May flowers

Despite some difficulties with camera that I'm experiencing now I make some nature photos anyway. For some reason (which is called laziness) I haven't posted them yet. But I'm going to start today. This post is about spring flowers that bloomed in May and the next one will be about critters I met in spring.

This is why spring is my favorite season: hundreds and hundreds of different flowers everywhere.

Meadow buttercups...

Forget-me-nots are among my favorite spring wild flowers. They bloomed here in May and I enjoyed these tiny blue and white flowers very much. The most interesting thing about them that I've discovered only recently is that both blue and white blossoms can actually grow on one stem.

Not sure how these are called.. may be they're some kind of Corydalis. And btw they should be violet. My camera for some reason doesn't seem to distinguish it properly :(

Absolutely lovely dandelions. Despite the fact that these flowers usually grow in huge numbers covering fields with bright yellow color, these particular ones grew in one batch by the road.

Looks like an apple tree. Or some other fruit tree. This one stunned me. So many flowers and you can imagine their fantastic smell! I also love the young fur tree needles. They're so gentle.

Some Wild geranium...

And I have no idea about this one. I sure need some field guide about local flowers. And mushrooms. And birds. I want to know more about creatures and plants I encounter and I need to know how they're called too.

May flowers

Stinkhorn eggs saute

In my previous post I complained about low-quality pics I make with my camera. Well sometimes there are some nice ones too! And sometimes they are not just photos but sweet sweet memories as sweet as what my husband cooked today. Saute stinkhorns. In case you don't know stinkhorns (phallus impudicus) are fungi and I've wrote about them and their name here.

This year we had lots of rains in spring and in the beginning of summer, we have some even now. Moreover as I write I hear the patter of raindrops at my window. However there are almost no mushrooms in the forest and it looks like they still don't have enough water to grow. However yesterday we were lucky to find 9 stinkhorn eggs. The eggs do not yet have their famous smell and are easier to deal with.

The greatest thing about stinkhorn eggs is that they're very hygienic. All you need is to wash them, then cut off the base with a stalk and push the slimy body out of the skin. Then wash the slime out. That's all. You have the inside of the mushroom which is clean and parasite-free. What to do next? You may bake them or steam them or whatever you feel like doing.

My husband chopped a vegetable marrow with paprika and stinkhorns added some spices, a bit of sea-buckthorn oil and placed in a pan. Cooked it all on small fire stirring from time to time, then placed the almost ready meal in a strainer to get rid of excessive juice. I was unable to make the last photo of the resulting dish for it was too tasty to watch.

Stinkhorn eggs saute

Why violet flowers become blue?

This year I got a little(?) disappointed with my camera (Sony DSC H7) and may be this is the reason why I'm making photos rarely then say last year. It is such a difference what lovely scenes do I see with my own eyes trying to capture an image in my lens and what awful-quality pics I have in the end. I know what you are going to tell me: it is not a camera but a photographer who makes photos. True. But funny thing is I know for sure I did have much better results with simple point and shoot digital cameras.

The main 2 things that disturb me are grain and wrong colors. I know that less light means more grain when you deal with digital cameras so the best thing to do is to set the lowest ISO and highest possible aperture. BUT The second thing... It happens when I'm trying to capture violet or yellow objects. As a result violet things become blue on my pics and yellow seems um.. unnatural. I know there is something to do with white balance. May be. But this is sooo disturbing. Look:

This flower is naturally violet.

Picture # 1. Auto mode. The flower is light blue. Sorry the quality is especially low because my hands shook when I made this pic (still can't make myself buy a tripod) but what matters here is color. Blue.

Picture # 2. I played with white balance (you know when you have to capture some sheet of white paper) and set some general exposure settings for a sunny day. The color has slightly changed into light violet. Not that natural violet but slight slight light-blue-violetish. And the leaves are now more yellowish.

Now this one is completely messed up. These flowers are naturally rich violet. Here they're blue. No matter what I do. And this is not the worst case.








Oh oh this is the same flower but it has terrific dark blue petals. Sorry I don't know how is it called or I'd shown you how it should look like. I understand that this pic is made in darker circumstances than the previous one but why why why is it blue and not purple?





Please if you have any idea of what to do, tell me. Or is it only post processing that may cure my photos? Or a new camera? I'm seriously thinking about buying some point and shoot camera just to compare. And if the results are the same it is more convenient to have a small camera that fits in my pocket then a big one that I have now. No I'm sure there is something to do with settings but I just don't know what. Any idea?

Why violet flowers become blue?

Finally wild Tawny owls!

Firstly I watched them through the webcam. Then I saw them captive. Finally today I found real live wild Tawny owls. Actually I saw one yesterday. We were following one of our usual hiking routes when my husband saw it fly across the forest and land on a tree. The owl sat on a tree and stared.. sat and stared while I stared on the owl. The OWL! We watched it for a while and since the owl did nothing but sat and stared we decided to move along.

Today we decided to take the same route. Not because of an owl but just because we wanted so. On our way I said "Hey imagine if we meet an owl again!" and what do you think? A moment later I watched an owl fly from one tree to another and squeak! I twitched my hubby's hand in excitement. The owl made several squeaks and flew to another tree to meet another owl! Two of them flew somewhere together so we could only hear their voices nearby. Then I saw one of them on a nearby tree. Finally both owls disappeared although we could still hear their distant squeaks.

We moved along the way, me still astonished almost jumping when we found an owlet on the ground. Unfortunately it was dead. I don't know what happened to this juvenile owl. Maybe it flew out of its nest and was attacked by other birds like crows. Maybe it landed on a ground where it was attacked by dogs or something. Maybe it was simply too weak and didn't make it. Sad but that's what usually happens in nature.

My husband pulled feathers and a leg out of the bird's body, brought them home and processed ("salt and pepper for you mommy"). Here they are placed in front of my monitor screen so that the Owl can surf the internet, educate itself and evolve. Don't ask. It's all about my husband's freakish technoshamanic affairs. Oh and no ads here.

So.. my feelings are mixed. Although this dead owlet was a sad discovery still those 2 living owls made the evening. Hope there'll be even more owls in there.

Finally wild Tawny owls!

Old console games - my new blog

I've been silent and haven't updated this blog for a reason - I discovered a whole new world of console games and started a new blog where I review the games I play.

Here it is: http://old-console-games.blogspot.com/ my brand new blog with brand new experiences!

Old console games - my new blog