Papery

This flower was HUGE. And still manages to look delicate and pretty.

Lilies!

Dontch ya just love lilies? I love the shape of the petals.

Lacy Husk

This is a weird little husk I found out in our courtyard a while back. I like the detail of outside and how the light is almost making the inside glow a little bit. I also took this right at dusk so the light is a little extra blue.

Hidden Flowers

I like how these little hydreanga-like flowers were kind of tucked-in and hidden under the flashier flowers. Like a happy little surprise.

Up Close

Here's a closer image of the same flower from yesterday. I like how the variegation of color in the flecked petals almost starts to make them look transparent.

Leopard Print Flowers

Okay so not really exactly leopard print, but it's kind of close right?

Inside the Tulip

Of course the insides are cool as well.

The Majestic Tulip Part 2

Look at that tulip. That's pretty cool. I love the transition of white to pink at the bottom, it's so pretty.

Softness

I love how soft these flowers look. The petals could be little cotton balls in the end.

Awwww

Look at these adorable little flowers! They're like doodles in the margins of an eighth-grade girl's notebook. They're just precious.

Lily Arcs

I suppose this should probably be "The Majestic Lily" but... eh, it's been done. I do like this though - in the shape and the arc of the petals and, of course, the transition from stem to petal.

And yes, that is my shower in the background.

The Majestic Tulip

I like to call this "The Majestic Tulip." The angle (I was trying to get another view of the stem-to-petal connection makes it look very tall and proud. I also like this view because I love the shape and the texture of tulip petals. They're so simple but so elegant. I just love them.

Interesting Stuff

I got some flowers at work the other day (awwww). Included in the bouquet were these cute little white flowers (I don't know what they are) and I just love them, especially their fuzzy looking stems.

Weird Rock

All of our landscaping at our apartment building involves rock beds. There's very little mulch here. We're apparently rock people. That works for me as I think the rocks look very nice. And they don't stink like mulch does. (I remember one year in college when there was a parking spot sized pile of mulch ready to go outside my dorm. It sat there for weeks and it just STAAAANK.)

For the most part on their own the rocks are pretty boring - some of them have some cool coloring or shape, but they're mostly forgettable. (Which is probably the goal in apartment complex landscaping.) There are a few here and there though, that are very unusual. This is one of them.

Fall-looking Leaves in Spring

This bush just outside my door is very weird. It looks like this should be a left-over photo from Fall. It's not. It's Spring, it's the middle of april and this plant has yellow, red and orange leaves all over it. Like I said, weird.

Baby Leaves!

We're nearly there - these could technically be classified as leaves. Very little, itty-bitty, baby leaves; but leaves all the same. This is it, folks, it's nearly spring for real now.

Tulips

Man, tulips have a lot going for them, don't they? I mean seriously, is there a more universally liked flower? I mean, even the women I know who don't like roses (I personal don't especially like red roses, because they've become such a standard that they no longer require thought) like tulips. Plus they're a sign of spring, so everyone is always happy to see them. And, even before they bloom they have really cool leaves.

Soon to be Leaves

Another show of some tree branches that have started to bud, but have not actually burst into leafy goodness just yet.

I like how almost pre-historic these buds look - like they have a hard outer shell they have to break through first.

More Hot Air

Here's another shot of the hot air balloons we spotted the other day, this time disappearing behind some trees.

Okay, not really "disappearing." More like "drifting" I suppose. I maybe would have disappeared if the trees were fully leafed out, but for now let's just say the balloon became slightly obscured by some branches.

Or something.

The Other Side of Flowers

Okay, so I have this thing... it's a little weird. I love the backsides of flowers.

Yeah. If I were a dude and flowers were women (stay with me here) I would totally be a butt man.

Okay let me actually explain. So obviously the front side of flowers are the really amazing part. I clearly like flowers and think they're pretty (or I spend an awful lot of time taking pictures of stuff I don't especially care for). But I've always liked the back side of flowers. The petals tend to have a lot of veining and texture on that side and there's something I just find so beautiful and graceful - elegant really - about the way the stems of flowers connect and open up into petals.

Daffodil!

I've always liked Daffodils. They're very happy flowers. It's hard to not smile when you're looking at daffodils. One of the things I really love about them though is the edge of that inner, tubular petal. It's so ruffly and soft. I like how this captures the contour of that petal.

Balloons!

Steve and I were in Stillwater the other day to have dinner with his parents and we took a little walk around the neighborhood. While we were out we spotted a few hot air balloons floating overhead. Very whimsical.

Redux

Here's another shot of the same flowers from yesterday. This shows the shape of the petals a little more than yesterdays. They're almost bracket-like really }

Spring Narcissus

These are some Narcissus flowers that were in a pot on my grandparents' porch over the weekend. In color they're white and buttery yellow and very pretty. There's just something about them in black & white that I love though. The way the petals look so transparent with the light hitting them. I also just like the general shape and curve of the petals on their own.

Old Hydrangea

One of the things I really like about Hydrangeas (and it's a very long list) is that the blooms kind of hold even after they die. These were in my grandparent's garden this spring, clearly left over from from last year. Yes, they're dead, but they still look so cool. Not nearly as amazing as they do when they're in actual full bloom, but pretty cool all the same.

Weird-ass Buds

I don't know what this tree is going to be when these leaves actually pop and become leaves. For now it looks like something out of an alien movie or something. The pod people have arrives and they're leaving these weird-ass hairy-looking buds everywhere.

Little Tine Leaves

In two or three weeks these exact same leaves are going to make my life a living hell with their pollen and crap. My face will explode and it will be bad. In the mean time - look at those adorable little leaves! Aren't they cute?

Red Dye # 2

See how much better the blues and greens are? That barely constitutes pink, let alone red. These were meant to be the "Bright, vibrant hues" too, according to the box anyway.

I dig the purple one though.

Fun With Dying

It's really too bad that they can't make a red dye that actually turns eggs red... I think I'd like red eggs. I wouldn't know because I've never seen one.

Blue Egg