Friday, January 14, 2011

Finches



This winter, I have not done much bird photography. The days have been cold, wet and grey, and my photographic equipment does not perform very well under those kind of conditions. However, this morning, I was able to go out for a while because the day was not as cold as it has been in previous days.

I was quite happy that I was able to take a few decent pictures, considering the still grey sky, of the house finches which seem to like being in my backyard. I have never seen this many of them in and around my yard in past winters. I was a little disappointed because when the sun came out, the finches were no where to be seen!

However, I miss the Western Bluebirds. I saw a family of them in the fall, and then I don't see them any more. Maybe they found a yard that they liked better than mine! Quite a disappointment, really, because they are not that easily spooked and in the past I have taken several good pictures of them.

Oh well. The presence of the finches at least makes up for that disappointment! mrgreen

Saturday, January 08, 2011

Christmas Cactus



I have had this pot of Christmas cactus for several years now but this past Christmas it was the first time in years that it has bloomed. Earlier last year, I decided to do something about the plant. I transplanted it into a slightly bigger pot, added more soil, and put some fertilizer in it and hoped for the best.

When I saw how much better it looked in its new pot, I immediately thought that it would definitely bloom right about Christmas time. I put it on the kitchen window sill so it could get some indirect sun.

Sure enough it started to show buds and by Christmas a few of the buds started to bloom! I was quite pleased! I think this year, I might re-pot it again, this time in a much bigger pot than it is currently in and hope that by Christmas later this year, it will bloom more profusely than it has.

I took this picture with my new Olympus 25mm lens. I am pleasantly surprised at how close to the subject I can go with this little pancake lens.

So, how has the New Year been so far? I hope it is going well for you and a good indicator for the rest of the year! mrgreen