I like my flowers like I like my coffee.... Covered in Bees!

This summer I didn't plant much in the backyard.  Maybe a few plants here and there, but I usually let the wilderness decide what survives (you hear what I'm saying? Instead of a green thumb, I have a black thumb and tend to kill my plants).

With that being said, I noticed that the morning glories from last summer were coming back... and with the rain, they were coming back strong.  This morning, especially, the flowers were in full bloom and looked lovely.  And then we noticed them moving! And they some very, very happy bees rolling in the pollen.

Here are the best shots from the morning...

Pretty flowers - so vibrant!

I don't have photoshop... otherwise I'd darker parts of this one.

Same with this one.

BEES!

Such happy little guys.

 Love this one.  Pollen covered butt sticking out. So cute.

He stumbled out of the flower, like a drunk from a bar. Definitely my favorite.

Although, this one is pretty cool.

That's not a bee! =) Silly Domino.

Thoughts?

Picture this.

Last weekend, the hubby went out of town on a boy's weekend trip.  Jessie's boy went along with him. So what did we do? Why, hang out and take some awesome pictures of DC Monuments!

I know the lighting isn't great on a lot of these, but I'm still trying to figure out my fancypants camera.  Luckily, Jessie's trying to start her own photography business so she's super knowledgeable about this stuff and gave me some tips (ex: use the RAW setting so I can adjust exposure on my computer afterward... SO HELPFUL!).

The tree grew around the headstone. Really neat looking.

She's too short! So cute.

Looks like the tree of life.

The shadows are really cool.

The Air Force Memorial over the hill.

I love that you can see the Washington Monument through the trees.

This says "his wives" - I found it interesting they share a place.

So crowded! The headstones are 5" from the wall.

Walked off base and went to the Iwo Jima Memorial

Love this image with the Washington Monument in the distance.

"Let Freedom Ring" - Gift from the Netherlands after WWII. Beautiful.

Jessie being artsy and taking pictures.

I loooooovvvveee tulips. And, shockingly, there are tulips planted in front of the Netherlands bell tower.

See the pyramid? Not sure why there is one.

Air Force  Memorial.

Pentagon from a distance.

So, those are the good ones.  Feedback welcome!

Springtime for ...

A couple weeks ago two of our friends came up and we spent the day frolicking.  I'm not a great photographer, but she is and had recently bought a new portrait lens for her Canon Rebel something.  I have a Canon Rebel something as well and joined her in picture taking outside with my two furry friends.

Since I tried to knit some eggs tonight and just got frustrated as they turned out holey (how appropriate!) I'll share some of my picture skills.

The hubby likes to point out that I overexpose my pictures (guilty as charged) so any advice on messing with settings on a digital camera to prevent that is much appreciated!

Outside? Mmmm...

SHE'S POSING. Man, she's a beautiful cat though.

I think this is my favorite of Bailey from that day.

What's this?

Another goodie of Bailey.

She sees something she likes.

Just kidding. This is how people NORMALLY see her... a streak running away from them.

Playing on the rocks.

I was carrying Domino back from the HVAC system into the sunny area near us.  I candidly pointed the camera at her and got this.  I love it. It's so... her.

Tried the candid shot again.... didn't work.

I didn't have the best angle, Jessie did, but Bailey started rolling on the rocks and looking super cute.

Domino was put in time-out because she kept trying to run away.

Comments welcome!