Well it continues to snow off and on, but the spring growth is continuing!
I noticed when I drove into my driveway after work today that my first tulip is getting close to opening. Woo hoo!
Here are some pics:
Nothing like taking photos to realize how badly you need to start weeding your flower garden! I’m also thinking that old gate of mine is kinda high! Surf can crawl right under it right now.
You know…. a funny thing happens when you brag about your really wonderful spring weather that is early and summerlike and your trees are growing leaves and your tulips are coming out of the ground and you feel like you need to cut your lawn a month earlier than normal…..
There was a new review posted for the Kodak Easyshare Z740 this week. It has many images of the camera and its features – definitely worth reviewing if you are considering purchasing this camera (which I still love! It’s so easy to use!)
To read the review, please visit: DCRP Review: Kodak EasyShare Z740 (DCResource.com)
It’s just unreal! I’m sitting on one of my new deck chairs with my wireless laptop. It is 25-26 degrees Celcius out here! It’s April! In northern Ontario, Canada! It wouldn’t be surprising to still be receiving snow on this day!
Such a warm dry streak. My Manitoba maples (Acer negundo) flushed yesterday. The grass is greening up. (Normally it doesn’t need a cut until long into May) My tulips are quickly sprouting up – but the beds are so dry, who has ever had to water tulips? Hopefully we get the rain forecasted tonight and that’ll dampen the bush enough to put off fire bans until much later in the year.
I’m grabbing my Kodak Easyshare Z740 right now and I’ll update soon with some pics of the day!
Okay here are some pics! Ahh this cold beer I’m enjoying while sitting on this new deck chair sure tastes good. haha.
The first one of the sky – I think I’d like to retry that with the backlit feature on the camera and see how it turns out. The second photo is a clump of tulips in the front bed that are showing their buds already. The last is a bud that has flushed on a Manitoba maple tree.
Had to take Winger to the vet today. The little growth on the top of his head was always just a little bump, but it got WAY huge over the last few days and was all gooey and gross. The vet had to shave part of his head to get a good look. It seems to be a hot spot so we’ll clear up that mess first and see if the bump goes back down to being small or if it will have to be surgically removed.
Get ready, these are gross:
The snow is almost gone, the temperature was at least 15 degrees Celcius out, it was time to take a venture out to our Retriever Club’s property to let the dogs run and swim today.
Of course my Kodak Easyshare Z740 came with us! There isn’t any plants growing out there yet so my Golden Retrievers blended in really well with dead grass so it really wasn’t a day for spectacular photography.
Here are a couple funny ones of Winger who moved at the last second as I took the shot.
Although I’ve been loving this early spring weather, it’s been so warm and dry, we really need rain. Our city already has a ban on outdoor fires, and with the last traces of snow leaving the bush, we are in for a spring fire ban if it doesn’t rain soon!
Here are a few more photos:
Golden Retrievers have a habit of bringing back half the outdoors with them. Their coats were so full of sticks and mud that I had to bath them. They are both curled up on their dog beds sleeping and shivering off the dampness.
My house came with a nice big Muskoka aka Adirondack chair and a picnic table. I came to see why they were left behind – there just wasn’t much life left in the them. By last fall they were totally rotten and I had to chop them up and my neighbour took them for firewood.
Now that the sun is shining and the snow is melting it is time for beers in the sun – and without a good deck chair – it just isn’t going to be the same!
I found some Muskoka chair kits last weekend – $40 each. They were pine and unfinished… and not assembled. Okay. I admit it, I had to call in back-up for the assembly. Ahhhh they are SO comfortable – they just might spend next winter in my living room and not stored in the garage!
Anyway, I finished them earlier this week with a Redwood colour waterproofing stain. Here is how they turned out:
The weather forecast is full of sun – I know where I’m spending my weekend!
Well my wonderful father has filled me in on how to take a good shot with your digital camera of a flower close-up. He said to try take the photo on more of an angle. I took a mess of photos around the yard trying things out this afternoon. There are some more crocuses coming up in my back flower bed, and I tried approaching them on an angle with my Kodak Easyshare Z740 and it worked!
I can’t believe my icicle pansies survived the winter and are full of blooms again! I mean there is still some snow in the shade across the street! I’m the first one in the neighbourhood to have flowers!
These are my first spring flowers – my crocuses – they came up a week ago. Spring seems so early here this year!
I took a few photos using the flower setting on the Kodak Easyshare Z740. It’s a macro setting for photos that are within 70 cm. Unfortunately I wasn’t too happy with the result – I autofocused on the grass behind the flowers so the flowers themselves aren’t crisp and clear. This is going to take some practice!
I’ll share two of the photos here anyway so you can see what I mean.
Well I’ve had the Kodak Easyshare Z740 for a couple of weeks now. I love this camera. Now keep in mind that it is my first digital camera. Before this I used a big bulky SLR camera and carried a big heavy case full of lenses and camera accessories.
What are my favourite features?
This camera is so light. It comes with a neck strap and because the camera is so light it doesn’t dig into the back of my neck. I’m just crazy about the whole idea of digital photography. I can take so many pictures, and if I don’t like it, well then I can always delete it later! I’m using a 256 meg SD memory card and it fits over 150 photos on it. I have yet to use the Kodak Easyshare printer that came bundled with it other than to use it as a camera base to charge the batteries and transfer photos to my laptop. I love the sound effects – sci-fi is still my favourite. I also really like the ability to switch between using the LCD display or the viewfinder. In the bright sun like today’s photos, I mostly used the viewfinder.
What don’t I like?
I haven’t found a case yet and I’m so scared of scratching the back LCD display. I actually keep the camera in a big ol’ sock sometimes in my carry bag! I find it really easy to knock off the lens cap. I’m not sure of how it could be designed better, but it is attached by string so it really isn’t a problem. I also need to dig back into the user manual because I haven’t figured out how to tell how much battery power is left, but I’m sure there must be a way.