Sunflowers

Sunflowers are a wonderfully sunny happy flower that should be in everyone's garden.

Sunflowers come in a variety of sizes from 2 1/2 feet to a giant 10 plus feet. Their shapes vary from single blooms to double blooms and the size of their blooms can be from 3" to over 10" in diameter. Their colors go from tones of yellow, oranges, creams, and reds.  Some have brown centers and others yellow center.

Sunflowers are super easy to grow.  Plant Sunflowers in a sunny location and depending on the seed size is how deep you should plant the seed.  Follow the instruction on the seed packet.  The shorter varieties of Sunflowers you can plant in large containers. I personally like them in large groups, and planting a variety of them.  Sunflowers also make great cut flowers arranged in perhaps an antique vase.

Hey did I say Sunflowers are great for kids to plant and make their own Sunflower garden.  I have seen where the giant (10 footers) are planted and kids can walk in amongst them.

Watch the Sunflowers through out the day and see how the flower follows the sun.  In the morning they face the east and then in late afternoon they are facing west.

Sunflowers are the bright spot in my garden for me and the many birds who enjoy their seeds, like the American Goldfinch, Chickadee, Sparrow, and many more.  Sunflowers will self sow (re seed) and come back year after year depending on how many you grow. 

Being that my schedule is so busy lately with art shows and getting ready for college I will only be posting once a week for awhile.  Probably on Thursday or Friday.  If time allows I will post more often and when shows end I will post more too.

On another note....I've been missing my little buddy.......for alot of people who have pets those pets are like your children.  And that's the case for me.  So when you lose one of your kids it's heart breaking.....a couple of months ago I lost my dog Ben to a brain tumor.  Which was heart wrenching for me.  It has been more difficult than I ever expected.  I miss his companionship so much.  I know this may sound silly to some, but when you have a dog that was so devoted to you and he was taken from you because of a tumor.......he was so rich with energy and love that even now it's so hard to believe he is gone.  I just miss him so.....I know in time it will get better and I will definitely adopt another dog someday.  In the mean time I still have 2 wonderful dogs Blu and Sami who I love just as much.   I just needed to vent alittle. 

Sami 14, Ben 11, Blu 15

Hitting The Books

Tricubes

After lots of thinking and debating back and forth on whether or not to go back to school.  I finally decided to go back.  I've realized that if for what ever reason my photography career doesn't work out, I really don't have any great skills to fall back on.  I've thought long and hard of what I would do if I didn't have photography.  There wasn't a whole lot to chose from in my eyes that would interest me.  If I thought for 1 second that I could go back and get a degree in Marine Biology or Zoology I would but, of course when I had the opportunity to study them I didn't.  Apparently that wasn't the plan.  Anyway so I decided to get a degree in business.  The degree is Entrepreneurship & Small Business Management.  With this degree it gives me plenty of opportunities for expanding my photography business.  Not sure which direction it will go, but I know that by the time I graduate I will know where I am in my career.

I have to say I'm nervous about getting started, but super excited and I know I have made the right decision! 

I took a couple of placement tests yesterday 1 for English and the other for Math.  Neither subject is my best.  English I had 90 minutes....I was very stressed at first then when I realized that the time wasn't going so fast I slowed down and tried to think things through.  Math on the other hand.....outside of the basic it's so not my thing!  Algebra is what I'm placing for and without even taking the test I can say right away start me at the very beginning.  I have no clue why x+y= a or whatever or why I even need Algebra.  My high school teacher passed me with a just passing grade cause he liked me.  I'm so not looking forward to Algebra!!!!!!  Anyway my first semester will be Accounting I, General Psychology, English Writing and the ever popular Algebra. 

You know in High School there was all that homework and I've heard there is twice as much in College.  I'm hoping I'm ready for it.  I have a serious thirst for knowledge right now and looking forward to expanding my brain.

About the photo above.  This photo is part of my Color Reflection Collection which is a unique collection of photos using the same 4 elements compose differently to create each photo.  Keep watch I will be adding new photos each week to this collection.

Fresh Blueberries

It's that time of year again when the blueberries are starting to ripen and are ready for picking. 

This morning while I was out photographing in the garden I noticed there were quite a few blueberries that needed pickin.  I had to get them before the Robins do.  Beside worms they like blueberries too.  Got myself a bowl and went pickin.  The bushes are so full of bleuberries that the branches are drooping. 

Today I got a bowl full, but I'm sure by the time blueberry season is over I will have enough blueberries to make pies, tea bread, blueberry pancakes and so much more.  Just look at all these yummy berries!  This weekend I will be making my favorite blueberry lemon tea bread.  I will have photos later.

Here are Monday's Treasuries

Treasuries

As I try to play catch up now, here are last week's treasuries.

Starting Over.....

You may be wondering why I have a new blog, or maybe you can't see the difference between the old blog and new blog.  That's okay......cause here's the scoop.  I had recently taken my cell phone back to the shop if you will, because I was having problems with it.  So the cell phone company did a factory reset, which I was okay with everything was backed up and reloaded, but I had to redo my gmail account which is for the phone only.  I have a separate personal email account with Google which my blog and analyics are on.  For what ever reason the 2 accounts conflict (which they hadn't in the past) and Google had asked me to update.  Well I tried and tried for hours with no luck, I was directed and redirected more times than I need to count.  I tried to get help through Google but no luck.  After too many hours of frustration I gave up and choose to start up another blog.  I still have plenty to fix and readjust, but hopefully I have enough time before I lose the temporary email they gave.

In the mean time this is an opportunity to start fresh.

Saturday I was at the Norway Arts Festival (Maine) and it was HOT to say the least. It was my first time at this event and wasn't busy at all, but it was probably because of the Hot and Humid day. I did make expenses, but nothing extra. And I will try this show again next year. Maybe the heat won't be so bad. Like everyone else lately this is not typical for Maine to have such hot and humid conditions. Hopefully it is just a freaky thing this year.

The Beach

So after a crazy hot weekend I am going to remember being on this beach and totally relaxing.  Listening to the waves on the shore, sea gulls, the gentle breeze, breathing in smelling the salt air and just closing my eyes and being at peace.  Forgetting all the craziness of the past week and letting my whole being relax.  It's time to regroup and move on to the next......