A Bit Tropical

Zinnia sp.

Four More Flowers

Marigold - Tagetes sp.

What a hot afternoon!

97F is about as hot as it gets here in Oregon.

I took a slow walk back to my car after work and stopped to admire some of the more often ignored flowers along my path.

Gazania sp.

Even this heat and drought tolerant Gazania was starting to get faded by the hot sun.

Here's another less faded one.

Ice Plant - Carpobrotus edulis

I love the way these flowers look almost metallic in the sun.

They also do well during cool wet weather like we had last October.

Lily of the Nile - Agapanthus sp.

These flowers are really pretty, but they have tall thin stalks with big bunches of flowers on top... which usually leads to some awkwardly composed pictures.

Luckily, the light was shining just so and I managed to get this very nice close up - my favorite pic of the day!

I Have Logos

It's official now.

I can put the initials CSBA after my name.

I just received the confirmation email and the CSBA logos in case I want to put them on my business cards, letterhead or website.

They will send me the Certificate in 6-8 weeks and after that can be included in the official registry online.

Quick Trip to Commonwealth Park

Sami and I spent most of Sunday indoors, reading and resting and doing things like that.

Late in the afternoon we decided to take a quick trip to Commonwealth Park to enjoy the beautiful weather. It's been a while since we last visited the ducks.

Baby Mallard

Most of the wild ducks were gone for the summer. (We see a lot more species in the winter.) But there were still a bunch of female mallards and a few late-season ducklings.

Sami finds a cat.

Sami claims that he is not a cat person, but I have proof!

He was very worried about this cat and thought we should call the number on the tag. I said I was sure this was a neighborhood cat just having fun chasing the ducks.

Mama duck is concerned by the approaching cat.

She called another female duck over to help her protect the babies.

Sami, the duck whisperer.

Sami's very good at getting close to the ducks without scaring them off. Sometimes he doesn't even have to try - they just come to him.

The family rests peacefully.

There weren't any male mallards left on the lake. Sami felt bad for all the single mamas.

Duckling close-up

We leave the cat to continue its stalking

Nutria

Finally More Fotos & Finials too

Shadows on the Wall

Between starting my new job and taking the SBA exam, this past week has been incredibly busy.

I was so happy to finally get a chance to get out and take some pictures that I couldn't even wait until I'd gotten out of the shopping center parking lot.

Morning Dew on Maple Leaf

(ok, actually it's from the automatic sprinkler, but that just doesn't so so poetic.)

Red Gladiola

This is from the same yard where I took the pictures of the Pink Gladiola. It's the only red one in the bunch.

Pink Cosmos - Cosmos bipinnatus

Bee on a Sunflower

Across the street from the library where I work there is a big field. Close to the road there is a "Learning Garden" tended to by the students on campus. Most of the food from the garden goes to the local food bank.

The sunflowers are growing along the fence between the garden and the road.

Sun Catching Sunflower

I'd been looking at these sunflowers for a week... but today the light was just right!

These next sculptures were made by Jim Johnstone's ceramics class. Jim actually works in the library, but he makes some amazing pottery and teaches a class or two.

Anyway, he came up with the idea of having his class make finials for the fence in front of the learning garden. There are some really fun and creative ones. Unfortunately there aren't any tags to indicate the names of the sculptures or the artists.

Jim's Pea

I was showing these photos to Jim in the library and said this pea was my favorite. He said it's his! Impressive.