Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy ♥ Day to you! It's a day for hearts and flowers!

Happiness depends... ~ October 1st

Happiness depends, as Nature shows,
Less on exterior things than most suppose.
~ William Cowper (1731–1800)

Around & About: Shooting the Familiar

Thanks to Jessica at Jessica Rogers Photography and her weekly photo gallery, I've been inspired to get out on a regular basis to shoot pictures. And I've found there is plenty to photograph right in my own neighborhood. (Click on images to enlarge.)




Sunday I spent some time at the Gilsland Farm Audubon Center, located about 3 miles down the road from my place.



There is a community garden there, and while exploring it I came across this lovely double lily (below). I've submitted this photo to both Jessica's Photo of the Week and Illustration Friday, where this week's theme is Double.



I also discovered some marvelous outdoor sculptures made of metal.



These huge animals make a striking statement with the meadows as a backdrop. A quick online search brought up the details about the massive pieces:

"Wendy Klemperer salvages industrial materials to construct expressive gestural sketches in steel. This exhibition features extirpated wildlife species including life size wolves, elk, caribou, and mountain lions along with native deer, fox and porcupines. Sculpture will be sited along the entry drive, woodland trails, by the pond and apple orchards of Gilsland farm, re-imagining these species on the Maine landscape."



I'm looking forward to seeing what I'll find this week during my quest for the next great photo!

Flower Power: spring blossoms near the beach

Yesterday I spent the morning in my old neighborhood near Willard Beach in South Portland, Maine. I saw many gorgeous spring flowers and flowering trees and had a great time snapping pictures. They seemed to be everywhere I turned! Here are a few of the blossoms I saw. (Remember to click on each image for a better view.) Next time, I'll share photos of the beach and sea.













Have a wonderful weekend!

Photo pairs: the experiment continues

(Please click on photos for a bigger view.)
I asked my good friend Silke at Metamorphosis to help me with this posting. I was inspired by Neville at Sainte Verde Digest to try pairing photos -- one of Silke's with one of mine. (Hers are on the left, and mine are on the right.) Pairing photos is harder than it looks! Neville makes it look so easy. He has an amazing eye. I don't know that I have his talent for design, but I had a ball doing this. In fact, it is kind of addictive, so you will probably be seeing lots more photo pairs.