Poetic Shutterbug

Rhododendron Occidental Center of Rhododendron Occidental

I am becoming much more comfortable around the bee population. I think they're beginning to pose the way the squirrels do :)

It was such a clear day at the gardens and I wanted to test my zoom lens. I got lucky with this airplane. I never would have been able to catch these shots with my old camera, especially the last one. It was pretty cool.

Photo courtesy of www.tcswing.com Peggy Lee , was born in Jamestown, North Dakota on May 26 th 1920. She is best known for her seductive rendition of "Fever" and lesser known songs such as "Come Rain or Come Shine." When Lee was not performing she was reading the essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson who gave her the inspiration to carry on with her music. She had a fanciful, flavorful and fulfilling life doing what she loved. She lived her passion and loved her life. I wanted to share with you a tribute original song written by Jerry Holland and performed by Sony Holland to honor one of the greatest female jazz vocalists around. Peggy Lee was an inspiration to Sony and as Sony puts it "I'm a huge fan and always will be." Peggy Lee was a gift to all of us. Below is a video of Sony performing "Blame It On Peggy Lee." Enjoy! Happy 90 th Birthday, Peggy Lee.

Gunnera in the Ancient Plant Garden

Poetry by Taylor Graham and Photo by Joanne Olivieri (Poetic Shutterbug) I really did not have a photo that fit the poem but for some reason I liked the above pic with the verse. Enjoy! HOME IMPROVEMENT We’re blackbirds in search of a nest here, among the aisles that taste of new-milled lumber and sawdust in fluorescent sparkles, leading to the Paint Center with its color-chips that ring like china in a farmhouse cupboard. I run my finger over cool adobe tile and carpet samples that smell of tabby fur, a hearth cat who lives at peace with blackbirds. No, a blackbird barely survives here, out of the rain that artilleries the roof; he lives on bolts and wing- nuts, disappears into high-gloss Ebony. You’ve got your cart loaded with rolls of stockwire fence and studded T-posts we’ll haul home to drive into bed- rock-mortar, throwing a line around old Miwok kitchens that were open-air to ridge and canyon before this range was subdivided. Miwoks gone out of mind like birds in th...

I just now stumbled across this challenge, The Brenda Photo Challenge and decided to share some of my shots from the gardens. Enjoy!