Ice

We had our first real freeze, 27ºF, last night which put some nifty ice and ice bubbles in a planter bottom tray. It took some playing with shots to realize that the DOF was so shallow that i had to shoot directly over the bubble i wanted or i couldn't get it in focus even with stacking. These four shots were a surprise as the bubble i was shooting burst after the third shot, leaving a collar of mini-bubbles where the large one was:

The bubble, all the bubbles, were moving, some slowly some quickly. It hadn't occur to me that the bubble would burst or i would have tried to catch it in bursting action. Still, it left a nice ring behind.

Empty yard

Waiting for a bus the other day, i realized i was standing in from of a yard, with steps, that had never been completed and there was just an empty yard where a house would usually be. It was sorta neat.

There is a highly decorated shed at the back of the lot

Standing at the top of the steps

I walked up to the design and while i like it, i'm not able to read it; can you?

Backyard Trees

Trees ... they're amazing, no matter what time of the year:

Mineral Mine

On the way back from the Inn north of us, we stopped to visit a mineral mine. From the late 1800's to the mid 1900's, feldspar was mined here and is the main ingredient in Bon Ami, a non-scratching cleanser. Today the mine is flooded and not accessible and i was disappointed that i wasn't able to actually enter a mine shaft. Except for the first view below which is just inside what use to be the mine entrance -but now all blocked off- there's not much sense of a mine having been here except the grounds are filled with old mining equipment of which i didn't take any photos.

It was very sunny and the light reflecting on the water inside the overhang gave it a very bright look.

From the outside it looked like this:

They did have a 'company store' that was interested. Set up as they use to be in the 1880's, etc., it was a walk thru much like a museum - actually, exactly like a museum which was what it was.

Colorful Hills

That's interesting, sorta. Am using two monitors side-by-side and the image above (the one you'll see) is nowhere near as bright nor colorful as the one on the monitor on which i work on the photos. Humm ... would love to read some feedback from you about how these are for you to look at. However, if you are looking at this on a smart phone, feedback is not so useful as the image will be much too small for any kind of detail which doesn't mean you can't enjoy them-please do.

Basil Blooms

When basil begins to bolt, it grows cute little blooms at the top of the stem. While for regular basil and purple for purple basil. I had want to so some macro work with the purple blooms this year but waited a bit too long and the blooms began to brown - sorry.

Colors

Spent the last couple of days in the mountains 'tween Boone and Blowing Rock, about twice the altitude of Asheville which is 2211' where we live. The colors were pretty good but there had been a very big storm as we drove there and i'm guessing that half the leaves were blown off the trees, maybe more. So the colors, though beautiful, were somewhat sparsely distributed across the hills and mountains. Still, it was worth the trip.

Looking east from BR Parkway

Blowing Rock mini-park

Colors in them-there hills

and on the farm