Chaos and Cat Naps...

I had a computer/camera glitch this morning--I'm still not sure which.  I had planned to take a few photos, download them, do a quick blog, and get on with other things before it was time for the dogs' walk.  I took the pictures, went to my photo program...and discovered I no longer had the download function...in fact, my photo program had no recollection or memory of my camera.  Gone.  Zapped.  Disappeared into cyberspace.  It was like my camera, which I use nearly every day, didn't exist anymore.

This was soooo not good.  If I were still in the house in Edinburgh, I would know exactly where to lay my hands on the CD to reload the lost functions.  Unfortunately, I didn't have a bloody clue where that CD might be now.  Over an hour later, the house turned upside down, still no CD, though in all my cursing searching, I did manage to find a CD from an older version of another Canon camera I used to have, and miraculously, I was given the choice (after downloading the whole frigging program) of picking which series of camera I wanted to apply the program to.  And eureka.  It worked.  I was able to get the photos off the camera, into my photo program, and hey, only waste an hour and a half of my morning.  Buggers.

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The Flowering Plum tree--next to the driveway--is in bloom.  It's pink, and pretty and I was reminded of how it looked in the Winter covered in snow, so I decided to do a seasonal montage--though Summer and Fall look fairly similar except for the background and a slight tinge of the color change.

 

I'll start with Summer.  We had just moved to America, to Roseburg, and into our new house.  I took this shot from the old deck, looking over the drive, in the scorching heat of August...

 


Late October and the Oaks are losing their leaves; the Plum still has plenty of foliage, though the color was changing from the Summer burgundy to a bright Fall red...




 

February, and the tree is buried under a beautiful Winter's blanket of soft, fluffy snow...

Today, nearly the end of March, and as the pink buds sparkle in the early Spring sunlight, another year in the life of this little Plum tree comes full circle.

Pretty cool, actually...



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Though I have avoided taking photos of--or taking part in--the whole backyard fiasco, I've had a few inquiries about what it looks like, so this morning I sucked it up, and took these shots.  I'm not going to comment at this juncture however...

Even in the midst of muddy chaos...there is a bright spot...

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The weather today is awful...lots of rain and winds and basically just dreary.  I'm very glad it's Saturday afternoon because I'm going to go find a good movie on the telly, have a cup of coffee with a cookie or two, and with any luck at all...I'll end up just like this before too long.  Care to join me..??

Via CoolPix