Everything to Thank for

One week before our vacation, my younger daughter and grand kids come down to visit. I have not seen grandchildren for almost two months. It is so wonderful that we get to spend some time with them.

We want to take grandson to pick blueberries. He is still small and too short to really pick anything, but it will be an experience for him.  It was a cloudy day and we thought it perfect to spend couple hours there. Almost no car in the parking lot when we arrived at the farm, and we thought, we were early enough to get a good start.  As we approached to the entrance, we saw a sign “Closed for the Season”. How can it be possible? They were just opened for the season a few weeks back. Organic blueberries and half of the market price. No surprise. People know where to go. Glad that I was there one week ago.

My car accident turned out to be a miraculous ending. We went to Crater Lake last month, while running to get set up and ready to capture sunrise, I stumbled at a rock and fell (with my camera on the tripod). I am always in the hurry and my body parts do not always coordinate. Some scratches and slight bleeding that I did not give much attention. I could only think of my sunrise shots.  My camera was miraculously working except that the lens was acting a bit funny (thanks God, it was not cracked or even scratched!). I had to send it to Canon to have it re-aligned however. So I could not use my regular lens for couple of weeks. The lens came back just on time for me to take pictures of grandkids. I am so grateful. I thought I have to buy a new lens for my trip...  I love Focal Point (Dallas, Oregon). They give such amazing customer service.

I like to come home from a vacation and walk into a clean house. I have been trying to trim my bushes and finish the yard work for this summer. While I was moving my pots around, I saw something that I completely did not anticipate, blueberries hanging on one of my plants! I swear that I have never bought any blueberry bushes, how come I have blueberries growing in my yard that I don't even know? I seriously cannot find an answer. If there is one, I think God knows my heart and He loves grandson, and so here they are. Believe or not.

I walked by this beautiful garden in our neighborhood. There are at least 50-60 different kinds of flowers blooming in there and most of them are exotic varieties. I may have greeted the owner couple of times coming through. This garden is so tempting to me that one day I knocked the door. Trust me, I felt so intrusive and stupid, but my passion for photography prevails and conquers. She opened the door and invited me to go in, and she was actually excited that I want to shoot her flowers. I feel so welcomed and thrilled. Can you imagine how much close-up photography opportunities are there in this garden when comes spring time?

Pistachio Hydrangea

It was overwhelming for me to decide where to start with my photographs. I did notice one thing, there is no single rose in this garden. Roses are many people's love, but to me, they are just another flower. I would rather photograph rare and uncommon flowers.

Knock and the door will be opened. Here it is.

Black Susan is very common. They are usually the popular habitats for bees, for that reason, I usually stay away from it. But through the extension tube, I was able to capture the details of the 'black eye'. 

It is a new discovery for me that there are fine yellow flowers surrounding the 'eye' and that transforms the boring eye into a crown looking thing. I know I won't look at this common flower randomly any more. Next time when I come by one of them, I would definitely take a close look.

I am learning here not to overlook simple or common something.  Everything is created for reason and has something special of their own.

About this time when you read this article, I am on my journey to explore the other part of the world. I want to peek through each of the tubes and see what's out there that I have not seen. I am thankful that I have the opportunity to do so and one item can be checked from my bucket list in the end.