Category Archive: Plants

Artified photos and another “T” stories voting reminder

In four days, the Alphabet Challenge “T” Stories voting round will end. I post the reminders because there have been late-round voting surges which seem tied to the deadline approaching . . . probably people who enjoy the thrill of working to a deadline.

. . . although this isn’t really work, or shouldn’t be . . . .

If you’re a reader of our stories and someone who votes, thank you in advance for casting a vote for your favorite of the three. Links to the stories and the poll for voting for “Alphabet Challenge T-Stories” are HERE(link) Votes will be accepted until noon, Chicago time, on November 27th.

As usual, let me know if something goes wrong with the voting . . . and today I decided to process a few more Nikon D100 photos, but transitioning from flowers to other stuff.

Those look like Black-eyed Susan flowers but they’re actually a wildflower that looks similar. Or, maybe they are Black-eyed Susan from seeds that had been blown into a natural setting. We’ll never know.

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More flowers and a “T” stories voting reminder

With five days to go, the Alphabet Challenge “T” Stories voting round heated up into a frenzy of votes and drastic moves in the standings of individual stories. It’s good to see the activity pick up a bit as we approach the end of the voting block. Perhaps we’ll top the record set last week (but still far from the once-hoped-for 100 votes mark).

If you’re a reader of our stories and someone who votes, thank you in advance for casting a vote for your favorite of the three. Links to the stories and the poll for voting for “Alphabet Challenge T-Stories” are HERE(link) Votes will be accepted until noon, Chicago time, on November 27th.

As usual, let me know if something goes wrong with the voting . . . and today I decided to process a few more photos of flowers captured with the D100.

Stella D'Oro daylily painting

That’s a Stella D’Oro daylily. Artified, of course.

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Flowers and a “T” stories voting reminder

With six days to go, the Alphabet Challenge “T” Stories voting round is progressing nicely. I suppose I should start thinking about my next story.

Meanwhile, if you’re a reader of our stories and someone who votes, thank you in advance for casting a vote for your favorite of the three. Links to the stories and the poll for voting for “Alphabet Challenge T-Stories” are HERE(link) Votes will be accepted until noon, Chicago time, on November 27th.

As usual, let me know if something goes wrong with the voting . . . and today I decided to process a few photos of flowers captured with the D100.

Dogwood tree flowers turned into a framed painting.

That’s a peach tree blossom, I think. Artified, of course.

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A short stories poll reminder and one photo

I assume it’s near useless doing a reminder for this blog when two idiots are duking it out on the world stage. But, The Alphabet Challenge “S” Stories polling is still lagging with only six more days to do. We’re now hoping for the usual late-voting surge, but I fear most of the people will be all voted-out by the time they return from pissing on the opposition while ignoring the piece of crap that is their choice. 

Still, if you are a reader of our stories and someone who would like to express an opinion about which of the stories you liked the best (or disliked the least), and if you participate in the poll, thank you in advance. Links to the stories and the poll for voting for the “Alphabet Challenge S-Stories” are HERE.<<<Link Votes will be accepted until noon on November 8th.

OK, there’s only one photo in this blog post . . . and this is it:

Let me explain . . .

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Another short stories poll reminder and more about fonts

After a small surge, The Alphabet Challenge “S” Stories polling has again lagged. We’re now hoping for the usual late-voting surge, but I fear all the talk of voting may have put some people off.

You see, it might be they assume this has to do with some election or other. I wouldn’t know much about that, but I thought it best to change vote/voting to poll/polling . . . although that too can have negative associations.

Still, if you are a reader of our stories and someone who would like to express an opinion about which of the stories you liked the best (or disliked the least), and if you participate in the poll, thank you in advance. Links to the stories and the poll for voting for the “Alphabet Challenge S-Stories” are HERE.<<<Link Votes will be accepted until noon on November 8th.

OK, there be no photos on this blog post . . . only screen captures.

Let me explain . . .

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Voting reminder and a final bit about the Block Editor

The Alphabet Challenge “S” Stories voting has picked up a bit, which was nice to see. Interestingly, all the votes have come from the US. Frankly, I’m surprised the rest of the world is letting the US show them up like that. But, I suppose it’s still fairly early in the round and people from other countries may be more deliberate in their . . . er . . . deliberations.

If you are a reader of our stories and someone who votes, no matter your country of origin, thank you in advance for casting a vote for your favorite of the three despite all that’s probably occupying your mind. Links to the stories and the poll for voting for “Alphabet Challenge S-Stories” are HERE.<<<Link Votes will be accepted until noon on November 8th.

I suppose I owe a photo . . .

Open country, shrubs and big skySo, the Block Editor (ptui!) . . . First, let me say it’s a powerful editing tool . . . for them who have a need for it. Having used it for this past week or so, I . . .

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Third “R” stories voting reminder . . . and two photos

The Alphabet Challenge “R” Stories voting round is nearly at the halfway mark.

If you are a reader of our stories and someone who votes, thank you in advance for casting a vote for your favorite of the three. Links to the stories and the poll for voting for “Alphabet Challenge R-Stories” are HERE.<<<Link Votes will be accepted until noon on October 20th.

I’m kind of busy, so this will be an extra-short post.

Driftwood on a beachSince few agreed with my interpretation of the last piece of driftwood I shared, I leave it to anyone who might want to comment to suggest what this piece resembles.

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“R” stories voting reminder . . . and a few photos

The Alphabet Challenge “R” Stories voting round is off to a slow start, and that’s understandable . . . to everyone but us writers.

OK, that’s a joke. I shouldn’t have to explain that, but these days it’s best to make things perfectly clear; I’m kidding.

I know our regular readers likely will get around to reading and voting, and we writers want you to know we are thankful for each and every one of you. Oh, yeah . . . also the irregular readers who stop by and contribute to the voting.

If you are a reader of our stories and someone who votes, thank you in advance for casting a vote for your favorite of the three. Links to the stories and the poll for voting for “Alphabet Challenge R-Stories” are HERE.<<<Link Votes will be accepted until noon on October 20th.

Believe it or not, I’m using the Classic Block editor as opposed to the Classic Editor to compose this post.

Wanna know why? Because in the course of writing the guide to the Classic Block, I got used to it and it’s not functionally different from the Classic Editor (except for how I insert photos).

Speaking of photos . . .

Seagull walking along the beachYes, that’s a seagull out for a stroll on a Michigan beach (that’s Lake Michigan in the background).

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Color version of Hawaiʻian Flowers and “P” stories voting reminder

The Alphabet Challenge “P” Stories are up and some readers have already voted. While you can no longer claim the first vote, you can certainly contribute to the total.

Perhaps you have the modest goal of being one of the first ten voters. If so, there is still time as — sadly — the voting has stalled at an even lower vote count than it did in the previous round. I mean, I assume most readers would enjoy making their preference known.

If you are one such reader, and if you’ve not already done so — please read the stories and then cast a vote for your favorite of the three. Links to the stories and the poll for voting for “Alphabet Challenge P-Stories” are HERE.<<<Link

I’m still tethering my PC to my phone, so, after this post, I might cut the number of photos I include in each post because — at my location — I only have two bars for my 4GLTE signal, and while I can do most things without much of a bother, uploading is one of the things that are slow. 

Anyway, this post is a copy of the previous one, with the monochrome photos replaced by their color versions.

And, yes, these have been treated with Topaz Impression 2.0  . . .

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Hawaiʻian Flowers and “P” stories voting reminder

The Alphabet Challenge “P” Stories are up and running and the writers hope many readers are eagerly consuming these fine offerings and jumping at the chance to vote in this round.

If you are one such reader, and if you’ve not already done so — please read the stories and then cast a vote for your favorite of the three. Links to the stories and the poll for voting for “Alphabet Challenge P-Stories” are HERE.<<<Link

A quick note: workers in my neighbor’s yard damaged or cut the Mediacom Cable that provides me with Internet service. Meaning, I’m without high-speed internet.

“How are you posting this, oh great and powerful Disperser?”

Well, I have my phone tethered to my PC. Meaning, I’m using my phone to provide internet to my PC via a USB connection. We’re also using the phones as a hotspot and connect devices to them as we would to Wi-Fi provided through a Router.

This functionality is built-in on most phones (at least Android phones running Verizon). The speed is not something to brag about (100 times slower than my regular Internet) but you know what? I can still upload photos and author posts, read other people’s blogs and even watch YouTube videos. Melisa has the Kindle Fire connected to her phone via wi-Fi and she’s streaming Netflix.

In other words, perfectly usable. Anyway, here are some Hawaiʻian flowers . . . and in a twist, I’m posting the Monochrome versions before I do the color versions.

And, yes, these have been treated with Topaz Impression 2.0  . . .

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I tease you with a dead teasel, a.k.a. Dipsacus plant

For them not interested in reading, you can see the photos in THIS<<link SmugMug Gallery.

For a SmugMug slideshow click HERE<<link. When you click the link, it will open in a new window and you have two options:
1) Manually scroll through the photos by clicking the “<” and “>” symbols to the left or right of the photos.
2) There’s a PLAY/PAUSE button at the top-left of the screen with the transition set at about 5 seconds. Note: clicking the PLAY arrow will run a full-screen slideshow. You can then still use the”<” and “>” symbols to the left or right of the photos as this will pause the slideshow.

If you manually scroll, you can click anywhere on the photo to get the 100% view of the photo. The cursor will change from a (+) to a hand symbol and you can click-and-hold to drag the view. Click again to zoom out.

If you want the full experience, keep reading.

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Subjects of mystery art photos for “O” stories voting revealed

The voting for The Alphabet Challenge “O” Stories round will close tomorrow at noon (Central Time). The writers were pleased to see an increase in the number of votes cast. For a while, we thought we’d been forgotten, what with the elections, hurricanes, fires, riots, protests, and empty promises by politicians who know very little about the needs of their citizens.

But, no . . . voters came through and turn this into a respectable voting round. Thank you..   

. . . even so, for old times sake, if you’ve not already done so — please read the stories and then cast a vote for your favorite of the three. Links to the stories and the poll for voting for “Alphabet Challenge O-Stories” are HERE.<<link

So, yesterday I posted two quick “Topaz-fied” photos . . . and here are the originals (plus more) . . .

You can understand why I chose to amplify structure and color . . . in their natural state, these are pretty bland. Still interesting, but bland.

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Mystery art for “O” stories voting

Two days left in The Alphabet Challenge “O” Stories round and — what do you know? — the voting round is showing some signs of life. Perhaps all my begging is not going to waste.   

. . . so, just a few more times, if you’one of them and have not already done so — please read the stories and then cast a vote for your favorite of the three. Links to the stories and the poll for voting for “Alphabet Challenge O-Stories” are HERE.<<link

This will be another (super)quick post because I’m busy . . . so here are two photos reworked in Topaz Studio . . .

Perhaps some will know what those are. If so . . . I didn’t process them enough.

I’ll share unprocessed photos in the next few days.

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Thistle time art for “O” stories voting

Three days left in The Alphabet Challenge “O” Stories round and it’s official . . . this will go down as a low participation round. With three days left, I don’t see a slew of voters coming in from a cruise or something and casting 20+ votes. Heck, they’re probably in quarantine from the cruise.  

. . . but, just in case, if you’one of them and have not already done so — please read the stories and then cast a vote for your favorite of the three. Links to the stories and the poll for voting for “Alphabet Challenge O-Stories” are HERE.<<link

This will be another quick post because I’m busy . . . so, here are the reworked photos of thistle flowers; reworked in Topaz Studio . . .

You can actually buy thistle . . . and I’ll probably do that.

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Thistle time for “O” stories voting

Four days left in The Alphabet Challenge “O” Stories round and it’s looking to be a low participation round. It happens, and we hope for better in the future, and I’m almost past even asking . . .  

. . . but, just in case, if you’ve not already done so — please read the stories and then cast a vote for your favorite of the three. Links to the stories and the poll for voting for “Alphabet Challenge O-Stories” are HERE.<<link

This will be a quick post because I’m busy . . . so, here are a few photos of thistle flowers . . .

I should try to grow some . . . I hear they are low maintenance and I know bees and other insects like them.

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