Lola and Her Red Bandana

This is a story about Lola and her red bandana.

 


One day, Lola found her old red bandana in her basket o' toys.

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 So she started wearing it around everyday.



On some days, she would pretend to be an one-eyed pirate.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
 

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On other days, she would pretend to be a girl scout learning about plants and such. More like how to spy on your neighbors.

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Sometimes Lola thinks she's Rosie the Riveter.

"We can do it!" she barked.

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Or she became Lola the Bandit who just robbed the storage closet that contains a 35 pound bag of kibble. 

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On sunny days, her red bandana became a sun bonnet. Like Scarlett O'Hara's.

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Until one day she heard that word.

The V-E-T

Then she put on her sympathy face with her red bandana

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The plea came a little too late. At the V-E-T she was to lose five pounds and she should exercise more.

Lola could not care less.

As long as she could still wear her red bandana

The End.

Vegetable Gardening, Part IV

It has been a while since I updated about my little balcony vegetable garden.

I took this one first week of May. Note the veggies' growth behind this attention-hog dog.

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These are from today:

Sweet pepper

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Cherry Tomato

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Miss Cherry Tomato

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Spinach. I already had the first batch on my pizza last weekend.

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Pole beans gone wild

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Peek-a-boo!

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Green beans

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Basil

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Cucumber

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Can you find the little zucchini?

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I am so excited to harvest some beans this weekend!

Have a great Memorial weekend!

Cool Effects

It was cloudy for about half of the time I was in the Smoky Mountains. Moreover, the vegetation was so thick in some trails that there was no direct sunlight. This is when the "cloudy" setting comes in handy.


This was taken with cloudy setting

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Sans cloudy setting, just auto.

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Look closely at the dot in the middle of the picture. It was an owl staring at us. Imagine walking in the woods behind Hogwarts and the owl was trying to take you somewhere...

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 I love the vibrant green color that the cloudy setting adds to the pictures. However, the auto setting gives the forest a different vibe.

f/4, 1/60, ISO 400 Cloudy

Which do you prefer?

Lexington Farmer's Market

I am a sucker for farmer's market. Madison (in Wisconsin, that is) has the best farmer's market I have ever been to. However, when I went to the  farmer's market in downtown Lexington last Saturday...I think it made me like Kentucky a little more. Although no squeeky cheese curds or spicy cheese bread (all you Wisconsin peeps, you know what I am talking about :) ), I was pleased to find my favorite produces. 


The old Lexington Courthouse, which is now Lexington Historical Museum.

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Did I mention those huge and juicy watermelons?

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Corn? Checked. Juicy tomato? Checked. Lettuce? Beans? Checked and checked.

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As you might notice already, I was too excited at the farmer's market that I did not bother changing the camera settings.

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Please excuse the construction.

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 The streets of downtown Lexington

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I probably will not find these produces in Wisconsin at this time of the year, hence why my garden got a head start this year. Oh and yes, more updates on my balcony garden coming up later this week.

Shutter Speed, Part II

In my first shutter speed post I talked about how I prefer setting aperture as priority over shutter speed. Well while I was in the Smoky Mountains, I got to experiment more with shutter speed. We visited Laurel Falls, which was a 1.7 miles hike up a few hundred feet of altitude. There were other SLR-camera-photographers who carried tripods up the trail just to capture Laurel Falls. I was not prepared to carry my tripod up the hill, and also I forgot to pack it for the trip.

f/4.5, 1/60, ISO 400

f/22, 1/1.6, ISO 400

In order to get the cool smoky effect in the second picture, the shutter speed should set as slow (1/1.6 vs 1/60). Slow shutter speed blurs moving subjects while fast shutter speed "freezes" motion. Your camera should automatically auto adjust the appropriate aperture.

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 However, slow shutter speed = shutter stays open longer = camera shake if you do not have a tripod. I had to find stable objects to set my camera on while taking slower shutter speed pictures. In the first set of pictures, I used the branches on the side and the second set I used the side mirror of our car.

f/22, 1/4, ISO 400

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The Great Smoky Mountains

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 I am back from the Great Smoky Mountains.

For four days, my family and I stayed in a log cabin in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Until two weeks before, I didn't even know about the Smokies. It was one of the best vacations I have ever had, with beautiful views and wild life. I saw two black bears, numerous pioneer log cabins, and herds of deer. Everyday I hiked at least 4 miles along streams and rivers. Every part of the park I saw was a breath-taking photo-opportunity.

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A storybook scene. When I was hiking, I thought I would run into dwarfs dressed in colorful cloth jumping on mushrooms and little white fairies flying around me. Sadly, I did not see either of them.

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f/5.6, 1/125, ISO 400

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"WARNING! Stand AWAY from the bear!" The ranger yelled as I approached the bear for this photo.

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Save the Fraser fir!

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Although Lola was not allowed on majority of the trails, we were able to fine a nature trail that allowed dogs. As you can tell, she enjoyed every part of the hike.

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More on the Smoky Mountains later this week.


p.s. No signs of little birdie, I now have to dispose the blue egg before it becomes stinky :(

This Week...

I have another excuse for not updating this week. I am vacationing with my family down in the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee this week. Great family time, great views, and of course, great photos to come later this week. Have a great week!

Out In the Country

I have a good excuse for not updating my blog last week.

I was out an' a'bout in the country.

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Where the wolf runs wild (off-leash!)

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and comes back smelling like poop

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Out in the country is where the dandelions grow wild

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and where the wild deer want to be your friends

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Out in the country is where you find pear tree blossoms,

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and beautiful baby pine cones in purple.

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Out in the country is where city folks think red barns are houses (yes, I have done that before)

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and the men work hard

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f/5.3, 1/320, ISO 100