Hello, dears!
It is now March, that agonizing month when the sun shines brighter, things start growing, and spring finally seems around the corner… until we get a big snow at the end of the month. -_- Heh heh. Who knows whether the snow will happen this year, but for now, I’m just enjoying the signs of spring while they last! Enjoy these sunny pictures, my friends!
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Hello, dears!
A couple of days ago I ventured out into the miserably cold and rainy weather to take some pictures for you guys. It wasn’t very comfortable, but the results were worth it! đ I mainly used my macro lens extension tubes to get lovely close-ups of the jewel-like raindrops that coated everything like frost.
If you’re in need of some spring-y, fresh green in the middle of a dull winter, read on! đ
Hey, guys! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving if you live in the U. S. I sure did! Each of our three celebrations was delicious, and it was fun getting together with family. đ
Anyway, today I decided to share a few more of my poems, since you guys seemed to enjoy seeing the last ones and I seem to enjoy writing them. đ Again, they’re unrhymed poetry because number one, I am NOT very good at putting my thoughts into the boundaries of rhyme, and number two, I like the free, flowing feel of unrhymed poetry. Don’t get me wrong, rhyming poetry is amazing too, I’m just not good at it. XD
Ahem. I shall begin.
********
sky soup
the sky is
a bright bowl turned over,
set upon the earth,
filled with clear blue broth
and floating mashed potato clouds,
peppered with black birds.
old one
skin crinkled and wrinkled
like a brown paper bag,
crumpled and creased
year after year,
until it is smoothed out,
soft and mellow from
the crush of Time’s hand,
lined with the paths
that the smiles and tears
left behind.
Â
galaxies
my eyes are galaxies
with a star for every time
they didn’t come back
and I was left again –
one star among millions
and yet alone in space.
but each time they left,
I stood up again
and swallowed my tears,
adding more stars
to my galaxies,
hoping that my eyes
would shine bright enough
next time,
that they would see this light
in the darkness
and come back for me again.
raindrops
drumming.
pounding.
whispering.
tapping.
fast free falling.
sticking without glue
to everything they touch,
but only for a time and then
moving on again,
sliding sadly downwards.
weeping
to leave everything behind.
wavering, shivering,
quavering, quivering,
collecting, reflecting,
greens and grays together.
a drop reaches
the edge of the window
and
falls
off.
talking rocks
what if
there is a rock somewhere
that watched as the world was made;
that saw its perfect beauty break
into a thousand sharp thorns;
that carried the footstep
of the first fallen humans –
and the only perfect one –
on its back;
that felt the first drop of blood shed
and will feel the last;
that was thrown at martyrs
and held by kings
look closer at the next pebble
you kick down the road,
and wonder what stories
are locked inside its silent heart.
abandoned house
blank eyes,
a dusty soul,
a cobwebbed heart.
broken teeth,
a dry mouth,
a creaking voice.
but when the breeze passes by
and lifts the tangled weeds
from the old mat in front,
you can hear the old house
still whispering, “welcome.”
orion
what would it be like
to recline among the stars,
held together with twinkling joints,
drinking big dipperfuls of the Milky Way
and conversing with
the man in the moon?
***********
Ahh, that was fun. đ I hope you enjoyed reading those, dears – I’d love to hear which one was your favorite!
Which do you prefer, writing poems or stories? Poems are easier for me (mostly because they don’t have a plot, heh), but stories are fun too. đ
***Allison***
Some days I step outside, look around, and go right back in for my camera because it’s too beautiful not to. I love just walking around, taking pictures of the little beauties I find. Because that’s how to be a good photographer, you know. You have to go looking for photo opportunities, not just wait for them to find you.
Sometimes the best photos are of the little things no one else takes time to notice. I like to think that through your camera lens, anything can be beautiful. â„ Even thorns.
I love how these pictures turned out! Who knew raindrops on asparagus plants could look so neat? đ
Beautiful zinnias…
I’m a little proud of these next pictures. XD I just LOVE how the raindrops reflect color onto the Japanese beetles!
Sparrows on a barn roof. đ
Phew, that was a lot of pictures! I hope you enjoyed them, dears. đ
BUT WAIT! Before you go, could you do me a favor? I’m entering some photographs in our county fair, but I can’t decide which of these to enter in each category. Would you mind voting for your favorites in the comments?
Wildlife:
Should I do…
1. The butterfly?
2. The snail?
Rural _________
1. Mountain?
2. Golden dust? XD
3. Fall evening?
People:Â
1: My dad?
2. My sister? (I would crop and edit this a little bit more.)
Landscape:
Should I do this sunset…
Or one of the Rural ______ ones?
Thank you guys so much!
Would you like to see a post of the rest of the pictures/items I’m entering in the fair?
Do you like photographing little things and raindrops?
***Allison***
Hmm, I’ve made better titles. *Wince* You know you’re a photographer when you’re that excited over a new camera lens. XD BUT SERIOUSLY! I AM EXCITED!
I just ordered a new lens for my camera, and I am loving it! It’s a Nikkor 50 mm f/1.8 lens (see it here on Amazon), in case you were wondering. đ *Update: Whoops, I accidentally said “zoom lens” at first, but I don’t think it’s actually a zoom lens. O.o*  I love all the beautiful blur and bokeh it makes in the background with the subject in sharp focus. The one thing I don’t like is that I can’t get super close-up pictures unless I crop them smaller. But anyway, I’ll keep experimenting, and in the meantime, how would you like to see about a million or so pictures? Okay, maybe closer to a thousand, but still. đ đ
First I want to show you the difference between my old lens and my new lens. The next (awful) picture was taken with my old lens at ISO 800.
TERRIBLE! But the next picture was taken with my new lens at ISO 800. It’s so much brighter because it goes down to an aperture of 1.8 instead of 4 something, which means it lets in a ton more light and thus makes the entire picture brighter. Ta-daa! (Okay, I know it still isn’t a beautiful picture, but my youngest brother kindly brought the iris in for me to take pictures of with my new lens and I decided to experiment. đ ) So in conclusion, this new lens is way better for indoor photography and other low-light situations.
Now for the actually pretty pictures. đ Get ready for lots of raindrops, snails, and flowers!
I had to up the ISO quite a bit here so it’s kind of grainy, but I still like it. đ
Ohhhh this next one is one of my favorites!
As you can see, it was getting pretty dark when I took this picture. I think it looks kind of neat that way though!
I got quite a few pictures of this cute little snail meandering over a bush. đ
AWWWWW he’s so cute! đ
âThis poor guy’s shell looks a bit shattered.
The next two photos are a little different. For the first one I shined (or is it shone?) a flashlight close to the drops, and for the second one I used flash. *GASP*, she used flash?! I know it does look a bit flash-y, but I thought it was worth it to capture the neat glittery effect.
Moss pink are such adorable, bright flowers!
Yep, it’s a fly. đ
Lily of the Valley flowers are such charming little things, but goodness gracious, their perfume is so strong it nearly knocks you over! (Ha ha, I guess it can be that way with humans too. XD )
I really like the next picture for some reason. It’s so crisp in the foreground and beautifully blurred in the background.
Ahh, so pretty!
I love this next picture! The blur makes it look so much more professional! đ
Taking pictures of clouds and landscapes isn’t really what this lens is made for (you can’t zoom out far enough), but I did get a decent picture of part of a cloud.
PHEW! Are you still here? If you are, congratulations on making it through all those pictures. XD I hope you liked them!
Do you think snails are cute? Do you love raindrops on things as much as I do?
Have a lovely day, dear readers!
***Allison***
Last Sunday we had a lovely afternoon.
After church we had a belated but absolutely delicious Easter lunch at my grandparent’s house with our cousins.
Afterwards the kids went down to play with Marigold, a sweet, tame cat who lives in the barn.
We got distracted from the cat by a game of “Who Can Find the Tallest Dandelion.” If you have never played that game, I highly recommend it. đ Sometimes the simplest, happy things are the best things.
We have hundreds and thousands of dandelions around our farm, and some of them grow over two feet tall in the fields. Seriously.
We graciously fed our dear rabbits some of the losing dandelions. Lily sat there contentedly, not moving except for her mouth and nose, slurping up dandelion stems like spaghetti. We tried not to let the dandelions run out, but eventually they did. Until they stopped she just nibbled away one after another, looking mildly disinterested and rather sleepy.
Then we gathered eggs – a not very lovely part of the afternoon, because they were extremely dirty and it took forever. The good thing is, it didn’t actually take forever, because we finished eventually.
When we were doing the dandelion contest earlier, I had noticed the beautiful crimson clover and vetch blooms in the fields. After eggs, I ran down to the house and grabbed my camera straight away.
And so here are the photos. I love the peaceful, beautiful, serene atmosphere of them. â„
And I love that little things like dew drops and triticale and even weeds like dandelions can be so pretty and graceful.
*Happy sigh* I really enjoyed this photoshoot and I hope you did too! Thank you for persevering through allllll of those pictures. đ Do you have a favorite or favorites?
Have a wonderful day! â„
***Allison***
Allison Marie 