First photography class

OK. It's not a very exciting picture, but it's my first ever aperture priority picture. So, it's pretty exciting to me!

Preparing for new shades

We spent much of the day moving furniture and washing windows in preparation for new shades on these four windows. The TV is in the same room as this sitting area so we have a glare problem when attempting to watch television, even when the shades are down. The new shades are similar, but they will be black and have special light blocking powers.

Arranging things

The HVAC company sent us flowers last week as a thank you for our business. They were looking a bit worse for wear, so I took out the dried pieces and it's like a whole new arrangement!

This aggravation ain't satisfactioning me

Guess what I did today?

The Garden for orchids and more

We took photos at the Missouri Botanical Garden today and I can't choose just one picture for the blog.

We managed to make it to the Orchid Show during our visit today.

The Garden has witch hazels with showier flowers than the witch hazel in our yard that I took a picture of yesterday. This 'Rochester' witch hazel shined like a beacon in the winter landscape.

The snowdrop crocuses are blooming. I miss those from the old house. I guess I'll have to get some planted here.

This picture of a grass seed head was my artistic photo of the day.

Rick took pictures today, too.

Including one of me.

More photos on my Flickr page.

Blooming witch hazel

The Ozark witch hazel shrub has several good attributes for Missouri gardens:

• it's native
• it retains its leaves for a long time
• it blooms in the middle of winter

The blooms aren't particularly showy, but they don't have any other flowers to compete with at this time of year. The Missouri Botanical Garden considers Hamamelis vernalis a Plant of Merit. We have been happy with this one that is growing at the top of the driveway.

Soft hands

I suspect I'm not the only person who needs heavy duty hand moisturizing in the winter. The Skin Creme Stick from Bee Naturals is my solution. It's waxy rather than oily and stays on even when I wash my hands. Bee Naturals is a small boutique in the town downriver from the one where I grew up. I've shopped in the store, but usually order my skin creme from the web site.