Playing with picture frames

 I have been spending quite a lot of time find picture frames in Paintshop Pro and in Photoshop.  The one above is from Paintshop Pro. To find it go to image/picture frame and choose from the list by clicking on the thumbnail of a frame that appears.  I find most of the frames  in PSP to be too big and really rather lame.  I cropped this frame from top and bottom to make the actual photo more prominent.    The crocuses are from February 24, 2019, after the big snow fall was mostly melted and gone, but the temperatures were cooler.  The temperature still remains colder now.  It seems colder than January for the last 2 weeks, with over night light frosts, sun in the day, but no clouds or rain.

 I made this drop shadow in Photoshop.  Make a new layer by copy, add some canvas size.  Then do a selection of the picture, right click the layer to get the blending options then proceed to make the drop shadow using the parameters you see in the drop shadow menu.  This process can make shadows for objects, depending on what you use as the selection.  I need to explore this application a bit more.  Also need to review the method of creating reflections, as the last time I tried that it made an excellent, real looking reflection of a car in a wet road.   This is a photo of my Christmas Cactus that has been in bloom for at least a month, and is still producing blossoms.  I see that my light pink Christmas cactus now has buds, too.  They are more like Easter cactuses.  It really helps to feed these these house plants.  I must pay attention to feeding my potted plants in the spring and summer too. 

 This frame was an edge frame in Paintshop Pro.   It shredded the edge of the picture, added the matting and the outer frame.  Color choices are available for the pictures.  I chose black and white to simplify my learning curve.  In Paintshop the picture frames are easily deleted and tray different ones.  When I used Paintshop I accidentally marked it to make Paintshop as the default program for all the jpegs, dng, etc  Took me a while to figure that one out.  The photo is the David in the recent February 10 snowfall.  There was even more snow on the 11th and onward.  Pictures of the big snowfall of  2019 to follow.

 This frame is from Photoshop.  Go to Actions, find the frame and highlight it, then click the little arrow icon at the bottom of the actions menu.  The frame just makes itself.  I guess matting could be added before the frame by using image/canvas size and filling in a suitable color and size.  The photo is the Heron in the Cuthbert Holmes Park in the Colquitz River; shooting from the Dysart Bridge; for the Victoria Grid on Flickr. 

 This is the wood frame from Photoshop, used on the photo of the Humble Administrators Garden in Suzhou, China, taken during our trip to China in March/April, 2012.  It is a spectacular Garden. 

Another photo from the Humble Administrators Garden.  I seem to have some pretty good photos from that trip using the little Canon powershot S31S. That little camera uses double AA batteries which are always available so does not need to have a charged up battery.  I also have some attachments for that camera.  It has a nice sharp lens.  I really must revive it and use it again.  I really must find the time to do up that album for my web page, too.  Need more time... ah well... if wishes were horses.....

This Photo Corners frame was in Photoshop.  This is from February 3 when it is just beginning to snow. 

Something old and something new

 While looking back at the Travel page of my website, I found that I was missing any reference to the year we went to Bowden for the Sali's 50th anniversary (no family pictures on my blog), and then on to Saskatchewan to visit friends and family.  In 2004 I was using my Canon A50.  Not realizing the potential of the RAW files this are just the largest jpegs.  That little camera has a very good lens. 

 Prairie crocus from the water reservoir at Kindersley.  An fine campsite next to the golf course.

 I spent a lot of time looking for the old picture frames I used to use and found them in my PSP under images/picture frame.  The drop shadows I made with Photoshop.  This moth was pictured during the 2004 trip to Alta/Sask.

 This flower was in a pub where we were having lunch with friends in 2006.  I was using the Canon S3IS.  Another little compact camera with a fine lens.  This camera ran on AA batteries.  I should revive that camera.  I had some attachments to use with it, including an extender and a macro lens.

This is a photo of all the snow we have had in the last 2 weeks taken and framed in my nexus phone.
The snow is finally melting.  It will be awhile yet, before I can get out gardening though. 
I have 3 orchids with buds showing.  More on them when the flowers open. 
I am getting a bit more of the photos for the gardening/March album tweaked for the album on my web page.  Slowing getting that done.  I just have too many photos chosen to use for that album. 
Have been cleaning out the bookmarks in my browser and of course, everything has to be looked at.  A lot of these old bookmarked sites no longer even exist.  So this is a trip down memory lane that is taking up a lot of my time.  I really should just delete them all and start with new ones.  I have convinced myself that my browser is faster now for having deleted some of them.

January 27 in the Garden

 The Spring has arrived early this year.  For the last 10 days we have been having about 8-11 degree high temperatures and light frost at night.  This epimedium is showing some very nice color.  I have 3 epimediums doing fairly well in the moss garden at the back. 

 The first of the polyanthus plants to show some color in the the moss garden.  The polys border the stepping stone path.  As you can see they need the winter leaf mulch cleaned away and perhaps a bit of compost added.  

 the snowdrops are up, of course,  in several spots around the garden.  

 a lovely maeve crocus.  The crocuses in the bed next to the crocus field, in the front boulevard garden seem to be the first ones to be up.

 The yellow crocuses are the first ones up in the crocus field.  After about 4 days of warmer weather there are now more of the yellow crocuses showing.
People have been driving along edge of the grass by the street in front of the crocus field and making a muddy mess.  It is raining today.  Hopefully not too much of the mud will wash down the storm drain up the street.

 I have been cleaning up in the woodland.  Have cut the firethorn back and sent it out in the compost bin.  I have cleaned up a bit of the Japanese cedar.  Its bottom branches on the inside nearest the trunk go dry and brown.  I have most of this cleaned up and far as I can reach. This lets in more light and rain to the understory plants.  I clipped back the mock orange; which is doing very well, and has buds and is fragrant.  I cleaned up the big fern.  It has some very good humousy soil around it.  There is about a half a bin of good compost in the old compost bin at the back of the garage.  I have been digging out blue bells for 4 days, during this clean up of the woodland.  Between the smothering them with leaves and digging them out, I think I am slowly winning this battle of the blue bells.  I am up to the water feature in the woodland in this process. I hope I have not killed the fawn lilies with all this digging.   The next step will be controlling all the species crocus, saxatilis, that have spread like crazy along the woodland strip from the firethorn to the water feature.  There are tall bearded irises growing in this area also.  I will need to dig them out and replenish the soil, and put the better ones back in again.  Or perhaps get a few new ones.  I have clipped back the Germander that grows in front of the yew year and over to the firethorn.  It too needs a bit more clipping.  This photo shows the old side walk covered in its moss for the winter.  At the woodland  end of the sidewalk I have dug out some of the germander and set the big white pot containing perennials here, as a focal point in looking along the sidewalk.  There will be another big white pot with perennials at the patio area end of the sidewalk,   This is the before picture.  I have finished setting up the white pots and taken an after picture, to follow. . .   Perhaps the  perennials will make a good showing to add to this vignette, in the summer and fall.  I hope to get some more interesting plants into the small bed behind the old garage.  I will need to move the blocks of wood into the garage on to the wood pile.  

The photo above is from Gonzales Hill, Walbran Park, where the rocks are wonderfully lichened and mossy.  This little rock fern will be gone for the summer, but is at its very best now.  The rock fern in my garden really needs to be growing out of a rock crevice like this.  Maybe I can set up some of my golden rocks near it to let it spread into a crevice higher up from the ground level in the moss garden where it is now.  Maybe pictures to follow of this notion, too.