Photo-A-Day: April 20, 2014 - Feather

It's so nice being with someone when you're looking for things to photograph.  While I was looking West toward Admiralty Bay, Jody was driving and looking at Crockett Lake on the other side of the road.  She pulled over saying "bird."  And there he was, this magnificent Great Blue Heron standing in the water.

I slipped slowly and quietly out of the car and was able to capture this photo of him....

before he started walking away...

...and looked as though he might fly off

Photo-A-Day: April 18, 2014 - Purple

I love rhododendrons.  We had bushes across our second house in New Jersey; my favorite house of all those in which we lived.  Rhododendrons have always had a slightly special place in my heart. 

While I was on Whidbey Island, WA, I had hoped to visit the Meerkerk Rhododendron Gardens.  Unfortunately, I was just ahead of the flowering season.  Imagine my delight, however, when we stopped at a Starbucks and outside the window was the fabulous rhododendron in full purple bloom.  Thank you, Oak Harbor.

Photo-A-Day: April 11, 2014 - Three of a Kind

No matter your craft, everyone knows you need more than one of each tool.  The yarn is a given; it takes  more than one skein to make most things. These, plus two others, are for the Matisse blanket I'm making.    The hooks?  Sofa's eat them.  You always need more than one of each size.  These are Clover Amour ergonomic hooks.  I'm not certain I could go back to regular hooks.

Photo-A-Day: April 10, 2014 - Looking Down

I love to fly.  I love to watch the world pass beneath me and watch the topography change.  Flying back from Seattle to Oakland, I asked the pilot on which side I should sit for optimal photographs.  He smiled and said "Always sit behind the pilot."  So I did and captured this wonderful shot of where Suisan Bay opens into San Pablo Bay at the very top of the San Francisco Bay.

Photo-A-Day: April 9, 2014 - Children

It was such fun to watch the deer in my friend's yard.  She had put out a deer block for them.  Just as with children, one of the bucks was less than willing to share with the other.  "Mine!" it seemed to say.

Photo-A-Day: April 8, 2014 - Hobby

It's not quite right to call them hobbies.  Now that I'm retired, they have really become unpaid vocations. 

Reading--something about which I've always been passionate--and reviewing.  Mystery is my genre and I seriously started writing reviews in 2008.

Crochet I learned when I was 11.  I moved to needlepoint in 1980 but back to crochet in 2010.  I quickly determined there was really nothing I needed to crochet for myself, yet could put my love of handwork to use by crocheting for charity.  I started the Facebook group SASsy Stitchers in 2011 and, as of April 7th, we now have 400 members! 

Least I forget, I now have a third hobby which has changed the way in which I look at the world around me.  Photography.

Photo-A-Day: April 7, 2014 - Distorted

Sometimes you think you're focused on something, yet your camera has a different idea.  The shot on the left would have been perfect, had I wanted details of the trees.  Instead, it completely distorted the chickadee.  However, with the second shot, on the right, I accomplished my goal