new thread
On Monday, a co-worker took this pic of me working out in the garden that I maintain on the property of where I work. I work as a cook at a private nursing home not far from Oakland, Calif.; but because I also enjoy gardening (used to do landscaping for a living when my knees were younger - LOL), I volunteer my time taking care of a rose garden that I planted a few years ago, inside a protected deer fence.
A few things are in bloom here right now in Northern CA: lots of daffodils, Acacia trees, pink Magnolia and white star Magnolia, Chasmanthe (a drought-tolerant plant from South Africa), and lots of plum tree blossoms. The only thing in bloom in this pic, though, is the lovely violet Hardenbergia vine to my left -- a plant originally native to Australia.
I'll post a few 2012 pics of this rose garden from last year's May & June peak bloom season, since no roses are yet in bloom for 2013 this early in the season...
Happy gardening (and hair-farming - LOL)!!
- Ken
I don't know how this pic rotated itself sideways, as the pic I have on my computer desktop is rotated correctly... I'll try it again, hopefully ending correct this time; but it might be some odd little glitch if it turns out sideways again.
Hi Ken,
no matter how you look at it, your windblown hair is always a treat !
Thanks for the gardening update....after three months in NJ, it is good to be back in my desert in time for Spring. Daffs, Tulips, Roses, Flowering Plums....and a multitude of Wildflowers are in bloom.....I am just headed to Death Valley for a photoshoot.
Take Care, my Friend
Walter
Ahhh! Beautiful East Side picture! Heading up in a week...but to the less dramatic northern area.
Hey Walter :-)
That was a gorgeous photo of your part of the country and as always, you are such a great photographer with such a keen eye as to just what makes for a great picture. Glad you are back. I sure wish it was like that around here right now. We look out our windows and see drizzle, and who wants to take a photo of that! LOL
My best to you always Walter and wishing you great luck with your own garden.
Justin~
Thanks for the kind words, Walter -- and WOW, what a gorgeous pic of the desert in bloom!!!! Glad to hear you're back on the Left Coast, even if the ocean is a bit far from your doorstep (LOL)!
Long Lox 4ever,
Ken
Gorgeous - Spring in the desert is extra special.
- Oren
Those flowers are awesome, Walter. May I put a longhair in among them?
Bill
Hi Bill,
Those flowers look just lovelier with you there among them! I love the shirt! Take of yourself and have a great weekend my friend!
Ted
Hi Ken
Hope this one works. I had trouble as well but the photo was apparently in some other format. (I don't undestand all of this stuff either.) Nice pic and what a garden! :-)
Take care and all the best-
Justin~
Here's the explanation:
All cameras have an "up" and a "down". This is less obvious on a cellphone camera than on a standard camera, but it is still so. If you look at pictures from old cameras that were gotten as prints, you can just rotate the prints in your hand, so you don't think about it much. Also, if you look at pictures on your cellphone, you can just turn the cellphone in your hand.
Further complicating the matter is a newer encoding in digital pictures known as EXIF data. If the camera has a gravity sensor in it, it will encode which side is up into the picture. Some cellphones and computers will read this code and rotate pictures for you. This will fool you into thinking you had the camera right side up when you took the picture. Apple computers are more apt to do this than those of other companies.
This rotation will NOT happen when pictures are in a web page, like the ones you see on MLHH. After all, web pages contain text, and maybe even other pictures, and the web page if it can be rotated at all would all be rotated together.
The best tack when taking pictures for the Internet is to always take your pictures in "landscape" (wider than tall) orientation with the top of the camera facing up. Then they will always come out right side up. If you don't know which side is up on your cellphone, you can experiment to find out which side is. Mark one edge as "up" and the next time you take a picture for the hyperboard if it gets on line upside down, relabel the opposite edge of your phone as "up".
The "rotate photo" option offered when you post can be used if you took a picture in "portrait" orientation (taller than wide) AND if you noticed which way you rotated the camera when you took the picture. Or if you know the way your computer shows the picture is unrotated by EXIF data. That feature was included before use of EXIF data became common, and it was intended to accommodate photos taken in portrait orientation. Thus, 180 degree rotation is not offered and the feature can't be used to correct photos that were taken upside down.
Beautiful - both the flora and fauna in that picture :)
- Oren
LOL, thanks Oren!
Funny you should say "flora and fauna" -- my dad used to use that term in a sarcastic, negative way back when I was in high school and not allowed to grow my hair out. The last time I took a trip with him was in the early summer of '72, right before I decided to leave home and be on my own.... We were headed out West to Calif., stopped at a motel with a swimming pool, where an attractive longhaired young guy (about my own age at the time) and his girlfriend had just jumped in the water, both of their beautiful long hair flowing loose and swaying in the water.
"Fauna or flora?", my dad asked me as he saw the guy resurface from under the water, tossing his wet mane out of his face. I dove under the water and swam away, deciding not to answer him.... Two weeks later I packed up my bags and quietly left his house, finally starting my own hair-farming journey -- and the rest is history! (LOL)
- Ken
I see I've tickled an old funny bone :)
- Oren
Hi Ken,
I must say you are a very sharp looking geezer gardener! You just look grand among the beautiful garden! Beautiful flowers and beautiful hair on a beautiful person! I say what a combination! Great day to you and your flowers my friend!
Ted
I don't want you or the rest of the group getting dizzy trying to look at your photo, so I rotated it for you.
Love the rose pics!
Larry
Thanks, Larry! I'm not ditzy -- uh, I mean: DIZZY anymore! (LOL)