Today's post represents a bit of a departure from the usual fare served up here at Urban Oasis: some sky and trees in the waning early evening light. Actually it's a big departure for me in terms of subjects because I don't think I've ever deliberately shot trees before ... I tried some clouds and sky shots with the old camera, but was never satisfied with what I got. But now, with the zoom and all the features the S700 offers, I've decided to start experimenting, and these are the preliminary results. So, while having said beer mentioned in the previous post, I just laid back in my chair and started looking up and around the yard using the Landscape mode of the S700 (really, Fuji should start paying me a stipend for the plugs, lol). We have two old, pretty large trees in our backyard, one of which is an aged Silver Maple (whose spawn we are constantly cursing as we try to eradicate them from the gardens) and the other is about a sixty foot high Blue Spruce. Both trees definitely have their disadvantages between the Maple's spring onslaught of what children often call "helicopters," (I prefer to call them damned invasive seed delivery devices) and the needles and cones dropped by the Spruce.
And the Maple is also home to some of the wretched Tree Rats that taunt the dogs and dig up things and bury walnuts in the yard, thus propagating an even more difficult tree that we have to extract every spring. Though on the other hand, an Owl has been known to hang out there on quiet nights letting us know it's there, and we definitely like that because it's comforting to have an Owl close by, and hope it develops an appetite for some of the Cursed Tree Rats ... and the Spruce does house a pair of cardinals (and some nasty blackbirds). Having two lovely Cardinals so close and visible really does temper my opinion of the Spruce, however, no matter how much we've tried various plants underneath it, everything but the most tenacious weeds has given up the ghost at this point. At least it's NOT a walnut, for as big as it is! That literally would be a poisonous situation, because as most gardeners know, black walnuts excrete a substance that deters all but the most tolerant of the usual perennials. (That's the case with our neighbor across the street who has four of them ... the source from whence the Ignoble Tree Rats bring the nuts over to our yard!)In any case, these trees are here and will probably remain, unless one should happen to keel over and die. If/when that happens, what I really would love to see replace them is my favorite tree from childhood, the exotic and unusual Catalpa. Yeah, those are messy too when they flower, and one is often pelted by the falling "bean pods" in the fall, but they don't seem to spread like Maples and actually have dramatic blooms that are quite fragrant (if a bit messy when they fall). But that dream is just that right now ... but it would be my ideal candidate to replace the maple eventually. Of course, I'd probably be dead before it bloomed (unless it's a really big one planted) since they're not the fastest growers in the tree kingdom, but they're surely one of the most beautiful as far as I am concerned.
