Artsy Arcitecture, and Steamy Steel

We decided to take a drive southish today to see what we could find in the woods.  This place looks remarkably like ours.

This is taken with Collins' new wide-angle lens.  I'm not sure if this is the best way to show off the capabilities of the new lens, but I haven't taken a better example yet. 

Here is another taken with the zoom.

While we were driving back home, we passed the Clairton Steel Mill.  I thought that the industry that made Pittsburgh both famous and infamous deserved some photos.  This one was the most interesting of the group.

Here's another view with the wide angle lens.

We saw a lot of awesome views while we were driving, but none of the rest of the potential photos accompanied a place to pull over, so Collins had to stay in her bag.  At least we were able to add some variety to our photos this weekend.

I Thought it was a Bonsai Party

We actually went to Phipps today in search of the Greater Pittsburgh Bonsai Society's annual show.  Evidently by saying it was at Phipps, they actually meant it was in Shadyside.  Anyway, it was the cause for a fun journey of photographs.

These butterflies looked like they were in a mirror.  We thought they looked like an upside down heart.



It's the time of year that even the desert is in bloom.  Hubby found these beautiful pink flowers on this intense looking cactus.  I love how even the dangerous plants have delicate blossoms.



If the movie Alien were a flower, it would be this one.  If you don't understand then  you should rewatch the movie.

After we were done with Phipps we walked back home through the park.  In the process we decided to jump into a gulley and take some photos under the bridge.  Although it preceeded a fast return walk with a limping husband, this photo made the journey worth it.

After patching up hubby's foot, we finally were sucessful in finding the bonsai trees.  This tree was part of the competition.  I don't know if it's good or bad but it looked nice to me.

There is fun weird art at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts.  It's immediately next to the park where they hold Bach, Bethoven and Brunch, which I will attend someday.

This grassy oscrich or goose or whatever it is was in a cirle with the horse and rider. 

This giraffe is the third in the grassy animal series. 

Finally, I remember when this face was built.  We would drive past this place regularly after visiting with relatives and we would always imagine sneaking onto the property and planting a tree in it's mouth.  One day, the city did it on it's own... weird right?

When Hubby Steals the Camera

The Phipps Summer show is in full bloom so we decided to add to our assortment of flower and butterfly photos.  Hubby took the camera and decided to see what he could find in the gardens. 

This purple spikey flower was very noticable in one of the rooms we usally just glaze through.  I don't know exactly what type of flower, but it looks so unusual you'd almost think it was made of silk.

We actually had some time in the orchid room, which is very unusual since it is such a popular room.  I thought this was a standout. 

This was in the butterfly room.  I think we need to plant some of these around the house. 

This was in the children's garden.  I like how hubby took this at a cool angle.

There were a large number of bumblebees in the children's garden.  This little guy was having some fun on the bright yellow.  We need to work on the color balance in these photos, but I think this one turned out pretty well anyway.

This was on a tree half way between the japaneese bonsai garden and the desert.  It was gloriously fuzzy and mixed up.

I'm beginning to wonder if I should permanently take on the role of photo-editor rather than photographer.  Hubby had an amazing artistically inspired day!

Memorial Day at the Ballpark

We went to two baseball games over memorial day weekend, but Collins only accompanied us to the second.  These seats are about as close as you can get on the first base line.

This was obviously a foul but I like how it kicked up the dust on it's way to strike heaven.

I thought this was a nice profile of McCutchen.  There's a photo of me that looks exactly like this from my tenure in bar league softball...

Well... maybe not exactly.... I think his batting stance may be a bit more technically correct, but my batting average was way better.  Until the fat drunk guy got off the mound and all the way to the ball after my pathetic weak hits, I almost always made it to first base.

Anyway, Here are some more cool baseball photos from last Monday's game.

You know how the coach always says you should keep your eye on the ball?  This guy's got that part right, but not the swinging at the ball part.

Unfortunately, swinging doesn't always work out any better than looking.

That's all for our holiday at the ballpark!

Hershey Gardens Makes My Rose Garden Look Bad

Collins didn't get any time out of her bag last weekend because we were fixing up the rose garden in our front yard.  How appropriate that we bring her out again to look at a rose garden that will put ours to shame.  We're a little early to see it all in bloom, but we still managed to catch a few nice ones.

There's something about little rosebuds that are always attractive. 

This is one of the hybrid tea roses in the extensive rose beds. 

Ask my dad and he'll tell you that I've had a thing for cabbage roses for a long time now.  Being a dahlia judge, it bothers me that you can see the center of this one, but it's nice anyway.

There are more than roses in the gardens.  This is one of the irises showing off among all the green.

We thought this tree was striking.  It is a tri-color beech. The leeves are green, pink and white mix and they evidently turn a beautiful gold in the fall.  I think I want one someday.

This is a Weeping Norway Spruce.  It looked like it was pouring to the ground.  I think it's amazing.  Not the best specimin tree photo, but it will do.

Hubby took this photo and I think he did a great job of it.  He didn't even give any good material this weekend for the photo that almost was.  Maybe tomorrow....

A Bird Taking a Bath... and some gemstones

We were playing with the fast shutter release while this bird was taking a bath.  I think some of these are pretty awesome action shots.

I think that is how humans should go about taking a bath.  It would be much more fun.

These are some of the rocks laying around in the Gemstone section of the museum.  Good practice with some closeups.

In honor of hubby, this is one of the forms of Asbestos.  It was found in the Pennsylvania section of the gemstones.

Lumpy gold and white rock looked kinda cool too.

Here's the whole thing looking super long.

Artistic Flowers, Artistic Deserts, Artistic Art and Dino's (Dinosaurs don't need to be artistic)

We've been running out of places to go in Pittsburgh, so we decided to be more creative with what we can find around town.  This first picture is one of those photos that hubby doesn't "get"

He "gets" this photo and thinks it's pretty cool.

And this photo too.

Since we were feeling so artistic, we decided to check out some art somewhere less stuffy than the Warhol.  This is "Man with Pipe"  I think he qualifies as fun cubism.

This painting was begging for someone to stand in front of it.  Even if that guy isn't proud of the fact that I'm out of focus, it made for a fun silly photo.

We found this little guy climbing up a tree in our yard.  Thought he was cute.  Kinda boney looking though.

Finally, we couldn't visit the Carnegie Museum without a photo of a dino.  This guy is still in his rock.