Celebrating Memorial Day

Well, the day has only just begun, but I started it by taking a "turn" around our back yard. It rained last night, so these flowers were freshened-up; the colors are right out of the camera. I used my monopod.
I like that iris can be abstract with the right macro view.



A new blossom to our yard this year, the lantana. Each of these mulitcolored "pillows" is about 1 1/2 inches across.

FROM MY "26 THINGS" POST

Here are 2 I just posted to catch up on my list of 26 Things. One is "Steep", taken in April on the lower road at Alpental. We visited our old house on the upper road on a Bluebird Day. The face of Denny Mountain was always in our faces, being so close and so steep

I thought of this guy right away for the subject of "Solitary". This was taken just south of Bandon, on the southern Oregon coast.

WHERE CREDIT IS DUE

I must let Mr. Peacock redeem himself after I posted his backside! He is too dignified for me to leave that last impression! These are all right out of the camera; no dooding-up. These colors are true and unenhanced, even though they look like I have fussed with them. Nope. It was cloudy and I was using my monopod.


I have never paid attention to the tail feather structure closest to his body; I am always enthralled with the "eye"-spots of blatant color. But these, as shown below, are unreal! They look like a stained-glass window, or as if they are painted on.

MORE ZOO FACES

Lucky for us, it was a cloudy day; best for crowd control, and best for photography. These are all straight out of the camera, and yes, we could get "that" close and these are not cropped.

This tapir decided to stick his tongue out at us, and he was caught in the act!
Now, here is a charmer! This gorilla's face was literally pressed against the glass. Not a good photo because of lighting and glass. See below for perspective!
You probably wouldn't know this is a gorilla unless I told you; too much glass glare. A and gorilla were nose-to-nose!

26 THINGS - CATCHING UP

I took our 3-/12 yr-old grD to the zoo this last week. Great fun! Peacocks that day must have had a high level of testosterone, and while at large, were mostly in full-feather! I knew immediately what I would do for "Backside"! One usually doesn't pay attention to what is behind those exquisitely-colored feathers.

This one is also from the zoo. This couple sports one of my favorite color combinations quite naturally: blue and yellow.

MOTHER'S DAY TULIPS

Dick knows I never tire of tulips...as long as they are in season, I am thrilled with the bouquets he brings to me! Today he shopped for groceries which he will make into dinner for Mother's Day tomorrow, and these jumped into his shopping bag.
Right away, I knew they had to go into the new chrystal vase my sister gave me for myb-day, on top of one of the table runners we brought back from Hungary.
Could there be a better match? Whataguy!

GET 'EM WHILE I CAN

Today I went with Dick for guy-thing kinda' errands. When we found ourselves longer than usual at the oil pit stop, Merriweather and I walked around the perimeter of the building. I guess one never knows the beauty that can be even in a place like that! Here is my first dogwood of the season. I love dogwood and there will be many more attempts, for sure.

These photos are sooc, so this is a little blown-out. The gone-wild field of dandilions made me smile. I tried some for Macro Monday, so perhaps in a couple of days I will see how those turned out. They will be here if they are worth anything.
And here, a tangle of old wood, rust, dried-up grasses, and pansies.