Big bees

Massive bees here…

More than enough flowers for them. 

Pike Place Market

When you search Seattle, Pike Place Market is one of the first places that pops up.  It has taken us quite a few months to get there though.The boys weren’t interested in going with, which was just as well.  It is really crowded. 

It is very colourful, with tons of flower stalls and beautiful clothes and crafts.  It was very tempting.  (I have a weak spot for glass!)

  

There is a section for produce and fish, as well as quite a few delis with some very interesting foods from all over the world.

 

 

 

Discovered a tea shop that sold normal rooibos tea for about $23 a pound.  (I can find the vanilla rooibos in the local supermarkets, but it is not one of my favourites.) Also discovered a butcher with a variety of international sausages.  I think it will be quite a while before I buy boerewors again.  I guess we will have to make do with the minimum in South African staples.

We had lunch at one of the fish vendor stalls.  Even the cheap fish here is very tasty!

It isn’t nearly the same size as Victoria Market in Melbourne, but it is fun to go, at least once. All the products seem to be of good quality.  Great place to find a souvenir!

 

And don’t forget to check out the guys throwing the fish…

Summer bees

Walking to the store last week, we saw quite a few bees laden with pollen.  I was only carrying my small lens, so catching these fast little critters was a bit of a challenge.

The car has been fixed just in time for the holidays, so I am looking forward to taking the kids out a bit to look at Christmas lights, the beach and the city this week.

A Beautiful Day

Today is such a beautiful day.  Firstly I wasn’t woken by squawking Corellas! 

 

The morning started a little cool, but with no wind and no clouds, it has become a bright and gorgeous day.  I just had to try and share how the day feels here in Melbourne.

My youngest just had to start the morning jumping on the trampoline, the sun creating beautiful patterns on the netting. (My daughter refused to look at me while jumping though)

 

The light created beautiful patterns everywhere.

The afternoon has been so peaceful, just bees, butterflies and beautiful birdsong.

 

Days like these are glorious.  Easy to forget it is autumn already. 

(For those interested, these were taken with a Canon 50mm 1.4 lens in my back garden.)

Something new: Textures

I found some time today (ok, I skipped the washing, vacuuming, dishes, etc.) to do a tutorial on iheartfaces all about textures and layers.  I then tried the techniques on a picture of my own.  This is what I came up with.

The flowers were weaving in the wind, making them seem like they were glowing.  This one branch with the bee seemed a little more stable, helping to keep the shot clear.

I think I learnt quite a few things about Photoshop in this tutorial.  Definitely worth trying!

The tutorial again:
http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/2010/01/inspiration-poppy-daydream-tutorial-and.html

Busy Bees

It really is getting close to summer, with the weather warming up fast and the insects becoming really busy.  Some of the brightest flowers are open and the bees are extremely busy at the moment.

I love how the sun makes tulips glow.  There is so much beauty in their simplicity. 

 

Yellow

We went to the Tesselaar Tulip Festival today.  It was a beautiful, bright and warm spring day.  You can’t ask for better if you are going on an outing, though not ideal for photography.  But with all that colour, I couldn’t resist.

The kids ran up and down between the rows of tulips.  Yellow was one of the more dominant colours.

My oldest quickly spotted bees flitting between the tulips.  Can you see it inside the flower?

The bee flew from flower to flower, then it was off…

I will post more of the photos of the other colours tomorrow.