Flower Overload, Part 1

April 25, 2016April 26, 2016 | Allison

Guys, I have SO MANY flower pictures I want to show you. I’ve been taking pictures by the hundreds, and I can’t keep up with posting them! If spring goes on much longer, I’m seriously going to wear out my camera or something. XD But I can’t help it. I LOVE SPRING! 😀

Since I don’t want to bore you to sleep, I decided to divide my boatload of pictures into bite-sized servings. (Well more like large-mouthful-sized servings. XD )

Now, onwards! 😀

flowers (25) (1024x768) — Star of Bethlehem

flowers (8) (1024x768) — Another Star of Bethlehem

flowers (24) (1024x768) — Isn’t it neat how some redbud trees have big puffs of blossoms on their trunks?

flowers (23) (1024x768) — Redbud tree blossoms

flowers (20) (1024x768) — Does anyone know what this flower is? *Update* Bella says it’s a wild geranium. Thanks, Bella!

flowers (18) (1024x768) — Virginia Bluebells

flowers (17) (1024x768) — A sea of Virginia Bluebells

flowers (11) (1024x768) — A peony of some sort – probably a Tree Peony

flowers (14) (1024x768) — Still the Tree Peony. Isn’t it gorgeous?

flowers (13) (1024x768) — Center of the Tree Peony

flowers (10) (1024x768) — Apple tree blossom

flowers (9) (1024x768) — More apple tree blossoms

flowers (7) (1024x768) — Bleeding Hearts (Not literally. I mean the flower bleeding hearts. XD)

flowers (5) (768x1024) — My grandparents have this huge flower in their flowerbed, and it does NOT smell good, let me tell you. XD It smells like a dead animal. O.o I’m not sure what it’s called though. *Update* Clara says that this is a carrion flower. Thanks, Clara!

flowers (6) (1024x768) — A fly on the carrion flower

flowers (4) (1024x768) — Wintercress (It should be spring cress! This stuff is all over the place here.)

*Gasp, puff, wheeze* Okay good, you’re still alive. In that case, look for the next part soon! XD 😉

***Allison***

P. S. And now a word from our sponsors. XD Not really. But I do have some reminders/updates/announcement thingies. Ahem.

If you’re almost out of photo space for your Blogger or WordPress blog, don’t fear, my friend. Check out Clara’s tutorial to get yourself unlimited photo space for free!
Wohoo! Lots of people have already signed up for WordCrafters, which makes me SO happy. Thank you guys! To learn more about WordCrafters and/or sign up, see my WordCrafters 2 post.
Today is the last day to solve the mystery! I’ll post the answer to these mystery pictures tomorrow the 26th. And guess what? You have soundly beaten my previous record for how many people guessed on a mystery picture post. THANK YOU! I just love reading your guesses. 🙂

Cherry Blossoms

April 22, 2016April 22, 2016 | Allison

A few days ago we walked to my grandma and grandpa’s house to take pictures of their beautiful blooming cherry tree. The blooms are so gorgeous and fluffy! Of course I took bunches of pictures. 😀 Your scrolling finger had better do its warm-ups, because this is gonna be a LOT of pictures! XD

008 (1280x960) — Cherry blossoms illuminated with light. Don’t they look like tissue paper flowers?

My sister Megan taking pictures… 😀

Aren’t the leaves so neat? The design of their veins is so intricate and delicate!

The sky was perfectly blue, which was a stunning background for the cherry blossoms.

Green grass also turned out to be a pretty background. I really like how these pictures turned out!

That last picture looks like the perfect fairy tutu. Can you just picture a little barefoot fairy with long black hair twirling through the grass with a cherry blossom skirt? 🙂

Ahh… cherry blossoms are exquisite! (I need more synonyms for beautiful here, guys. XD )

***Allison***

P. S. If you haven’t seen them yet, go take a gander at my Mystery Pictures. You only have until Tuesday before I reveal the mysteries! Thank you SO much for entering, guys! I think I have the most guesses I ever had before now!

Spring Romp

March 31, 2016 | Allison

Okay guys, this post is going to give you a delightful dose of SPRING! I LOVE SPRING! Ahem. Take a deep breath and smell the fresh spring air…

First off we have a humble dandelion. But have you ever noticed how beautiful they really are? The dandelion has such a sunny, fluffy bloom, and look at those exquisite little curlicues peppering the surface of the flower!

-Allison(dew drops, hat, nature walk, bunnies, cottonpile) 046 (2) (1280x960)

-Allison(dew drops, hat, nature walk, bunnies, cottonpile) 044 (1280x960)

-Allison(dew drops, hat, nature walk, bunnies, cottonpile) 046 (1280x960)

-Allison(dew drops, hat, nature walk, bunnies, cottonpile) 045 (1024x768)

Next up we have some more pretty weeds – with BOKEH in the background! I love bokeh. ♥ I think this is corn speedwell.

I really like these pictures! They’re so… springy! 😀

Now I’ll take a break from flowers. How about a landscape instead?

I love this next picture! (I love lots of things in this post, don’t I? XD Spring, bokeh, pictures…)

-Allison(dew drops, hat, nature walk, bunnies, cottonpile) 065 (1280x960) — The foreground is gorgeous lush triticale, and the background includes chicken houses, the litter shed, solar panels, and my cousins’ house. 🙂

Some fresh new spring oat starts…

There was some perfectly oozy mud that we just had to squish in, and after our walk, my friend and I went back. I made a little mud-bird from sticks, bark, and of course, mud. 🙂 Isn’t she cute? She is a bit dirty though. *Sigh* I’m afraid that’s her fate. XD Sometime I should go back and see if she’s still there.

-Allison(dew drops, hat, nature walk, bunnies, cottonpile) 072 (1280x960)

-Allison(dew drops, hat, nature walk, bunnies, cottonpile) 074 (1280x960)

-Allison(dew drops, hat, nature walk, bunnies, cottonpile) 073 (1280x960)

This raccoon must have liked the mud too. Doesn’t his little handprint look like human handprint? It especially does in this picture because you can’t see how small it is.

And to finish it off, here are some Lily the rabbit pictures. SQUEEE! She’s so fat and plush! … Perhaps a bit too fat and plush. XD But I love you anyway, dearest Lily.

-Allison(dew drops, hat, nature walk, bunnies, cottonpile) 076 (1280x960) (1280x960) — She looks half grumpy, half startled, and all CUTE in this picture!

Okay, guys. You are going to die from a cuteness attack when you see this next picture. Lily and a calf are making friends! (Well, at least the calf is. Lily… maybe not so much. XD Look at the expression on her face!)

I hope these pictures put an extra spring in your step. 🙂 Have a lovely day! ♥

***Allison***

Reflections at the Pond

March 29, 2016March 30, 2016 | Allison

I took these pictures on a gorgeous clear spring morning. I was getting milk from the dairy, and the pond was too beautiful to resist! The water was glassy and calm, and the reflections in the water were almost perfect! The reflection of a Canada goose swimming about looked especially neat. (We have a pair of geese nesting at our pond. Yay!)

First, a couple of flowers from around the pond: (Click to enlarge.)

Henbit

Pepperweed?

Next, the stunningly beautiful barbed wire fence. XD Just kidding!

-Allison(pond, geese) 008 (1280x960) — Bokeh!

Now some pond scenery:

-Allison(pond, geese) 011 (1280x245) — This panorama really bent the pond. Now it looks like a boomerang!

And now for the geese! The mother goose was sitting still as a statue on her nest by the pond. She looks rather wary.

And here’s the father, keeping guard. 😀 Isn’t his reflection neat?

-Allison(pond, geese) 021 (1280x960) — Cow in the background. 😉

And more reflections…

-Allison(pond, geese) 022 (1280x960) — An underwater tree? 😀 I really like this picture.

WAIT! Did any of you notice something wrong with those pictures? You should have! All of that last chunk of photos except for the first three were upside down reflections! Some of the reflections were so smooth that you could hardly notice, but some of them just didn’t look right (like the last one). Heh heh. Did you notice that or not?

See ya’ later! ♥

***Allison***

Happy Easter! + Spring Photos

March 27, 2016March 27, 2016 | Allison

Happy Easter, everyone! Christ has risen!

I thought I’d show you a few Easter-y springy pictures too. 🙂 Spring is like the year’s resurrection – the old bare trees and brown grass come to life again. Christ’s resurrection is infinitely more amazing and wondrous than spring is or ever will be, but in the new birth of spring perhaps we have a miniscule, faint taste of the joy which we will experience at Christ’s return!

So with that, enjoy this humongous spring collage. 🙂 (Click on any photo to bring up an enlarged slideshow thingy of all of the photos.)

-Allison(cake, daffodils) 005 (1280x960)

Close-up of daffodil bud

My Grandma has these beautiful orange-centered daffodils!

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And these beautiful ones too!

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Comment “Spring Fever” if you see this!

I LOVE pussy willows!

-Allison(dew drops, hat, nature walk, bunnies, cottonpile) 036 (1280x960)

-Allison(dew drops, hat, nature walk, bunnies, cottonpile) 035 (1280x960)

Once again, HAPPY EASTER!

***Allison***

Photos from of Old: Entry 3

March 22, 2016March 22, 2016 | Allison

About time for another one of these, eh? These photos were taken in the summer of 2013.

First some snail pictures… (I remember I was pretty proud of these when I took them. XD And I still like them!)

Now some flowers…

2013-06-09-Allison 007 (1280x960) — Coreopsis

2013-07-04 Allison 027 (1280x960) — Tiger Lily

I took this picture one night when after a family walk. Isn’t it adorable? (All of these next few pictures are edits of the original.)

edited carmen in the middle 1.jpg — My dad, my littlest sister Carmen, and my mom. 😀

carmen in the middle (1280x960) — It looks cute in B&W too. 🙂

edited carmen in the middle 2 — Carmen is a rainbow!

I requested my siblings to pose for this one; I think I meant it to look similar to the last photo. They look so cute and tiny (well, younger at least XD) in this photo!

2013-07-04 Allison 107 (1280x960) — Megan, Carmen, and Jeff. Just look at Carmen’s little curly head!

An edited clouds-over-field photo…

And lastly, two miscellaneous nature photos: a mushroom and bedewed leaf.

Thanks for time-traveling with me!

***Allison***

P. S. Recently my littlest sister Carmen has been determined to learn how to fly. XD XD XD She asks Mom if it’s possible for people to fly, and Mom explains that God just didn’t make humans to able to fly. But she thinks that maybe she’ll be the first person ever to do it! XD XD XD It cracks me up! But it’s adorable too. 😀 Hey, we all wish we could fly, right? One can always dream…

P. P. S. I have 111 followers! Besides the fact that that’s amazing, and “Thank you so much guys,” (but seriously – THANK YOU!), isn’t 111 such a fun number?! XD

Sunset Skyline

March 21, 2016March 21, 2016 | Allison

Hello, hello! Today I’m back with some pretty pictures of a sunset and some birdies. I took these when we were at my grandparents’ house recently.

For once, the pictures I took of a sunset actually might have been prettier than the real thing! The ‘sunset’ setting on my camera made the colors more deep and fiery than they were in real life. First, this is a picture of the whole

And now for the others…

It looks like the sky’s on fire and the mountains are blue waves rushing to put it out… Which of those pictures was your favorite? I can’t decide!

This is a branch silhouetted against a glorious sunset background.

I think I took these next pictures toward the beginning of the sunset. I especially like the second one.

Ahh… I love sunsets. Thanks for taking a peep!

***Allison***

P. S. I have even MORE photos from my grandparents’ house of several different kinds of birds we saw there. (I already made this post with pictures of our farm as seen from my grandparents’ house.) Be looking for the bird post soon!

A Walk in the Woods

March 8, 2016March 8, 2016 | Allison

Yesterday we had Nature Study with our friends, and we went for a walk in the woods after our lesson. There were so many interesting and pretty things to take pictures of!

We drove to the woods in our truck, and I snapped this funny picture of Maggie while on the ride. It makes her look quite wide, doesn’t it? XD XD XD (You can see that she’s shedding for spring. 😀 )

There was several lovely mosses that I just had to take pictures of – heh heh. 🙂 (Click on any picture to enlarge it.)

I like these pictures below of moss on a rock.

A downy feather, stranded in moss…

I also found a feather by the roadside. Isn’t it amazing how delicate and beautiful feathers are? Actually, this feather is not exactly as delicate or beautiful as some. 😀 (Click to enlarge, again.)

Megan found a little salamander and put him on a leaf to take a picture of him. I slipped in to get a few pictures too. ;D (Cli… – eh, you already know. XD )

Fungus on a branch…

Henbit… I love looking at the little purple flowerets up close.

And last but not least, here are three galls my sister spotted for me. Another gall necklace, anyone? XD XD XD

***Allison***

P. S. It feels super warm today – it’s 72 degrees (Fahrenheit)! When it’s warm in summer and spring sometimes our family will eat a meal on the little flat roof just beside our room. We listen to music, or watch the cars go by, and it’s really fun. 🙂 Have you ever done that?

Quote Edits

February 20, 2016February 22, 2016 | Allison

I’ve been using this great photo-editing site (PicMonkey) to make quote edits recently. It is SO much fun! PicMonkey has some great fonts, but my sister told me about another website (1,001 Free Fonts), that has gazillions more free fonts, so I also used some of those.

All of these edits were made by me, from pictures taken and edited by me. The quotes are either verses from the Bible, quotes from Pinterest, or part of the lyrics songs or hymns.

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#1. This is one of my favorites of the edits I made. When the world is storm-tossed all around you, cling to the Rock that stands strong above the storm.

#2. Stop and smell the roses – take time to enjoy the little pleasures around you. (Picture from this photoshoot.)

#3. I love this verse, and the ones that go with it. Why should we worry when God holds all of creation in his hand? The third and fourth edit are consecutive verses, so they go together.

#4. (Picture from this post.)

#5. Always look on the bright side. Find the blessings in disguise.

#6. Kind words are as pleasing as honey. Or more so! (This picture was from my “Bee Tree” post.)

#7. From the Doxology…

#8. Great things can come from small deeds.

#9. From the song “Waterfall,” by Chris Tomlin.

#10. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord who made the whole wide world.

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I hope you enjoyed reading those quotes – I enjoyed making them! Which was your favorite?

A lot of those pictures came from a big Western trip my family made in 2013 – some more of those pictures may show up in a “Photos from of Old” post. 🙂

***Allison***

P. S. The first WordCrafters story is finally finished! (At almost 10,000 words o.O :D) You can read it here. It’s a wonderful story – thank you SO much everyone, for participating!!

P. P. S. I know I haven’t been posting much about Farm Life, but the fact is, not many post-worthy farm things happen in winter. I suppose you’ll have to make do with photoshoots and stories and tutorials until spring. 🙂 There’s a clay tutorial coming up soon!