April GBBD - It's All About Texture

It's the 15th of the month again - time for Garden Blogger's Bloom Day!  Since there aren't many blooms in my cold yard this time of year, I went on the hunt for texture.  I also tried a different camera, lens and method than usual ("usual" being point & shoot).  So, yes, this is all an experiment.  Here goes!

First up is a clematis, with a glimpse of the past....

 ....and the future.

I had to double-check to make sure this wasn't a caterpillar on the heuchera:

Looking at Forget-Me-Nots this way makes them look a tad classier than in my usual photos!

The ferns are slowly awakening from their winter slumber....

These tiny yellow flowers are on a pygmy barberry.  These plants have some sort of interest (berries, variegated leaves, blooms, etc.) pretty much year 'round.

What's this?  It's a baby poppy! A sure sign that warmer days are ahead.

Thanks for looking at the results of my experiment!  Maybe next month there will be some actual blooms. :-)

A Lowe Blow

As some of you may know, I have a thing about spelling.  As I'm aging maturing, though, I'm finding that I still notice things that are misspelled, but I can't think of how they should be spelled.  Good thing "spell check" was invented.  Anyway, I've been seeing some humorous misspellings here and there recently.  One of these days, I will remember to take a photo of offending menus.  In the meantime, here are a couple of examples:

Example #1:  My university's alumni office emails quarterly newsletters.  The university has a fairly basic name.  Let's call it "Meeker University".  So the newsletter arrives in my inbox with the title "Meker University Alumni News".  This is a place where you can earn a graduate degree in Education!  I couldn't help but email them about this little issue....  Their immediate reply was a thankful one. :-)

Example #2:  Our town is sooooo big, we have a Lowe's less than 10 miles away.  Although many people complain about the quality level of assistance at their local hardware store, the help we've received at Lowe's has been great for the most part (especially when we has to replumb our sink).  Anyway, given the good experiences we've had there, I was surprised to see this:

It bugged me so much that I actually figured out how to use the camera in my phone, just so I could take this photo.

Sometimes I think I could start my own sign and menu editing business.  And if I was hungry and in a daring mood, I could order "Stripped Bass" from a local Japanese restaurant....