Wednesday, April 6, 2011

A Day Off

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Since we can't take anything to the auction until Friday, and since we already have more than we can fit, and since the weather is so nice and since it's supposed to rain tomorrow and since we wanted to . . .

We took a nice long spring drive today.

Have you ever had one of those days when it was so beautiful outside, and you had your camera and you just knew you were taking the good pictures? That's the kind of day we had.

Except, when I got home, the pictures weren't quite what I expected. I had imagined I would have a terrible time picking from the 400+ shots, because the sun was shining, the sky was blue, the trees were green and the water was clear. And we saw a great horse. . .

So what could go wrong? It must have been user error. The pictures aren't horrible, I just thought I was getting some really super shots, but alas, they're pretty mediocre.

So I've decided to post just a few memory shots, so I can look back and remember what was a truly lovely day. My sweet man, me, the sun and freedom.

We started off at Quail Hollow Ranch, a beautiful piece of property in the Santa Cruz mountains. Once a working ranch, it's now a county park. Unfortunately, no camping is allowed, or we would probably go for a week or two.

The first thing to catch my eye
was a line of trees
that were the most amazing shade of red.


Then, for some reason,
the placement of these watering cans,
they just made me think of spring.


Hiking and horseback riding
is encouraged on the ranch.
We met Patches,
he's 35 years old.


He had the most gorgeous mane.


Next we decided to head
further up into the mountains.


Someday I'll figure out how to stop water.
Obviously that wasn't today.


Later we headed up to Loch Lomond,
a county reservoir.
The sky was so blue,
I was surprised that the camera
caught its' reflection in the water


The water was so incredibly clear,
I love how you can see the reflections
right through to the sandy bottom.


Finally, we stopped to see some old friends
and look what we found in their yard!
Standing about six feet tall,
it reminded us of New Mexico.


I'm hoping once we're done with the house I'll be able to spend a bit more time on my photography. I'd sure like to learn a bit more about this camera.

Still, I love using it, but think I would do much better if I actually knew what I was doing.

3 comments:

Paula said...

Well, I think you're doing just fine with your camera. By the way, I've now added your blog to my Flipboard app--it's great!

Barb said...

Great photos - I especially love the one of the hourse's face. Looks like a perfect day. :)

Donna K said...

I think I'm related to that horse...his mane is the exact shade as my hair!!

I liked your water pictures. I like to do time exposures of flowing water - ends up looking all soft and almost ethereal.