Festive New Year's Eve

Awaiting the Ice




Bird Refreshments

Waiting for the Pianist

Music and deer for Christmas:



Waiting for the pianist.




Waiting for Santa.




Waiting.

The deer were all fashioned from dried vines and canes, strung with tiny white lights, and animated. I think this mother is trying to help her baby get back to its feet.

More Christmas Fun at Cheekwood

Main Entrance




Gold Tree Near a Stairway




Green Tree in an Exhibit Room




Warm Interior, Wintry Terrace

Christmas Lights at Cheekwood

On Friday, December 4, I toured the beautifully decorated Cheekwood art museum and botanical gardens. The day was overcast and wintry. As we entered the lobby, I asked at the desk for permission to photograph the Christmas trees and other decorations, and got a yes. In general, photographs are not allowed of the museum's collection of paintings and sculptures. Below, a snowman was keeping warm on one of the terraces:

St. Nicholas Day

Have a look at Dierk Haasis's great image, on his Zuihitsu blog, and enjoy St. Nicholas Day! (Click on the post title, above, to go there.)

Also, see the Flash Christmas slide show on the front page of his website: http://www.dh2publishing.info/

Walking in Edwin Warner Park

A path through a wooded area adjoining the Nature Center at Edwin Warner Park is said to be the old roadbed of a portion of the original route of the historic old Natchez Trace, which has run between Nashville, Tennessee, and Natchez, Mississippi, from the earliest days of these settlements.



Cobblestones in the path hinder walking a bit, especially in muddy areas strewn with wet leaves.

Fall on Grandview Drive

Looking uphill, west, on Grandview Drive:



Dogwood in the Mist:



Late October Roses:







October lilies:



Side-yard maple:



Leaf:

New Slide Show from Dierk Haasis

Don't miss the beautiful autumn photographs on the website of Dierk Haasis. A view of Hamburg's inner city park, images from a Japanese garden, and many other lovely scenes. For more about this photographer, read my comments under "About Me,' just to the right of my posts here at my own website.

Near the Yard with the Cannas, October 14, 2009

Between showers, last Wednesday, I took a walk with my Canon G2 digital camera and tried to capture the raindrops on this planting, which is on the same property as the canna bed, but nearer to the house.





Here's one of the grass blossoms, close up:





And one of the roses:

Cannas Revisited

Between Showers, October 14, 2009

Images from a Dogwood in October, with colors enhanced, using LightZone

The brilliance of this dogwood tree in the afternoon sunlight did not come through well in my original image. I should have adjusted the camera settings better. But I've tried to recapture the memory of what I saw by warming the color temperature slightly and then increasing the luminosity and saturating the colors a bit.



Here's a close-up of a leaf of this tree, made the same afternoon. I enhanced this image also, using LightZone to saturate the colors.

Enhanced Images, from RAW files, using LightZone

The two images of cannas that I posted on September 5 are a bit dim, compared to what they looked like to my eyes, as I made the photographs. Here's an effort to approximate what I remember.

September Cannas

Subtropical Cannas Flourish in a Neighboring Garden

August Mushroom Crop

At sunrise, on my neighbor's front lawn:



Mushrooms as big as dinnerplates:



A view of the stipe:

Rainy July

In this unusually cool, wet July, a large parasol mushroom has unfolded its gills on the front lawn.

Poking through the Fence

Ubiquitous Pokeweed
(Phytolacca americana)

Lush on my backyard fence after an unusual series of July rains.

Dogwood Berries in July

Certain Cats

I wrote this little verse for Thistle, who likes to hear me sing:



The cats that sit on human laps
And view the scene outdoors
Will bond by grooming, though, perhaps,
They may not share the chores.
They'll purr and play and bring delight
At morning and at noon,
Contriving through the day and night
To keep our lives in tune.

Poke Sallet in Bloom

Poke Sallet Blossom Close Up

When the bough breaks ...

after the storm

Zoo Carp

Three Giraffes at the Nashville Zoo

May's birthday flower, the daisy

Between Storms

Sunshine After Rain



May Abundance

Along the Natchez Trace

Historical Marker



Little Harpeth River in Flood



Swimming Hole on the Little Harpeth