SoRa with the boquet

Last week, Rob bought me not only sun flowers but also
this beautiful flower boquet including orange lillies.
The boguet was on the kitchen table with a card when
I was back home. Another happy surprise!!!!
To remember the happiness, I took this picture.

"SoRa with the boquet"

What a lovely shot it is!!!

Sun flower

Rob sometimes buys me flowers when he goes to a grocery
store without me. When I come back home and find the flowers,
needless to say, I am surprised and so happy :)

A few days ago, three sun flowers were on the table in the
kitchen, when I came back home.
This is the picture of one of those.
Rob, thanks a lot!

Yesterday's SoRa

She was home alone from 3 pm to 10 pm yesterday.
Sorry SoRa...
After we were back home, we played with her for a while,
even though it was already dark.
She seemed like so happy about being with us :)

Jim's backyard again

Jim's cherries

Jim's apples

Yesterday, Rob and I visited Jim's.
Jim's apples are doing excellent and his cherries are
doing fair. Because of too many apples, some branches
are bending. He removes smaller apples to prevent the
branches from breaking. However, he can't take care of
the apples that are on high branches...
He will make apple cider with his apples.
He asked me if I want to help him with harvesting the apples.
I answered, "yes!".
I hope Rob will take me to Jim's when he harvests.

Alpacas gallery

Shearing Fest 2006

Today, Rob and I went see Skagit Valley Shearing Fest 2006.
Are you curious about the animal which were shorn?
Well, not sheep... but ALPACAS!

We have been to the ranch last March.
At that time we knew that the ranch would have a shearing
fest in June. Since then, we have been looking forward to it!

The fest was very interesting.
Especially, meeting alpacas (including new born alpacas)
and watching shear demonstrations!
A man from New Zealand was shearing alpacas.
After they were shorn, they looked so skiny, tidy,
and kind of funny!
Oops, I shouldn't have laughed at them :P
They must feel embarrassed. hehe!

Today's SoRa

How is SoRa's second day going? Very good!
She put peanuts, millet, and whatever she found on
the floor into her mouth today. However, we haven't
seen her drink water yet. It's our small concern now.
Early in the evening, Rob cooked scrambled egg and mixed
English muffin, mellon, brocoli, and corn into it.
She really enjoyed the food that Rob made. She kept eating it.
She is not good at sitting on the perch, or jumping on
the perch yet. She often falls. We are worried about her
hurting herself. One of her tail feathers already got damaged...
She is still a chick really :)
Anything else?
Ah, she preens and stretches herself a lot.
I am eager to take pictures of her cute stretching!

SoRa －空－

Today, we finally got a cockatiel chick which we have
been waiting so patiently for from the bird breeder.
We named the chick SoRa. We are pretty sure the chick
is female. But, who knows!? It might be male.
So, we picked up the name which can be both boy's and girl's.
Also, Rob used to own a sailboat whose name was SoRa.
We both like the name very much.

For almost one month, we have had a empty bird cage in our
living room. Now there is a bird in the cage! How nice!

She is doing good. She ate a lot of scrambled egg which Rob
cooked with peas, some banana and bread .
Also she ate some apple. No seeds for today.
We remember HaNa ate only seeds, even if we tried to give
something else. It seems like SoRa is very curious about
any kinds of food. Awesome!

Whenever she chirps, we remember HaNa.
We are glad cute chirps are back in our house!
SoRa, welcome to our house!

Poppy at our backyard

Finally, a poppy came out at our backyard!
We have two more buds! Yey!

Also, the gladiolus bulb Rob and I buried with HaNa
has germinated! I feel like HaNa has come back to us!
I want to do my best to save the life.
I will pull out the weeds and water it.
Rob and I do hope we will be able to see it's pretty flowers!

HaNa, thanks for coming back!

A vest for my niece vol.2

お待たせ。
フロントできました。
Ｖネックベストらしくなってきたでしょ。
ここから先は、未知の世界。
毛糸屋さんに通って、教えてもらいながら、
今月中の完成を目指します。
お楽しみに。

I finished the front today.
As you can see, this is going to be a V-neck vest.
There are still a few more works to do.
I will not be able to figure out by myself.
So... I will go to the yarn shop for asking help!

Poppy

Cold and rainy Sunday.
Rob and I each worked on photography.
I used GIMP to practice at editing pictures.
This picture of the poppy is one of the pictures
I edited and was taken yesterday.
I like the orange colour very much!!

Calla Lillies

Today, for the first time, I edited a picture using GIMP,
the GNU Image Manipulation Program.
Learning how to use GIMP is what I MUST do, if I really
want to make pictures like my favourite photographer's.

For today, I just enjoyed changing the colors to make an
unrealistic picture. And I am satisfied with the result.
As I have hesitated to learn how to use GIMP for months,
I want to praise myself for finally using GIMP.

I will learn little by little how to edit pictures and
keep a record of the works on my blog.

I found a couple of calla lillies at the alley when I
went for a walk by myself with my Nikon D50 today.
While I was taking pictures, a fluffy cat was sitting
by me. I felt like I got a cute company and smiled :)

Squirrel Buddy

This is a famous Squirrel Buddy!
I have introduced him on this blog.
He was born last autumn, and is also Squirrel Mom's son.
Now he is perfectly mature though.
I took these pictures from a distance of 10 cm.
He is not afraid of us at all. Actually he is becoming
a bit shy these days. But we still can touch him easily.
I have to say, I am so lucky, because I don't have to
use any powerful lenses to take pictures of this cute
animal. You must remember that normally they are not
so friendly with people.

For sure, squirrels should be my object.
Because I can be so close to them.

Baby Squirrel

This is a picture of one of baby squirrels was
born thin Spring and which I took this morning.
Baby Squirrels started to appear with Squirrel Mom
a few weeks ago. Nowadays, they come by themselves.
They don't eat peanuts YET but they love pumpkin sheeds
we proudly offer. They are still nervous about us.
That's why I can't take close-up pictures of them yet.
But, Rob and I are pretty sure that we will be able to
touch them and they will jump on us in the near future.
Because we have the know-how.
Fun!

Fern

Although I got a Nikon D50, I didn't exactlly know what
I would take pictures of. Maybe, there was only one thing
which could be my objects.

Flowers.

Using Nikon D50, without choosing auto mode, is pretty
complicated. There are so many things to think about,
before I take a picture. That is, ISO, aperture, and
shutter speed. If I choose auto mode, it is much easier.
But if I take pictures with auto mode, the camera I use
doesn't have to be Nikon D50. In the other word, it doesn't
have a meaning to use Nikon D50 at all.

I slowly started to understand how to take pictures and
what to take pictures of with my Nikon D50.
Exchanging opinions with Rob helped me in understanding a lot.

This picture was taken in the backyard.
I didn't look for an object so hard as I have done.
I took the picture of it which I saw.
I think I started to understand what can be objects.
The answer would be ANYTHING, as Rob kept telling me.

Since I understood what photography is just a little bit,
I feel like I will be able to use this camera more.

Exciting!

Jim's backyard

Jim's Apples

Jim's Cherries

Jim's backyard

Yesterday evening, Rob and I visited Rob's friend Jim's.
He had fresh clams he digged at Birch Bay and kindly wanted
to share those with us. We were luckily invited to a dinner.

He lives in a country and has a huge backyard.
His neighbors have horses and cows.
Also, he has a beautiful mountain view.
Awesome place to visit!

The third picture is the view from his backyard.
The mountain which is covered with snow is hidden by the trees
in the picture. However, I like the vapor trail in the sky in it.

Thanks Jim, the clams were so delicious!

Poppy bud

Today is Memorial Day here in the U.S.A.
Rob and I went to a nursery.
Although a lot of shops were closed,
the nursery was luckily opened.
We bought a couple of Petunias, lettuces, peppers,
new pots, and plant soil.

As soon as we came back home, I worked on planting.
Needless to say, Rob taught me how to plant!
(He has worked at a nursery when he was a student.)
I will be able to take pictures of those I planted.
For today, I put a picture of the bud of the poppy
which we have and we look forward to seeing the flower of.

Hummingbird

We are hanging a hummingbird feeder near the porch.
Since the feeder can be seen through the kitchen window,
we noticed that we have lots of customers lately.
I took pictures of them today.
Actually, it was not so difficult at all.
It seems like they don't care about people so much.
Even if I was standing by the feeder,
they didn't hesitate to come.

Although they are so tiny, they can move so fast.
You would be very surprised if you could see them fly.
You can tell they are near you because of the sound of their wings.
The sound is like a bee's buzzing.
That's why hummingbird is called ハチドリ in Japanese.

Looking at hummingbirds is soooooo amazing!

A vest for my niece

これ、姪の彩にあげるベスト。
毛糸屋さんの母の日セールで20%offで買った毛糸を使っている。
先週水曜日に編み始めた。
で、あっさり、後見ごろができあがったので、お披露目。
子供用は、使う毛糸も費やす時間も少ないからいい。
このベスト、V-neckになる予定。
そんなわけで、前身ごろは、後見ごろのようにはあっさりいかない。
でも、６月中には仕上げる予定。

This is the back of a vest.
I am knitting it for my niece Aya.
I bought the yarn I am using for the vest with 20% off price
on mother's day sale at NW Handspun Yarns which is my favourite
yarn shop in Bellingham.

I started to knit this last Wednesday.
And I already finished the back.
Knitting something for kids doesn't require so much yarn or
so much time. Which is nice.
This will be a V-neck vest.
I want to finish it by June!

Today's flowers

I try to use my Nikon D50 every day.
In order to use it, I go for a walk to look for interesting
objects. And what I can find is usually flowers.
Actually, I do like taking pictures of flowers.
Because flowers can show the season.

When I was walking with carrying my camera, I met a gentle man
who was carring his brand-new camera.
He told me that he has been taking pictures of neighborhood.
I had chat with him for a while.
"Sayonara" was the last word he and I exchanged with each other.

I feel happy when somebody notices me and speaks to me.
Therefore, I would like to say to him,
"thank you for finding me who have a very quiet life here."