Stone cottages can be warm

Posted on May 21, 2010 by pearlsandprose

I just love me some stone cottages. I want to live in one, but that would mean I’d have to stay on the East Coast and I don’t want to do that. If all goes well, we’ll move back to California in two years after Miss Pearl graduates.

This lovely gem is part of the Hagley Museum in Pennsylvania. This is where the DuPont family began their gun powder business before branching out into chemicals.

We have another beauty near us that we visit regularly. The first photo was taken in the early afternoon; the other two at dusk. I love how the sun lights up the stones….

I think the most beautiful stone I’ve ever seen was in the Cotswolds district of England. GORGEOUS honey-golden limestone that nearly makes you want to weep. Oh, I wish I were there now. Literally a photo op on every corner.

Of course, I took all my travel photos in Europe with film, back before I went digital. I hear you can scan negatives onto a CD–I should do that. When I was younger, I traveled ’round the Mediterranean for about four months and took a lot of photos. Unfortunately, the boyfriend got the negs and I got the prints, which are now faded.  Maybe now that the vintage look is in I could use them after all….

I kept a journal while traveling around the Med. In French, so I would never lose the language. I toy with the idea of translating it on another blog from time to time.  The faded photos would certainly lend a touch of nostalgia, yeah?

All but one of today’s photos are on Flickr. I’m not going to put everything on that site because some things are just for the blog. Period. 

Hope this day is a good one for you….

Posted in architecture, home, photography, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Brain-dead

Posted on May 21, 2010 by pearlsandprose

Hello…. I’ve been downloading things like Photohop Elements 8 and textures and actions for two days, plus viewing tutorials on said programs, and…my brain is fried. As usual, I’m trying to cram in everything as fast as possible, because I’m so ready to learn something new. It’s just my way.

I’m realizing now that it’s a learning curve and I need to slow down and do one thing at a time. This will require huge amounts of patience on my part. Not easily accomplished. I always thought of myself as a patient person, but…maybe not.

Since everyone is probably sick of seeing flowers on here (I know I am!) I’m putting up a few pictures I took on our honeymoon in Spain last year.  I had never been, and neither had my husband, so away we went. I kind of wish I’d taken him to France, because I’m fluent in the language, but I did OK with my Spanish.

Here’s a shot of a side street in Sevilla in southern Spain:

The thing I liked most about Sevilla was that orange trees were growing everywhere. The colors of the buildings were beautiful too.

We did tons of walking, because our hotel was a mile away from the main sites and there wasn’t a lot of public transportation, except for some trolleys near the cathedral. We were only there for a weekend, so didn’t really have time to figure out the bus routes. And we needed to walk off all the paella!

I love the way this building looks in the setting sun:

Right after I took this picture, we had ice cream at the most beautiful little cafe with lots of dark mahogany wood trim and old-fashioned tile. The coffee ice cream was the best we’ve ever had. Hands down.

My poor husband had kind of a hard time with the meal schedule in Spain. Many places wouldn’t even serve us until 9 p.m., so we’d go to tapas bars, but never knew how much to order. One time we ordered a tapa that seemed to translate as “lasagna with apples.” I even looked it up on my little pocket translator. Sure enough, it was lasagna with meat sauce in between layers of sliced apples. Bizarrely good. Oh, it was enough to serve an army too. No dinner that night.

These pigeons were perched in the old walls outside the Real Alcazar, the royal palace in Seville, built in the 1500’s.

I loved the gardens at the palace and we spent a lot of time just wandering around them. A very cool oasis in the middle of the city.

This building was very near the Alcazar…the light in Seville is really beautiful.

 Thanks for stopping by….

Posted in architecture, photography, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Apologies and peonies

Posted on May 19, 2010 by pearlsandprose

I must apologize for the lackluster header and fonts on this blog. I’m very new to WordPress and haven’t quite figured everything out yet. I followed the directions for the font kit, but have no clue as to how to use them. Blogger.com was a little more “user-friendly,” but I’m not going to let a bit of newness scare me off.

I spent most of yesterday adding my tags in by hand, as they’d been turned into “categories” when I imported my old blog. There are only tags on blogger, so this is something new. I also had to upload a few photos again because they were the older, smaller versions not on Flickr. If you click on a photo and it doesn’t take you to my Flickr photostream, just try another photo. 

I promise this is the last of the peonies, because they are, unfortunately, short-lived. I call this one “sorbet,” but I found a similar one in the White Flower Farm catalog that’s called “Raspberry Sundae.” Incidentally, this catalog is fantastic. They have such beautiful plants and the photography is first-rate.

I wish I’d taken more pictures of this one! It didn’t look that great through the lens and I’d already kept Mr. Pearl waiting quite some time. Next year….

This is the one in my current header. I call it “Ruffles.”

It’s the middle of May (well, later) and we have the heat on! What is up with that? 54 degrees outside, that’s what. I don’t remember May being quite this chilly last year. I know I shouldn’t complain, because the heat and humidity are coming soon enough. And it’s kind of nice to feel “justified” staying inside working on photography and blogging.

When I lived in Southen CA, there was so much pressure to be outside when it was gorgeous. Problem is, it’s almost always gorgeous there. I’m not sure I would have started a blog while living in California…but that’s just me.

Two more peony shots. The first is a bud. Can you spot the visitor on the lower left? I love the bokeh in this one.

peony bud & guest
I call the next one “clam shell.”  Oh, I love peonies. Can you tell?

Posted in flowers, gardening, photography | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

More peonies

Posted on May 19, 2010 by pearlsandprose

Oh, what I’d give to own some of these peonies! At least I have the photos now.

Here’s a little trio, showing the different stages of bloom. The color is something else, hmmm?

I call this one “lit from within” because of the way the sun hits it. Nature really does pink well, in my humble opinion.

Here’s a dark pink that appears to be “floating”:

Again, if you’d like to see these larger, or if you’d like to see my entire “photostream” on Flickr, just click on any photo and you’re there.

This one looks more like a rosa rugosa, but it is indeed a peony near the end of its bloom. I love the spring green/pink combination here.

Never knew what “bokeh” was until I joined Flickr. It’s the soft, out-of-focus area caused by shallow depth of field. I deliberately had the lens pretty wide open because I wanted a closeup of the flower without a distracting background. I’m also using a macro lens. And I’m still learning my way around a new camera.

One more. “Looking upward.”

Have a good one….

Ms. Pearl

Posted in flowers, gardening, photography | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Peony fields

Posted on May 18, 2010 by pearlsandprose

Yesterday, Mr. Prose and I went to a nearby state park and I took photos of the many peonies growing there. Peonies, you ask? I know, a bit unusual for a state park.  Evidently, a wealthy man who was also an avid gardener established a world-famous peony garden with thousands of plants. After his widow’s death in 1946, their children had the peonies moved to a farm which was later incorporated into the present state park. Cool, huh?

Unfortunately, most of the peonies are in a big field complete with weeds, and are mowed under every fall. I don’t know why they don’t offer the peonies for sale, but I’m happy to photograph them.

Here’s one of the lavender peonies growing amongst the weeds:

I kind of like the way the unruly weeds “frame” the beautiful flower.

I call this one “Red Velvet” because of its lovely texture. The green photographed so well–I had partly cloudy skies to help me out.

Red velvet peony
This one looks kind of like a clam shell. I wish I knew the names, but none were labeled and I no longer have my East Coast garden books.

See the ant or spider on the left side? There were plenty of those crawling around. I now have a bug bite on my left arm too. All for the cause of photography.

Here’s how the “peony field” looks:

More peonies tomorrow….

Posted in flowers, gardening, photography | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

New to WordPress

Posted on May 14, 2010 by pearlsandprose

Hello! I’ve moved my old blog “Oui ça va bien” from blogger.com to WordPress. Everyone warned me that the process would be a nightmare, but I just exported the old blog and imported it here. Took about five minutes! The only glitch I see is that all my old posts have today’s date. Hopefully I can fix that. Please bear with me while I get used to the new platform.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Brandywine Valley

Posted on May 13, 2010 by pearlsandprose

More on our little getaway to Brandywine Valley, PA.

Aren’t these tree blossoms lovely? I’ve never seen them before and thus can’t identify them. I pretty much know most of the plant names on the East Coast, but this one eludes me.

Pastel blossoms

My sweet husband actually held the branch in place because the wind was blowing too hard for even the fastest shutter speed. Yes, he is a keeper. : )

Wisteria?
You’ve probably guessed by now that I’m a little nutty for wisteria. I LOVE the color of this one! The shape is not typical and everyone who passed said, “Is that wisteria?” May be a rare type or just stunted because it was growing out of a pot.

Mystery plants

OK, this qualifies for “strangest-looking beautiful plant” at Longwood Gardens. When I posted it on Flickr, I asked if someone could identify it for me. A very nice person enlightened me: Echium wildpretii or Tower of Jewels. Perfect name, yeah? I’ve seen the blue-violet, horizontal version of echium in California, but not this one.

It was soooo cold in Pennsylvania. 40s at night, 50s during the day. In May! I will be complaining about the heat and humidity soon enough. How it can be 15 degrees with four feet of snow and then 90 degrees and humid just four months later. I’m just not a fan of extremes.

Posted in photography | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Longwood Gardens!

Posted on May 12, 2010 by pearlsandprose

So, I finally got to see the famed Longwood Gardens in Brandywine Valley, PA. I have wanted to see this place for years and years, but never made it. My sweet husband and I decided to make it a weekend getaway. I think he wanted to take my mind off the fact that my sons aren’t here for Mother’s Day (yes, he’s a keeper).

Fortunately, we decided to see the gardens on Friday, because the weather was too windy for photos on Sat. and Sun. The azaleas were done, but there were plenty of flowers to photograph, especially in the Conservatory. Unbelievable orchids! Here are four:

Orchids
I’m sorry, I don’t know the name. I could have had my husband write down the names, but I felt like he was doing enough holding my purse and camera bag while I took photos. I also didn’t want this to be a “photography trip.” Gets kind of boring for the traveling companion.

orchidglow
Isn’t this yellow-orange yummy? I think it looks a bit like a bird. Love this flower.

lavender orchids

I believe this is a cattleya, but don’t quote me.

white orchid

Honestly, nature really is the best painter. I’m not sure anyone could really capture this on canvas.

Speaking of canvas, we went to the Brandywine River Art Museum, otherwise known as the “Wyeth Gallery,” in Chadds Ford too. I adore N.C. Wyeth’s illustrations for books such as “Treasure Island,” and I like Andrew Wyeth’s moody paintings, but really don’t care for Jamie Wyeth’s works. We toured N.C.’s studio and enjoyed the well-versed guide’s presentation.

This is the cover of “Treasure Island”:

treasureisland

OK, one of the best things that happened today? My camera battery didn’t die until after I took my LAST PICTURE. I didn’t charge the battery before we left, because the indicator said  “full.” I’ll never trust that again, especially if I haven’t recharged in several days. Of course,  after five  or six shots, it showed 1/4 drained. So I turned off the camera after every picture. And prayed a lot. What if I ran out of power on the day I was at Longwood Gardens?? The gods were smiling on me or something, because I made it through the entire place before the battery went. Why didn’t I recharge the battery at the restaurant during lunch, you ask? Because I left the charger in  our hotel room, of course. But once in a while, luck graces my life.

Posted in photography | Leave a comment

Mahonia "painting"

Posted on May 6, 2010 by pearlsandprose

OK, I had some fun with Photoscape again. Such a great bargain, that program. Here’s my mahonia picture, “painted” with Photoscape:

mahoniapastel

I basically pixelated it with “crystallize,” then boosted the color saturation a bit. Some day I’ll take a painting class and learn how to paint this. I can draw, but never really learned to paint in all those art classes. For now, this will be a fun substitute. I should use the full Photoshop probably, but I’ve found that program to be so loaded with choices it’s overwhelming. I may go back to it again….

Another gorgeous spring day here. Will be walking Rocky soon. A bit of bad news on him yesterday. The vet says he has a cataract forming on one eye. We noticed that Rocky was having a little trouble finding his toy when we threw it, so this is not a surprise. I was pretty down about it yesterday, but as I said before, he’s 12 and slowing down. Thank heaven we’ve been in this house for two years and he doesn’t have to learn his way around new surroundings.

Tomorrow my husband is taking me to a place I’ve wanted to see for years and years: Longwood Gardens! I can’t believe I’m finally going to see it. Also going to Andrew Wyeth’s art gallery and hopefully Hagley House. I’ve seen Winterthur before (a must-see, by the way) and my husband isn’t interested, so may try to catch the Nemours mansion instead. I didn’t realize there was so much to see in the Brandywine Valley.
Anway, hopefully there will be something in bloom in the gardens and I can take some pics.

Have a great weekend….

Posted in photography | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Doesn’t get any better….

Posted on May 6, 2010 by pearlsandprose

Wow, one of those glorious spring days on the East Coast! Seventy-five degrees, bright blue sky, low humidity with a slight breeze. We certainly deserve this after a brutal winter.

I have all the windows open and can hear the birds singing. “Les Miserables” is playing in the background. I’m such a sucker for this musical–read the book in high school and nearly died, then saw the stage production. I was positively stunned by the music and how perfectly the lyricist captured the sweet agony of the story. That doesn’t happen often, hmmmm?

Took a couple photos of the mahonia next to our driveway. It’s such a nice, four-season plant. I like that it blooms when nothing else does, then produces these cool berries that photograph so well. Supposedly, they’re edible and high in vitamin C.

I think the stems here look like little arms trying to hold onto the berries….

Mahonia hands

I might have to play with this one–it looks a bit painterly. Stay tuned….

Posted in gardening, photography | Tagged , | Leave a comment