Spring has sprung!

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Throughout our neighborhood, the Palos Verdes trees are in full bloom. The bright yellow flowers against the blue sky are so gorgeous.

This is how beautiful our driveway looks right now. Most of the year, the plants are brown without blossoms.

Even the saguaro in our backyard is bursting out in blossoms. A Gila Woodpecker is taking advantage of the nectar from one blossom.

I took the saguaro photos Monday. Today there are seven blossoms. I’m taking pictures each day to see how the blossoming crown progresses.

This is the walkway from our driveway to our courtyard and front door. I have never seen it look so “Springy” before.

Then there’s RED:

I decided to take a few more photos of the saguaro blossoms for this post and guess who showed up? He landed right in front of me and started singing with all his might! I think he wondered why my camera was pointed at the cactus — and not him!

Here is Red singing his heart out! None of the photos today are edited, cropped or touched. My professor’s last words of wisdom for us this week was we can start editing in Adobe Photoshop — but it has a steep learning curve. I’m thankful for the lessons I’ve had with this professor and that he didn’t let us crop or edit — we had to be aware of what our photos would look like untouched.

Even the bees are buzzing today!

Happy Spring and thanks for going on my photo journey with me.

Perhaps it’s time to get back to writing and editing my manuscripts?

42 thoughts on “Spring has sprung!”

    • Red was something else. I must have gotten more than 20 photos of him singing in front of me. I wish I could have recorded his voice, too. The saguaro looks even prettier today.

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    • Thanks! It looks so lush right now that I think it doesn’t look like the desert. In the winter the leaves on the trees are bare and there aren’t any blossoms.

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  13. I love the Palo Verdes trees with their green trunks and limbs and yellow foliage. We have a few around here but it really isn’t the correct climate for them. Your bird photos are fabulous! You really learned a lot and it’s obvious that you are committed to getting even better. I love the shot of the woodpecker and blossom. I had no idea they went after nectar.

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    • Thanks! I love the Paolo Verdes trees now in bloom. They brighten everything in the desert! Thanks for the encouraging words about my photos. My next hurdle will be to learn Adobe Photoshop. The instructor recommended it to us in his last comments about the class. I was speaking with a professional photographer friend of mine from my PR days. He now shoots birds and is in art galleries in Palm Springs. He reiterated what the teacher said about Photoshop — it’s hard to learn and tough to use. He said he spends about an hour per photo editing with it!

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      • I’m a little surprised the teacher didn’t recommend Lightroom instead. My understanding is that it is easier to learn and much more focused on photo editing rather than photo altering. I took a Photoshop class years ago and felt completely overwhelmed. Lightroom is more intuitive. There are great YouTubes on both, which should help. I really like Scott Kelby.

      • You are correct. Both the photographer friend and instructor recommended Lightroom and Photoshop. They use them together! They start with Lightroom and then use Photoshop. Thanks for the advice on YouTube. I’m thankful for your recommendation!

    • Thanks! The blooms are so gorgeous right now. I’ll enjoy them while they last! Our house is more set back compared to others in our neighborhood. I like the long driveway. We have 80 homes by the same builder. There are four or five floor plans, and for some reason — ours is the only one that’s unique!

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