Testing one two three

[elderberrywine]

Alrighty, let's see if this works.

If so, this is what I see as I sit in my backyard. Like being in the country even though we aren't really. Many a Shire Morns story has been dreamed up staring up this hill. This was taken early this summer.




ETA Woot! Am still learning my way about the digital camera I got this Christmas, so the color isn't the best, but. Little steps, I suppose.

Comments

[romeny.livejournal.com]

Beautiful back yard and it does look like a Shire Morn indeed. Ohhh, think I see a pair of small hobbits peeking from behind the tree.

[elderberrywine.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

I like to pretend I see them too. I just haven't found their smial yet. *g*

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

So beautiful, and most inspiring.

[elderberrywine.livejournal.com]

Rather overgrown and only marginally kept, but I like it like that. And so do the squirrels. :P

[addie71.livejournal.com]

Hi there!

What a lovely view you have, no wonder it inspired you in some of your Shire Morns stories.

[elderberrywine.livejournal.com]

It is lovely. Fortunately, the back of the lot goes up into a steep hill, which is a easement for the county. There used to be a electric tower at the top, but that's gone now, and the county waters and keeps it planted.

So the street behind us is quite out of sight, and I can pretend I live in the country. Works for me! :)

[semyaza.livejournal.com]

You have Ents!

[elderberrywine.livejournal.com]

I certainly do. I planted a pair of Fresno poplar when the yard and hill behind were bare dirt, because I wanted instant tree. That they were, but they are desert trees and have immense water-seeking roots. If they ever get up and start walking, they'll pop up the house along with them. :P

[semyaza.livejournal.com]

Old Man Fresno Poplar.

It lacks a certain something. Merry caught in the crack, perhaps?

[elderberrywine.livejournal.com]

Mwahahaha! Who better?

Oops. Just looked it up again. My bad, it's the Fremont poplar, not the Fresno poplar. I think I like my version better.

[semyaza.livejournal.com]

It's nice that Fremont had a tree named after him. *googles* Ah, so it's a cottonwood.

[elderberrywine.livejournal.com]

That's what I grew up calling them, but apparently it isn't a true cottonwood, since it produces no "cotton". :(

We had ten of them around my home in PS, growing up, but alas, they only have a life-span of thirty-odd years. There are now only three left. *eyes our two with trepidation* Only ten or fifteen years left to go. I might even outlast them, and how sad is that.

[semyaza.livejournal.com]

If you had enough space you could plant new ones to replace the old ones when the time comes.

You wouldn't want a true cottonwood. What a mess -- not to speak of the hayfever involved.

[carolecummings.livejournal.com]

Oh god. Jealous. Very, very jealous. Is that the view year-round?

[elderberrywine.livejournal.com]

:D Well, in the fall, the leaves are yellow, and in the winter they're gone, so it lets in a lot more sun when we actually want it. But, yeah, pretty much. I still have to work on my new camera skillz, since it's hard to tell that's a grapevine on the wall. Not that the squirrels ever leave us any.

Hard to tell this is LA county, no? Very Shire-ish if I squint my eyes a bit and pretend it's in one of the drier farthings.

[julchen11.livejournal.com]

What a beautiful Shire Morn picture, sweetie. Thank you for sharing it with us.
*hugs close*

[elderberrywine.livejournal.com]

Thank you! *beams*

Now that I'm getting the hang of this, I'll have the kittens up pretty soon!

[julchen11.livejournal.com]

YAY! I'm soooo waiting for the cat pics, sweetie!
Happy Monday, my dear!

[xylohypha.livejournal.com]

Very pretty! (And thank you for sharing.)

Digital cameras are so much fun. You can just take photo after photo after photo and never worry about the cost of developing the film. All a bad shot costs you is a little battery power and as much time as it takes to delete it when you realize it didn't work! I'm not a great photographer by any means, but I love my little camera! (Oooh, and if you do get a great shot, it's SO easy to share it. No going back to the photo shop with the negative and ordering more prints!)

[elderberrywine.livejournal.com]

Digital cameras are indeed awesome. So far, I'm just at the point and click stage, but I plan on actually reading the manual any day now.

Now that I've found it again. *embarrassed cough*

[xylohypha.livejournal.com]

I misplaced the English language manual for mine once, and wound up digging out the French version. Not that I speak French, but there are enough cognates with English that between that and the diagrams, I was able to figure out what I needed to.

Here, have a photo icon of a Western Tree Frog I took with my camera a couple years ago--jazzed up by Annwyn's super Photoshop skillz.

[elderberrywine.livejournal.com]

So cute!!!

*scritches him under his little froggy chin*

[i-o-r-h-a-e-l.livejournal.com]

So green and lush!

Thank you so much for sharing the view. :D

[elderberrywine.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It was a good spring - we had enough rain, for once.

[frodosweetstuff.livejournal.com]

Awww, lovely! Are the trees very old?

[elderberrywine.livejournal.com]

Why, thank you! :)

Not really. We moved in 21 years ago, and they were planted in year 2 and 3. So not quite twenty years. Unfortunately, they only have a decade or so more to go - desert trees are easy come, easy go, I'm afraid. :(

[cookiefleck.livejournal.com]

Very pretty!

[elderberrywine.livejournal.com]

Thankee! My own personal jungle. Or as much so as one can expect in LA county.

[shelley6441.livejournal.com]

You've shown us two majestic Ents in your back garden. Do you know their 'public' names?

[elderberrywine.livejournal.com]

I suspect they are George and Bill, but they aren't telling me. ;D

[nimue-8.livejournal.com]

It looks beautiful, soothing and inspiring.

[elderberrywine.livejournal.com]

It is indeed all of that! At least when it's not 106F, as it was today. :P