Tag Archives: woodinville

Bees On The Lavender

Nancy has been busy planting in our back yard at home and one of the plants she has gone with is a lavender plant. Some of the plants take a while to get established and even longer to attract the wildlife but the lavender seems to be an instant hit. It has had a steady stream of bees visiting it as well as other creatures. Bees are the focus today.

I spent a little time lying on the ground by the plant with the macro lens fitted. This is not necessarily an ideal choice as my macro is not a high end lens and it has pretty slow focusing motors. The camera tries to drive it but often it can’t keep up. However, stick with it and you can get some shots that work out. One of the things I had not anticipated was the proboscis that the bees have. Maybe they tuck it away when not on plants but, as they move between parts of the plant, it stays out and it is rather an intimidating looking item!

Hummingbirds On Real Plants

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I have taken a ton of photos of the hummingbirds that come to our feeders in the back yard. However, a cooler shot is one that involves real plants rather than a metal feeder. We have hanging baskets which have sometimes provided food for the little critters but the majority of the flowers in our baskets this year do not seem to have interested them. Only one of the flowers seems to get some of them to feed and it is a narrow trumpet shaped flower that seems to thrive on the far side of the basket away from me and the light.

Of course, the sun does move so, with a little patience and forethought, it is possible to get in position and try to stay very still so as not to scare away the blighters. I have had some backlit results but they aren’t very appealing photos. They are better than nothing but getting on the right side of things is the goal and one I have finally managed to achieve. If I could get better angles, that would improve things but there are a good start. Now to spend more time waiting for them and try to avoid freaking out the neighbors in the meantime.

Finally Closer Shots Of A Flicker

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We get a ton of flickers in our area. This species of woodpecker is very common and the spring is the time when they love to thrum on the gutters of the houses to mark out their territory. However, I have had a really hard time getting pictures of them. They are very easily spooked. We sometimes get them in the back yard poking around in the grass for food but if they even detect your movement, they are gone.

I recently had one back there and managed to get some shots through the windows of it. Double glazing is not ideal to shoot through but you get what you can. I also saw some in Juanita Bay Park where I was able to shoot through some branches to get a few more distant shots. I have yet to get one flying which is a shame since there is a flash of red from the underside of the wings that I think would look great to capture. I’ll keep trying!

Misty Trees Out of the Office Window

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On the colder mornings in Woodinville, it is not unusual for us to get mist and fog around our neighborhood. It is usually dark when I start work in my office but, as the sun comes up, it can illuminate the trees around me quite nicely. The mist must have been burning off to let the sun in but it was still shrouding the local trees and looked rather nice. I grabbed a camera near my desk and shot a couple of images of the trees behind the houses across from us and then returned to the day job.

The S4 Was A Beast

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A while back I posted some shots of a Lancia Delta Integrale. The Integrale was the road homologous on version of the rally car that came about when the Group B rally cars were closed out. However, the Group B cars were the really crazy ones. The S4 was the Lancia that competed in Group B. It replaced the Lancia 037 and, at Chateau Ste. Michelle, the two were on show together. Both were road versions for homologous on but they were both beasts.

The S4 was the pinnacle of crazy rally cars. A huge engine and four wheel drive in what was really not a road car. They built some to meet the rules and this was one of them. It was surprisingly nicely finished on the interior given what type of car it was. However, the way in which the body looked like it was different pieces bolted together made you know this was not a car designed for consumers. I was designed with a single purpose in mind. However, it looked like it could eat anything else on the road. What as absolute monster.

Of All Of These, One Is My Favorite

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The Avants event at Chateau Ste. Michelle had some very high end hypercars on display. A Ferrari Enzo or a La Ferrari might seem like they are the best. How about a McLaren Senna? Seems like the best huh? That might be true but the one next to them was the one I really was taken with. I am not a big Porsche fan. I don’t have a problem with Porsches but I have never been taken with them in the way some have. However, I make an exception for the Carrera GT. That is a car that seems to be special and the end of an era of car types. I recall seeing one on the streets in Chicago and being blown away. Consequently, when I saw this one next to the more recent high end creations, I was really excited. It is a great looking car and something more traditional in the way it is designed. It was also super expensive when it was new. Of course, if you want one now, it is even more expensive!

The Supercar That Kind Of Wasn’t

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One of the more interesting vehicles (among a ton of interesting vehicles) at the Avants event in Woodinville was a Jaguar XJ220. This was something that was developed in the early 90s and was supposed to be a big impact in the super car world. Intended to get to about 200mph (which it almost did), it was a huge vehicle with a twin turbocharged V6 engine (not the V12 which was originally considered). It was long, wide and very fast. It was also very expensive costing something like GBP400k at the time.

Unfortunately for it, the super car market took a bit of a dive at that time with the economy not being great. Also, McLaren introduced the F1 which was fast and light. (It also did not seem terribly well because of the same market conditions but did turn a small profit when the racing versions were sold.) Production of the XJ220 never reached the intended numbers and the unsold vehicles at the end of the line ultimately were sold for some pretty low prices. It just didn’t really arrive at the right time.

It is a hell of a car to see in person. It is very big. The width of the vehicle head on is impressive but the length of it is something else. It also seems quite unusual compared to more modern cars in that the wheels are a long way in from each end of the car. The wheels themselves are strange too with quite a small wheel compared to the tire unlike a modern super car with low profile tires. It’s a shame that it never really had the impact that was intended but it was cool to see one out on display.

Crazy Single Tree – I Think

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As we walked through the grounds of Chateau Ste. Michelle after the Avants car event, we came across this tree. As we looked at it we concluded that it was a single tree that was coming out of the ground in various places. However, we are not arborists so could be completely wrong. It just looks like it springs from a single source under ground and breaks the surface in various places. If you know about trees and more specifically this tree, let me know.

Avants at Chateau Ste. Michelle

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I was chatting with one of my neighbors and he mentioned a car event coming up at Chateau Ste. Michelle, a local winery. This event was arranged by Avants and was a selection of exotic and unusual cars on display in the grounds of the winery along with wine and food to enjoy. Sounded interesting and Nancy was keen to try it out so we got ourselves tickets. On the day, the weather started out looking pretty bad but, since the event started in the afternoon, we decided to see how things turned out. As it was, the day became overcast but basically dry so it worked out fine. I’m not sure whether it actually reduced the number of people there or not but it felt busy but not crowded.

Exotics@RTC will provide a bunch of unusual cars but this had some very special vehicles and was definitely worth going to. I am going to have some specific posts on some of the vehicles but this is more of a general overview of what we saw. The cars were spread out across the lawns so were not crowded together. Also, while there were people around most of the time, the cars were often clear of visitors if you were trying to get a shot – even when it came to some of the most unusual vehicles.

There was wine from the winery to purchase as you walked around (assuming you hadn’t bought the more expensive tickets with packages of wine and food) and you could order food. However, the food options were not that impressive and didn’t seem to fit with the nature of the event. That would be my only complaint with the event as a whole. Whether you wanted race cars, hyper cars, vintage sports cars or even more unusual vehicles from Europe, there was something to see. Nancy is not a car person but she certainly enjoyed looking at the beautiful styling of some of the vehicles (and the quirky styling of others).

Stalking the Rabbits

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We get a lot of rabbits in the back garden. They are a bit of a nuisance, but our yard is not good enough to justify the effort to do battle with them getting in. Instead, I accept their presence and consider them a photographic subject instead. Getting photos of them usually means subdued light. During the brighter parts of the day, they stay out of the sun and then follow the shadows across the grass as they eat.

I have tried to stalk them to get shots from a lower angle where possible. They are clearly a twitchy bunch and quite unwilling to hang around while I am moving about unless I stay far enough away. Therefore, some cautious movements and picking a spot and hoping them come to you is in order. Here are some more shots of the visitors.