Happy Spring! The day my forsythia begins to bloom is my sign that spring has actually begun. That hasn’t happened yet, but I can see the buds forming just outside my dining room window. Some years the forsythia blooms just before or after a snow shower, but it doesn’t matter to me. I know that will pass shortly, and sometimes so quickly that summer is here before I can catch my breath.
Anyway, today is the official first day of Spring. In 2023, the March equinox happens on March 20, at 5:24 P.M. EDT.
Nothing is so beautiful as Spring –
When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;
Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush
Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring
The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;
The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush
The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush
With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.
What is all this juice and all this joy?
A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning
In Eden garden. – Have, get, before it cloy,
Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,
Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,
Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning.
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Stella's Place 
I’ve waited all Winter to get to this point! Have a new camera and lens to work with nature’s wonder. Nice days coming too! Gotta learn to look at things with another eye. I pray it all works out.
LikeLiked by 8 people
May your photos be as lovely as Lucille’s posts!
LikeLiked by 5 people
Worked years ago with SLRs in film cameras, but a nubie to digital SLRs. It’s a whole ‘nother world!
LikeLiked by 3 people
I think photography is more about eye than hardware. My daughter (my opinion) has the gift. I’m sure you do too!
LikeLiked by 5 people
The control aspect is really far out from the film end of it. Stabilizer modes and auto focus manual focus with metering mode, focusing mode, zooming in and out and custom functions. All quite daunting to work with. I’m just touching the surface here. But I appreciate your confidence Stella. Plus there’s video that’s new to me. I kinda need a DSLR for dummies to explain it all, LOL. A six week class would work too. I do have the time now that I’m retired.
LikeLiked by 2 people
My daughter switched to a DSLR, and she did take a class! Certainly couldn’t hurt.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I can see now why a lot of people prefer the point and shoot technique of simpler cameras. Until this camera, I never heard of bokeh. Now that is utterly fascinating and I will learn a lot more on it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have a Canon digital camera, but it is (as you said) basically point and shoot. To be honest, I haven’t used it in a very long time.
LikeLike
I have a Canon digital point and shoot too. Use it for quick shots that don’t need much. Then there’s the Canon 90D and that’s a whole ‘nother ball game. With warmer weather coming I can get into learning some of it. The point and shoot is like my grandson’s wading pool, while the 90D is like an Olympic swimming pool with all the bells and whistles, LOL. The trick is learning the bells and whistles. It’s a job just learning about the auto focus. I have Dave Bush’s book on it and there’s almost 400 pages in it. It’s not a professional camera per se, but can be used in quite a few instances like one. Amazing how fast it focuses automatically.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Bokeh?
LikeLike
Bokeh utilizes a very shallow depth of field and renders background and foreground in a soft out of focus with dreamy effects. Have to make sure you focus on the eyes as the focal point can be extremely narrow. You get that by using a 70-200 mm lens with F2.8 and use the 2.8, the Depth of Field is very narrow. The soft focus can give you little round circles of highlight in the background, a very nice effect. Never dreamed it would get this involved, but it’s there to be learned!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Here’s a pic with bokeh.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Please share your photos with us!
LikeLiked by 4 people
Stellars…have a blessed day….
7 Enlightening Facts About the Spring Equinox
From dancing tree fairies to spring fever, there’s more to the March equinox than the first day of spring.
By Melissa Breyer – Updated February 28, 2023
https://www.treehugger.com/unusual-facts-vernal-spring-equinox-4858038
LikeLiked by 5 people
All 3 of our primary songbirds arrived over the weekend: bluebirds, meadowlarks and one says phoebe! Won’t see any flora until the rhubarb pops up, probably next month. Still snow everywhere!!
LikeLiked by 6 people
Hi, weather! I haven’t seen a single bird yet. So it’s photo make-do time. LOL!
Snow geese….
Yellow-breasted chat….
Turkey….
LikeLiked by 5 people
11 Canadians moved onto my lake today, and are touring the middle and edges. Bold ones: came right up to within 10feet of the dogs standing above them on the lake shore. Must think they were safe since they are on the water, but all the others in past years have left if the dogs even start out toward the lake.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Those Canada geese must be from Alberta. The humans there are quite independent and a real thorn in Trudeau’s side. That just may rub off onto the wildlife. If they were from Ontario, they’d be of the Woke Scaredy Bird variety.
LikeLiked by 1 person
😜😜🤣🤣
LikeLike
I used to call them “Canadian geese” when referring to the plural, which in reality, expresses that Canada “owned” those geese. I hear it mis-used quite often. I often wonder how often I mis-use other terms or phrases.
LikeLike
Spring – Аwakening of Nature – 4K | Music Video
LikeLiked by 4 people
Truth. Mornin’ y’all!
LikeLiked by 5 people
Sure glad I got through school before the answers got hard…
LikeLiked by 6 people
Heh. Mornin’ Czarina!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Mornin’ Wee!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Mornin’ Stella!
LikeLike
This is so true, it makes me cry.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Just like they promised, it is 28* outside. Heading for 40* tomorrow morning as a mild front will come out of the Gulf today, and high of 80* by Thursday. Hope this is the last of the freezes, but I don’t look forward to the humidity and heat.
LikeLiked by 5 people
Our freeze date is somewhere in the mid May area.
LikeLiked by 5 people
Hi, czarina! It’s 52 and sorta overcast today, even though the prediction had been 43 degrees and rainy. I’m very pleased there’s no rain (and won’t be until Thursday–so they say) since I had a doctor’s appointment at 11:00 AM.
In November I had a check-up and was told to come back every 4 months re the CKD. My doctor visit today went VERY well and my test results are better than they were in November. Now the doctor has approved me for check-ups every 6 months!! Yippee! Thank You, Lord!
I’ve been pretty meticulous in following the diet restrictions. And that has been boring as all get out (I salivate for a pepperoni, sausage, green bell pepper and extra cheese pizza…alas!). But following the rules has really done me good. And better bored than bummed about bad news. I’ll take good test results any day.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Morning all! More Trump mania, and Turley’s point of view. Love his description here:
Bragg’s indictment is Frankensteinian in its effort to assemble parts of the federal and state codes to reanimate a dead criminal theory.
LikeLiked by 5 people
Love that Congress is looking into what money was used to pursue this indictment, since Bragg apparently does not use federal money to prosecute violent criminals in his jurisdiction….
LikeLiked by 3 people
Just remember, if the R’s find shenanigans, nothing will ever be heard about it in “the media”, nor in a court of law. And……..most of the “hearings” in front of the Senators, or Congress-critters is for their show, not the guilty, or crooked.
LikeLiked by 1 person
House GOP Leaders Send Scathing Letter to Manhattan DA – They Want Him in Front of Congress
By Johnathan Jones – March 20, 2023 at 12:15pm
The letter signed by Republican Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, James Comer of Kentucky and Bryan Steil of Wisconsin demanded answers from the Manhattan district attorney. Jordan, Comer, and Steil are chairmen of Judiciary, Oversight and Administration, committees, respectively.
https://www.westernjournal.com/house-gop-leaders-send-scathing-letter-manhattan-da-want-front-congress/
LikeLiked by 1 person
Afternoon all. 36* and white overcast for now. Supposed to clear off soon. I went to my kid’s house yesterday after church. The snow there is much deeper there than it has been here because they are closer to the base of the mountains. But, it was nice and warm in the sun on the patio and we all sat out there for a long time enjoying it. My middle granddaughter was running around in the snow in bare feet. Silly girl. But, they were having a great time. That is the first time I have been out there since Christmas. I sure hope something opens up near them that I can move to in a few months.
The weather guessers are predicting snow this weekend and again the next week. So, we will see if they are right. Hope you enjoy your nice days.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Good afternoon, mom!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good that you got to spend the day with your loved ones. Spring IS coming…
LikeLiked by 2 people
Good news regarding our elephant friends….
Orphaned Baby Elephant Gets A Big New Family
The Dodo – March 20, 2023
————
ALL ABOUT ELEPHANTS
Nomenclature:
The Order Proboscidea derived its name from the Latin word “proboscis” meaning trunk. The word elephant is derived from the Greek word “elephas” that means ivory.
https://seaworld.org/animals/all-about/elephants/classification/
LikeLiked by 3 people