Rhododendron......

Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden

Rhododendron usually blooms during the month of May and it coincides during Mother’s Day celebration, so to all the mothers out there – Happy Mother’s Day (this year is May 13th). Originally I wanted to go to the Oregon Garden in Silverton about forty miles to our south, but when Pokie saw that these Rhododendrons were in full bloom on one of the television channel, we decided to come here instead. Nothing beats free admission if we come before 10:00 A.M. To help the matter, the weather cooperated with us, not too much sun, no rain, well almost. It was drizzling for about five minutes.

So come join us to the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden


Hoyt Arboretum 2007 (Revisited)





Hoyt Aeboretum - Oct. 2007





I consider myself a purist when it comes to digital photography (no retouching within the image), but I almost always make some simple adjustments of the brightness and contrast to any digital images that I take.  It is a must since what the sensor sees and our eyes see are different. Lately I started perusing the post production software namely Photoshop CS and found some interesting tools that I can use but still within the “purist” limitation and boundary. I went back and look for some images that I think is worthy of these adjustments. Here is Hoyt Arboretum revisited.

 Hoyt Arboretum 2007

Experimental nightshots



f 8.0 at 30 seconds

 I always wanted to try night shots with the digital camera, I did with film in the past and as far as I remember I always set it at f 8.0 for 15 seconds or 30 seconds with ISO 100 to record the streaks of the headlight and the tail light of the cars. This brought me back many years ago when I still shot B&W films. So I asked Pokie if she could drive me to where I thought I could get a shot of the freeway, but alas a fence was on the way, so we moved to a location where I thought I could get a shot or two, then we went to a place near where we live and got a shot of the pond. No composition is the main objective here, just the exposure.

Here are other images

Lilac Up Close

Photo by Pokie Lie

When we went to Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens, I gave Pokie the other camera and I mounted the macro lens and gave her an assignment to take close-up of the Lilac and whatever flowers that she likes, here’s what she came up with, I hope you enjoy them. I only take one close up picture in this series as I concentrated with the overall gardens.

Close up photos 

Lilac Gardens

Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens

We drove for more than forty miles to see Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens in Woodland, Washington. We almost turned back because the promise of partially sunny by the local weather forecast did not materialize, instead it was misty and it was getting dark. But, the idea of going back is not an option either as these Lilacs have a short bloom period, so we pressed on and the weather cooperated with my intention of photographing this garden.

Here is what we spent Saturday morning…

Gliders - come fly with me

“Why don’t we stop and see the gliders?” I said to Pokie on the way back from the Salty Air Treatment. Plus, I have been driving from the beach, so it is a good idea to change driver. We stopped for half hour or so and see how these gliders operate.

Here’s the full photo essay

Salty Air Treatment




Cannon Beach, Oregon

Come to the beach with me. This is our Salty Air Treatment after a long dreaded winter. We took our eighteen years old Honda for this short Sunday drive. We visited my co-worker’s castle and enjoy the weather and get a dose of salty air treatment.

Cannon Beach 4/22/2012