Orange Iris at the Beach: Flower of the Day Challenge

At the beach last week, this apricot-burgundy iris had a great day in the breezy sunshine.

Observatory at Hudson Yards

This is edge, a not-yet-completed observation deck on one of the shiny new towers of Hudson Yards, a real-estate development in midtown Manhattan that officially opened to the public this past March.

The triangular observatory is the “highest public balcony in New York” as well as the “highest outdoor deck in the entire Western Hemisphere,” according to the Hudson Yards website. The smaller inset triangle (fans of Nintendo’s Zelda series will see the triforce) shows the glass-bottomed floor of the observation deck, which allows visitors to see the street 1,100 feet below.

The official website says visits to edge are “coming soon,” but a recent article from CNN says it’s scheduled to open next year.

K is for Keep Going #AtoZChallenge

Keep going, tender little leaves. Spring is just getting started, and it’s your time to grow big and strong. Feast on the warm sunshine and breathe in blue skies.

Lily of the Valley 2

Some more photos of the pretty little bunch of lilies that I bought at the farm.

This was where we picked our own asparagus.

X is for tktktk

In the field of journalism, tktktk is a placeholder meaning “to come.” It’s inserted into a story when you intend to add something later. It could be a quote, a date, a name, etc–usually something you need to double check or research. The combination of “tk” rarely appears in normal words, so a tktktk in a story will get flagged by spellcheck, letting you know that something is missing, whereas “insert date” would not (and might even end up in the final version of the story if everyone is in a rush while editing that day, haha).

Why talk about this today? Because I can’t think of anything for X. I think I hit my peak last year with X is for X Marks the Spot. That’s as good as it gets in my frame of mind right now, and there’s nothing I can do about it but try to add something later. So, be sure to come back again sometime and enjoy the brilliance of whatever that idea turns out to be. Prepare to be amazed when you find out that X is for tktktk!

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I’m participating in the A to Z Challenge for the month of April. The idea is to post every day, except Sundays, and end up with one post for each letter of the alphabet. It’s a good challenge to help me to blog every day.

Happy Easter Flowers

Hyacinths, because my Grandparents always had them at Easter.

Their small house was always overpowered by the heavy fragrance of hyacinths.

And now, each year, I make sure that my small place is, too.

And daffodils, because they are like little cups of happiness.

Get a bunch of them together and oh, how they gossip.

They know how to enjoy life.

Cute and bright smiles of sunshine.

Happy Easter!

Spring, Is That You?

Are you there, Spring? It’s me, Cynthia.
I’m waiting…

Roses in Sunshine 4

This is the fourth and final edit of the roses. I didn’t notice what was happening with the sky until I was playing with some of the darker filters. I think it brings out some interesting features in the sky as well as the petals.

I joined the One Four Challenge, in which participants show four different edits of the same photo over four weeks. Alternatively, you can decide to take four versions of the image at the time of shooting.

Here is the third edit of my photo of the roses.

The second week’s is here.

And this is the original.

Roses in Sunshine 3

Here is the third edit of my photo of the roses. I joined the One Four Challenge, in which participants show four different edits of the same photo over four weeks. Alternatively, you can decide to take four versions of the image at the time of shooting.

Last week’s is here.

And this is the original.

Photo Challenge: Seasons

This week, the Daily Post asked to see our interpretation of the weather where we live. We could also represent the season, or phase, of life that we feel right now. My photo represents both because it lets me show that while the trees in my world are still firmly in winter’s grip, the sun is shining and it’s almost time for winter to melt away for good.

I’m feeling ready for spring, so maybe I’m showing my idealized version of my current weather. Truth is, we’re not quite that close to spring. There are still plenty of chilly, rainy grey days ahead. This year has been warmer than usual, so most of our snow has come to us in the form of very cold rain. That doesn’t have quite the charm as a pretty dusting of powder. This photo is actually from last year. I haven’t seen many icicles this winter. It sure has been a weird one.

We got our huge blizzard just under a month ago, which I took a walk through. The next day was bright and sunny, as well as a week later when I went outside to check the progress on the melting snow. Earlier this month there was a very dramatic and pretty snowstorm that provided some nice winter scenes. But otherwise, it’s been pretty drab and chilly.