about 40 minutes from Stayton.

The festival (visit their site) is a beautiful display of over 40 acres of tulips, plus other flowers I didn't have the opportunity to go photograph. It's a big place. Mt. Hood (pictured above) sat serenely of the background, while helicopters and small airplanes took turns taking in the sights.

I was able to borrow a macro lens from the Canon/Pro Photo Supply booth for a few hours, which made me a very happy camper. One day I shall get a macro lens of my very own.

I've uploaded part of the photos I took to a Flickr photoset. I'll be uploading more later today, and will likely post another photo or two from the festival for tomorrow's post.

Thanks to my friend Steve for letting me tag along to the festival. You can view some of his shots from the festival on his Pbase.com site.

Holm Building

Guest photographer Dave Nielson from StaytonEvents.com provided us with today's image. It's a great shot of the Holm Building on 2nd Ave, incorporating some spring-blooming tulips.

Be sure to check out his web site for another image of the Holm Building, plus several other photos from the Stayton area, plus a constantly updated schedule of events in town.

Thanks, Dave, for the lovely contribution.

Photo is copyright © Dave Nielson. All rights reserved. Do not copy or reproduce in any way without permission of photographer.

On A Bed Of Blossoms

So, I've threat... er, mentioned recently I'd probably be posting more cherry blossom photos, seeing that it's spring and all. But today's blossoms come with an added bonus -- a bee. There were several bees hanging around the blossoms (the buzzing was kind of loud, actually... maybe there was a nest nearby?), and this one didn't care when flung my arm out in order to hover my camera a couple of inches from him and snapped a few pictures.

This was at the base of a tree, where there were scattered petals, etc. I was glad he got down to my level for the photo. Such a nice bee.

The photo was taken at Neitling Park, for those who may care about such things.

Until I Die

It's time once again to visit my favorite trees in Stayton, a group of oak trees near the hospital, off of 10th Ave. The last time I posted a shot of them was in December (visit that page for links to my other photos of the trees).

True To Form

Um, so, yeah, this is another photo of spring blossoms. But they're all over town! It's not my fault! They call to me like a siren's song! :)

I took this at Neitling Park. Most of the blossom trees there are yet to bloom, but when they do... well, don't be surprised if you see more blossom tree photos before spring is through.

Bits And Bits And Bits And Bits

We had hail again yesterday. That's twice in a week. Somebody really needs to tell the powers that be it is spring. The above is a macro of some hail on a glass table on my patio.

In other news, there is now a Salem (Oregon) Daily Photo blog! This is awesome. Salem is about 15 miles northwest of Stayton, and is the state capitol. Go on over and say hi.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow for the monthly City Daily Photo theme day.

Vulnerable

Okay, so yesterday was a bit odd. We had a brief snow shower in the morning (too brief for me to get any photos), and then it was sunny in the afternoon. That's in addition to the hail we had a few days ago. And we may we have snow again today.

Somebody needs to tell Mother Nature it is late March. Spring. This isn't supposed to happen.

Anyway, so instead of all that, I'm posting a photo of an Asiatic lily. It is spring, darn it, even if the weather doesn't know that.

Hail, Hail

We had some decidedly non-springlike weather yesterday. First we had rain mixed with snow, then a major hail storm which turned everything white for a while. This isn't normal for late March.

The photo above was taken on my driveway. The photo at right was taken in the middle of the street in front of my house. I'm glad I didn't have to be out in it when it was coming down.

The Edge Of Beauty

Yes, today we have another flower photo. It's not my fault. Blame spring.

I have no idea (again) what type of flower this is. It was on a bush in the parking lot of the library, that's all I know. It's just the edge of it, anyway, so I could lie and say it's definitely (insert name of flower here). But I won't.

Although it could be an azalea. Or not.

Gentle Curves

These are cherry blossoms. Unless they're plum blossoms. Or some other type of blossoms. I looked up both cherry and plum blossoms, but I can't tell them apart. Ah, heck, at this point I'm not even sure they're blossoms. They could just be very pretty rocks for all I know.

By the way, Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates the holiday.

Pretty In Pink

This lovely little cherry blossom was hanging out with several of its buddies on a tree on 3rd Ave. yesterday. It was fairly windy, but the flower stopped moving long enough for me to get this shot. That was very considerate, really.

Standing Apart

As part of my quest to find spring flowers, I spotted these lovely azaleas in front of the telephone company on 2nd Ave. The shock of color these provide is just beautiful.

Spring Shine

It's only a few more days until spring officially arrives. Yay! So I went on a flower hunt yesterday to see what's blooming. These lovely daffodils were found next to the community center on W. Virginia St.

I may feel compelled to post more flowers over the next day or two. Consider yourselves warned.

Purple Pansy

Pondering the pretty and proud purple pansy, perchance? I think I shall name it Percival. Percy for short, of course. So say hi to Percy the pretty purple pansy, people.

Sorry. I have a thing for alliteration. :)

Perflectly Imperfect

This lovely little flower may have a chunk out of one of its petals, but that doesn't make it any less pretty. Who wants to be perfect, anyway?

It's probably some sort of Narcissus/jonquil kinda thing. Unless it isn't. ;)

Blossoming

I've discovered there are trees all over town with pretty little white cherry (I presume) blossoms all over town at the moment. You'd think I would have noticed that before this year. Once again, taking photos for this blog has made me see things around town I wouldn't have otherwise noticed.

Tulip-icious

I saw this lovely tulip in the yard of a doctor's office on 2nd Ave. It said, "Hey, take my picture!" Flowers can talk, can't they? ;)

Spring Blossoms

I decided to get all artsy and stuff and shoot today's photo looking up the trunk of a cute little blossoming tree. 'Cause, ya know, that's never been done before.

Or not.

Anyway, are these cherry blossoms? Some other sort of blossoms? Are they a figment of our collection imaginations? Who's to say? But they are pretty, whatever they may be.

Once again, I couldn't decide which photo to post, so click on the thumbnails below to see a few more:

   

Spring Daffodils

I just love spring. It starts to get warmer, the days start to last longer, all the deciduous trees start coming back to life, and the flowers start to bloom. I especially love the flowers. I saw a whole bunch of daffodils in a yard yesterday, and had to take some photos.

And since I couldn't decide which photo to post, click on the thumbnails below to see a couple more of the pretties: