Playing with JW's camera - June 23, 2011

JW has a little Olympus camera about the size of a deck of cards.  When he went hiking last weekend, he took that camera and then he started wondering how long the battery would last.  Since he'll be gone for 2 weeks in September - out in the wilds of the Brooks Range far away from a power outlet, he wants to make sure he can get plenty of pictures and the battery won't go dead.  I told him to leave his camera out and I would take a bunch of pictures to see how long the battery would  last.

I decided to take the camera out and take some pictures and started playing around with the settings.  I had been telling him that his camera wasn't as good as mine because while the picture quality is 12 mega pixel, because of the lens, it just isn't quite the same quality.  I have proven that to him by taking the same picture with both cameras and blowing them up and my camera is definitely superior.

Having said that though, I found this setting on his camera that is really cool and that one is for macro and super macro pictures.  I have filters for my camera and I can take really close closes ups but the weight of the camera makes it a little harder.

Once I found that setting, I  had to take close-up pictures of some of my favorite flowers.

I love these little blue flowers  - they are about 1/2" wide and are one of the few really blue flowers.

We've been getting a little rain so the raindrops are hanging out on the Peony leaves.

I've always liked pansies because they remind me of Auntie Florence.  She always had them growing.  This however is not a Pansy but a viola (which happens to be my Great-Grandma Batty's middle name).  I love them because they reseed themselves and are like miniature pansies.  I couldn't find any regular pansy's to plant this year but I'm still looking for them.

 This time of year, I especially love the colors in our beautiful U.S. flag - wouldn't it be wonderful if there was a navy blue flower so I could plant a whole flower bed in red, white and blue.

lol - couldn't resist wearing a million bell hat - these things are like little petunias.  Petunias always remind me of my sister-in-law Pam.  She always has the most beautiful yard - she's so talented.  Petunias smell so sweet.  My favorite color of million bells is the Terra cot ta but this multi-colored basket had a great price on it so couldn't resist. Besides no one had the Terra cot ta color up here.

African violet - growing in the house not outside.  I had bought it last year and planted it and it has done nothing.  I've tried to get it to bloom by moving it into various rooms.  Finally, I think I've found a place that it likes so hopefully it will continue to bloom.  African violets remind me of Uncle Joe D.  He had a huge stand in his living room filled with African Violets and they were always blooming.  Sadly, last time I was there they were all gone.

These are Goldalia's.  I like the multi-colored blossoms and they are growing really well.

Another flower I usually try to have in my flower bed are snap dragons.  The label on these said Alaska Grown snapdragons but they sure look different than the ones I'm used to and I haven't figured out yet how they are supposed to snap.  Snapdragons always remind me of my Grandma Carter.  I remember she had them in her flower bed - since she died when I was 7, that is one of the few things I remember about her.  Her middle name is Azalia (another one of my favorite flowers - often think I would like to live in a climate where I could plant them outside as perennials.

Last year when I went to the Georgeson Gardens here at the UAF, I fell in love with the Dahlias.  I guess they have the giant ones there because they were as huge as a dinner plate.  But I found this one at Holme's nursery and had to bring it home to plant.

This is supposed to be a perennial so it will be interesting to see if it actually survives a winter in the interior or do I chicken out and dig it up when it dies back this fall.  It is about 8" in diameter and the blooms last for weeks. 

I love gardening and really miss all of the things I had planted in Montana.  I wonder how my bleeding heart is doing this summer - is it growing or did the people who bought the house dig everything up before they even saw what was growing. I had planted so many different things that even I was surprised each year when something would pop up. 

Because we are going to be here for such a short time, I haven't planted many perennials here.  And of the things I planted last year, only the lily's, peony and "Dudley bush" (Little princess spirea) came back this year.  The lilac bush the previous owners had planted is taller this year but did not bloom - I  think the moose ate it down a bit much this past winter. 

So I love the light little rain we get frequently and all of the sun light that helps things to grow.  And I enjoy the beautiful outdoors up here. And I am grateful for this opportunity we have had to come to  this great land to experience life in the last frontier.  But a piece of my heart is wishing my life away so that we can get back to Montana where we belong.