June 1 - I stopped to fill up with gas on my way downtown today. I had brought my camera along in the hopes of a great photo-op downtown. Well, the great one never happened, so this shot won the "picture of the day" choice. I guess we can keep track of the gas prices for the summer. Since this is June 1, it's a good place to start. As you can see, I have quite a drive to get downtown.

June 2 - I'm going to bend the rules today. I didn't take this shot, my son-in-law did. But, I just received it by email, and it is surely the picture of the day. That is my daughter sleeping on the living room floor with her "baby", Wylie. Wylie has been receiving chemo for a couple of months for lymphoma. They have exhausted all their options and can't seem to lick this thing. Wylie has been feeling well up until this point. He had a bad night, but is feeling better this morning. He suckles on his little stuffed duck when he sleeps sometimes, so that is what he is doing in this shot. I hope you will say a prayer for Wylie and his "parents" who are going through a tough time. See more here http://snapapple.smugmug.com/gallery/708324/1/72996647

June 3 - A lilly in the morning sun. I got out early today to avoid the heat. It's 90 degrees out there now!

June 4 - Had my longer lens on(55-200), but saw these flowers and had to give it a go. Zoomed in to 140mm. It came out OK, I guess. I love the way these flowers have a tissue paper look. I'll have to try it again with the 50mm. Maybe shorter depth of field? I reworked this from the RAW file and got the light much better. It's here:http://snapapple.smugmug.com/photos/74633203-L.jpg

June 4 - A "do over". I hate to post two for one day, but I had to show you how much your comments help. Sometimes I'm just in too much of a hurry to post these dailies and I don't take the time to do my best work. Bad habit to get into! I processed this twice; once dark, once light, then masked out one flower. (Thank heaven for RAW) I flipped the image and cropped off-center. Much better, don't you think?

June 5 - African Daisy

June 6 - Today was cloudy and overcast all day. These flowers only last about a day, so the pair together, from yesterday, was gone. With no sun, there were very few flowers fully open. I think this is the best of the lot for today.

I found this flower to be very exotic looking. It could be a huge tropical orchid type flower or the very small snapdragon that it is. They grow in tall stacked rows along a stem and make a nice display. But, if you look closely, the individual flowers look like a snapping mouth. I remember, as a child, I would squeeze the sides to make the mouth "snap".

June 8 - A bee gathers pollen.

June 14 - I have not posted a picture in almost a week. I have been spending my time shopping for new homeowners insurance and getting bids on clearing brush. The company we have been with for 30 years is "non-renewing" us because of a high "fireline score". Translate, too close to "native brush".