April 30 - After the rain

After a few rainy days, I ventured out into the garden this evening and practiced some low-light stuff. Our clover patch (lawn) was sprinkled with silver drops.

April 27, 28

April 28 - I drive over the top of this hill all the time and think, "wow, what a great view. I need to stop and get a pic of that." But, somehow, I just can't capture how neat it is. Even with the yellow stripe of rapseed, it still looks flat to me.




April 27 - Orange. What can I say? It just makes me happy. This flower is in one of the new gardens that Leif and I are working on. Well, I do a lot of the work. But, a garden is nothing without an expert waterer.

April 26 - White

Spent the weekend hanging out at home and playing in the garden... when I was taking some shots of the flowers I planted, I noticed these cute little weeds popping up between some other plants. I just didn't have the heart to pull them out.

April 24 - Neon Sign

Leif and I were at a doctor's appointment today and took the train from home... all pretty exciting. Walking through the little town, I noticed this sign on a small store set back from the street. Something about the colours and the font just caught my eye.

April 22 - Gotta Pea

Yup. We started beans, peas and tomatoes from seeds and they are already outside and sprouting tiny little vegetables. We have had a few beans growing for a while but this is the first pea. Not sure about the black and white... just trying to compensate for another not-so-great focus.

April 19 - The Dew Drop Inn

Another day, another castle. The garden at Eppstein was still covered in dew and these leaves were amazing in the sunlight with little drops on each jagged edge.

April 18 - Lilacs

Today, we hung out at one of the nearby castles with Aunt Cyndi. The lilacs are just blooming and, every once in a while, you would catch a whif of the smell... gorgeous.

I am not fussy about what the processing did to the focus on this pic (which wasn't even that great to start with) but there is just something about the effect that I am diggin'.

Too bad it can't be a scratch and sniff pic!

April 16 - Giraffe on your back...

Hey, it beats a monkey.

Ok. So, we are corny parents who still gush over every little cute thing. We probably always will be. This was one of those moments where Thorsten called me in to Leif's room just to see how cute he is. And, one of those moments late at night when I realize that I don't have a shot for the day.

April 15 - Happy

Nothing much today... just plain old happy.

April 13, 14

What a great Easter weekend! The weather here is incredible... around 80 and sunny every day for a week. A nice change from the usual rain followed by a little more rain. We have been taking advantage of it and spending a lot of time outside.

April 13 - This is the view from my chair on the back terrace at our house. It was a long day... we gardened and played in the yard. So, this pic is a quickie that I took when I realized I hadn't taken a shot yet that day. Not the best focus.

April 14 - I spent the day today at the local "swimming hole" with my little Huck Finn and some friends. We played in the water of this old mill stream (I know you're singing the song now!) and had a blast. Man, is Leif sleeping deeply tonight!

April 11, 12

April 11 - Sunlit blossoms... same tree, different day. I wasn't happy with the focus on yesterday's shot so I took some more today. The light has been so great these days, I just can't resist this tree outside our kitchen window.

Leif got two soccer goalie nets for Easter and we kicked the ball around today. He was committed to blocking this shot by his Papa... lol. And yes, he did dress himself. The boots and the bathing suit on backwards should be a dead giveaway. And yes, it was warm enough to wear a bathing suit outside.

April 10 - Dappled Blossoms

The blossoms are out in full force here... so gorgeous. Through the kitchen window, there is the most amazing cherry tree. In the morning light, I stepped out of the front door in my jammies to try to capture the light shining through the petals.

April 7 - Spring flowers everywhere...

Spring has completely sprung here. The trees are beyond buds and have leaves. These little whilte flowers cover part of our lawn... so tiny and sweet!

April 4,5 - It's all about the Castles

Well, a new household item is exciting for everyone at our house... the new barbeque was exciting for Papa because it meant that he can cook with a beer in his hand, it was exciting for me because it meant that I didn't have to cook, and it was exciting for Leif because it came in a REALLY big box. So, here he is working on the castle we made out of it.

This is the round tower at the Castle Ruins in Koenigstein from above. This shot really came alive when I edited it. To me, it has a sort of Dutch Masters painting look.

April 3 - Sprung

We have had gorgeous spring weather... today was somewhere around 20 degrees Celsius. I spent the better part of the day in a beautiful park hunting for Easter Eggs in the woods. Not a bad gig...

The trees are beyond budding... the leaves on some are coming out. I love the way this one is reaching for the sun.

April 2 - The View from Koeningstein

I spent the afternoon today at the Castle at Koenigstein... incredible. A beautiful sunny day brought out picknickers. How picture postcard perfect. And, then it got more perfect. A couple of people brought out their guitars and started to play. I started to wonder if I really live here or if it was a movie set. And then, when I thought it couldn't get more idyllic, two people walked into the field of the castle and pulled out REAL swords and started to practice. Honestly... surreal.

April 1 - Bokeh Rattan

Bokeh = out of focus...

Happy April Fool's Day!