Week 25

Picture 170:  Lilies are blooming like crazy all over the yard.  Even in places where I didn't mean to have them.  But I can handle that.  They are awful pretty.      

Picture 171:  Looking at a lily like I looked at an Iris a few weeks back.  What a procession.  Never missing something pretty to flower.  Thanks yard!

Picture 172:  The flowers that are very appropriately named--Pinks. At least I think this is a pink.  It works for me, whatever the name.  

Picture 173:  This gives the gestalt of the pinks.  I do love how they have delicate green stems.  

Picture 174:  A trio of lilies in bloom.  I don't count that one that is in the bottom right.  It is NOT blooming.

Picture 175:  Another trio of pretty flowers.  I am not sure exactly which kind these are other than in the aster family.  Gotta love the BRIGHT colors. 

Picture 176:  Owen had to be in this set of photos.  He is just so cute when he falls asleep.  Papa makes a good matress. 

And, as always, for the photos that didn't make the top 7 this week, check out my flicker stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sonyacarlson/ 

Week 24

Picture 163:  Owen loves eating.  He doesn't mind being messy or dribbly.  This one fun kiddo!     

Picture 164:  I do like looking closely at pieces of tofu on Owen's chin.  Don't you?  What could be better?  Okay, lots of things, but this is what I've got.  

Picture 165:  A visual record of what our strawberries looked like this summer.  Not as excessive as years past.  We look at 2012 as a rebuilding  year in the strawberry beds.      

Picture 166:  Lichen is always intriguing to me.  This is a bit down on Main Street on the steps leading up to a funeral home.  No one is bugging it.  Go lichen go!    

Picture 167:  Metal that has seen better days. The bottom of a railing looks so much more interesting up close.      

Picture 168:  Walking to town can be pretty tiring.  Especially if you are Owen and it is hot outside.       

Picture 169:  This kid is just so photogenic.  Look at those eyes!  He just shows his interest and happiness in every picture.      

And, as always, for the photos that didn't make the top 7 this week, check out my flicker stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sonyacarlson/ 

Week 23

Picture 156:  This is one of the extremely beautiful roses in our planters.  It had just rained so there are some tiny drops of water on the petals.  Very soft looking rose, it almost looks plastic.    

Picture 157:  Then I looked at the leaves on the rose bush.  Such waxy, green, vibrant leaves.  I don't often just look at the leaves.  Glad I did this time.     

Picture 158:  Together the flower and the leaves are even more of a composition.  I just can't take one picture of a flower. 

Picture 159:  A rainbow appeared over our neighbor's house.  If you look closely, you will see it is a double rainbow.  I know what it means.  It was raining later in the day and the sun was shining through the clouds.

Picture 160:  This is my favorite of the week.  The daisy is so perfect and I just did a little post photo tweaking.     

Picture 161:  Finally, a picture of the sky as the sun sets with pretty clouds.  It is pretty hard for me to get a shot of the sky that looks interesting.  Do you think this works?   

Picture 162:  It isn't winter.  It is just late in the day after the rain shower.  The pine needles each seem to have their own water droplet.  Thanks for being so helpful needles.     

And, as always, for the photos that didn't make the top 7 this week, check out my flicker stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sonyacarlson/ 

Week 22

Picture 149:  What do you think this means?  Are they open? Are they closed?  And when can we finally go to eat there?     

Picture 150:  Owen is drawing with a little help from his papa.  He likes blue.  So here is what he is coloring--a blue world.     

Picture 151:  Hey, Mom! Look at me.  I am in a boat.  And I am being so safe because I am around the personal flotation devices.   

Picture 152:  This is a piece of wood from a shipwreck.  Can you even tell?  Doesn't it look like a solid piece of wood.  It was in the ocean for 94 years and it doesn't look a day over 5 years.    

Picture 153:  This little octopus was playing with a clear tube in it's tank.  Sometimes it would stick it's tentacle into this tube to look for food.    

Picture 154:  A lion fish, I think.  Supposedly it is an invasive species in Florida.  But, it is so cute!  How can it not be welcome?     

Picture 155:  Here is an up close and personal look at the chocolate covered giant fortune cookie we bought today in Rollinsford.  You should go there too.  This place may be a drive from Concord, but it is worth it.  Just remember to turn left on Short Street--not going into Maine makes the drive much easier.

And, as always, for the photos that didn't make the top 7 this week, check out my flicker stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sonyacarlson/ 

Week 21

Picture 142: This is a Tiger Swallowtail getting some nectar.  It is a bit worn so I hope it already did its parenting thing 

Picture 143:  We went to the park on Sunday.  Owen wasn't big on the swing this time.  He did LOVE the slide.  At least, I think he did.  What do you think?

Picture 144:  A rose is a rose is a rose.  Then I look at the rose in our planter and think maybe it is more than a rose.  It is a beautiful sight.

Picture 145:  The yellow roses have bloomed this weekend also.  We are very lucky to have such good luck with our rose bushes.  Good job Brady!  

Picture 146:  Two toads were checking out the freshly turned dirt by the planter.  This toad seemed to be a bit calmer.  It just sat there while I snapped a ton of pictures.  Now I just need a picture of Frog.    

Picture 147:  Yes, this is an iris.  However, this is a different one.  Also, I did the "Holga-ish" tweak.  Check out my flickr stream for the original to compare.  he yellow roses have bloomed this weekend also.  We are very lucky to have such good luck with our rose bushes.  Good job Brady!  

Picture 148:  I am ending this post the way Owen ended his trip to Londonderry this weekend--by falling asleep.  My beautiful baby boy!   

  

And, as always, for the photos that didn't make the top 7 this week, check out my flicker stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sonyacarlson/ 

Week 20

Picture 135:  A roasted red pepper.  I turned it into roasted red pepper dip.  It was AWESOME! Just think spinach artichoke dip but with roasted red peppers instead of spinach and artichokes.Yum.

Picture 136:  A fly in the garden roasted just hanging out on a flower.  It let me take a bunch of pictures and didn't try to bite me. That was nice.

Picture 137:  A strawberry in the making.  Hopefully this one will be big, red, and tasty.  There are about 200 strawberry plants out there.  We should be getting some serious harvest this year.  

Picture 138:  A very long worm in the garden.  I couldn't get all of it in the picture.  It was about 8 inches long when it stretched out.  It was just resting in the dirt, then something spooked it.  That was when the worm moved super fast into a hole and was gone in about 1 second.  

Picture 139:  We have two lupine plants this year that survived from 2 years ago.  We put out seeds in 2010.   A few plants sprouted then and last summer.  This is the first year we have flowers.  PRETTY!

Picture 140:  A bit closer to the lupine.  Look at those water drops.  Look at that COLOR!  They are totally awesome flowers.  YEAH! 

Picture 141:  And, because I just couldn't get enough of a good thing, I had to put in another iris picture.  Yes, Owen is a good thing too, but he was way too wiggly this week.  I will have to focus on him when he is awake with better lighting conditions. 

And, as always, for the photos that didn't make the top 7 this week, check out my flicker stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sonyacarlson/ 

Week 19

Picture 128:  Owen is looking one way, Papa the other.  There are so many interesting things to look at in the traveling barnyard.  

Picture 129:  Goats are pretty cool.  I love the horns.  The novelty might wear off after a while, but it sure would be different to have a pair of horns on my head. 

Picture 130:  This goat has had enough.  Just take her home.  Enough with the petting and picture taking and little kids.  Let's go!  

Picture 131:  Early morning dew on a tulip.  If you look close, you can even see some fuzz on the petals.  Such gorgeous color in this flower. 

Picture 132:  Iris flowers are so complicated.  I love the many parts of the flowers.  I just have to keep looking at them.   

Picture 133:  Another look at the iris.  This time really looking at the petals and how they curve.  I am a bit bummed we have only had three iris flowers so far. 

Picture 134:  The iris in context.  There are lots of green plants around the iris. I also love the light coming across the petal on the bottom right.  This is the last photo of an iris for this week.

And, as always, for the photos that didn't make the top 7 this week, check out my flicker stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sonyacarlson/ 

Week 18

Picture 121:  The only moose I've ever seen in Concord.  It will have to do for now.  You can find this moose on Broadway.     

Picture 122:  Owen and Papa pre 5K.  I don't know that either one of them was all that smiley after 3.14 miles, but they did survive.     

Picture 123:  I think these are azaleas. These aren't in our yard, but it would be nice if they were.  Maybe next year.      

Picture 124:  A transplanted strawberry looking very happy on the back forty of Hidden Farms.  And, just to be all official, we now have a motto: agris in urbs. If you can't read Latin, the motto means "Farm in the City".  It really is.

Picture 125:  Using just a bit of post image processing, I was able to make this tulip look the way it does when the sun hits it just right.  It seems to glow.      

Picture 126:  Or maybe this is the way to make the tulip stand out.  I am going back and forth here between these two.  So close, yet so different.

Picture 127:  Owen doing what he does best right now-standing by climbing onto something.  This is a chair in the MUB at University of New Hampshire.  For Owen, this chair was much more interesting than Ira Flatow.  

And, as always, for the photos that didn't make the top 7 this week, check out my flicker stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sonyacarlson/