Spring Bursts Forth In So. Calif.

[Strawberry Curls]

On another thread I promised to post some pictures of the vivid color we are enjoying right now in my part of So. Calif. I brought my camera to my office today and took these shots of the blooming landscaping in my office building parking lot. The last shot is the street in front of the building. The city replanted the median last year and it has really given a great deal of pleasure with its riot of color.

Easter is very early this year, but in So. California the plants are trying to put forth their best color for the season. Enjoy. Alice

[vicki]

Wow! What a beeyootiful riot of color! It looks like the bushes are duking it out to see how much of their own colors they can squeeze into an area, each pushing against the other bursts of flowers. We're getting some flowers here in Alabama, but not that kind of lush brilliance. Thanks for the pictures, Alice, and for giving us a peek into So. California's show-stopping spring!

[jtb1951]

Lovely pictures, Alice, and with the nice weather we had on the first day of spring (clear blue sky, temps in the 50's, ground almost entirely clear of snow) I had visions of the plants and flowers here blooming soon. Not!!! The second day of spring brought 8 inches of snow and we will be lucky to hit the mid-30's today! But I'm not complaining; life is good!:)

John.

[Carlina]

Lovely pictures, Alice, and with the nice weather we had on the first day of spring (clear blue sky, temps in the 50's, ground almost entirely clear of snow) I had visions of the plants and flowers here blooming soon. Not!!! The second day of spring brought 8 inches of snow and we will be lucky to hit the mid-30's today! But I'm not complaining; life is good!:)

John.

Yeah...I know..I'm in the state over and its been grey...and raining and flooding and...

Nice to see colour elsewhere though. I kinda like winter though..don't have to worry about the lawn service waking me up and some ungodly hour :).

Thanks for sharing the loverly pics Alice. Glad its sunny and cheery where you are and I hope you and your family are doing well :).

[Strawberry Curls]

Glad you like my pictorial ode to spring, everyone. Sorry the weather is so dismal everywhere. They are calling for a possible high of 80 on Sunday after we have been in the high 50s and low 60s all week.

When I was a child, maybe 10, it hailed on Easter Sunday morning and the ground looked as if it had snowed. Everyone came out in the Easter finery and played. The parents were upset with us as it was early and none of us had been to church as yet. My mother was mortified that my frilly Easter dress was wet and in places a bit muddy, as were my white patent leather shoes and my little white socks with the lace. She came close to spanking me as I recall.

We continue to muddle though these last weeks of Tax Season, Carlina, thanks for asking. Steve will be working all weekend, but we are less than a month to filing day so the finish line is in sight. :D

[Bachi]

SC
Thank you for sharing early spring blossoms, here in MT it will take a while for some color to pop out.

[Carlina]

We continue to muddle though these last weeks of Tax Season, Carlina, thanks for asking. Steve will be working all weekend, but we are less than a month to filing day so the finish line is in sight. :D

Aww sorry about Steve, but yay on being close to the finish line! W00t!

Well I hope you all have a Happy Easter regardless and my best to you all :)! Ooo..I better go start thawing dinner.

Now if only sleep would come...4:26AM and still awake...

[tangential1]

You beat me to it, Alice! I was out at the arboretum yesterday and got a few good shots that I thought I'd share. This is probably my favorite place in town and it happens to be smack in the middle of campus! Not quite as vibrant as SC's, but still beautiful spring foliage, and I actually managed to find some baby ducks for you!!:)

Now, if only I could figure out this whole image thing....

Edit: Ok, I'm too lazy to change all the file sizes on my pictures, just now (my laptop doesn't have proper photo-editing so I'll have to go back to my desktop to fix the size issue for attachments), so in the meantime I shall post a link to them as a slideshow (http://www.flickr.com/photos/24598407@N04/tags/arboretum/show/). Enjoy!

[Strawberry Curls]

What a lovely spot! Thanks for sharing a virtual walk through the arboretum with us.

I'm right there with you on the resizing. I had to resize my shots three times before this site would accept them. Don't understand, same camara, but every now and again the shots have to be resized and these with the vivid color really had to be reduced before the site would upload them. Royal pain!!

Alice

[jtb1951]

I'm right there with you on the resizing. I had to resize my shots three times before this site would accept them. Don't understand, same camara, but every now and again the shots have to be resized and these with the vivid color really had to be reduced before the site would upload them. Royal pain!!

Unfortunately, the file size limitation on uploaded jpg's here is a measly 97 Kb; depending upon the details in a photo (different colors, amount of contrast, etc.) the file size per photo taken with the same camera will vary considerably. As a consequence it takes somes fiddling around with reducing the photo file size to get it down to or below the magic 97 Kb size. It is indeed a royal pain!:)

John.

[Strawberry Curls]

Unfortunately, the file size limitation on uploaded jpg's here is a measly 97 Kb; depending upon the details in a photo (different colors, amount of contrast, etc.) the file size per photo taken with the same camera will vary considerably. As a consequence it takes somes fiddling around with reducing the photo file size to get it down to or below the magic 97 Kb size. It is indeed a royal pain!:)

John.Thanks for the explanation, John, and Happy Easter. :) I figured it might have something to do with the vivid colors as that was the only thing that made any sense. Those shots really were a pain as I kept resizing them then trying to upload and still getting the message it was too big. On the up side I really got a workout on the resizing and now have it down pat. I had only done it once before and had to have a friend, who is far more techie than I, send me instructions on how to do it. Unfortunately I lost the instructions and had to fumble around to do it for these shots. But practice does make perfect, or in my case, it etches the information more firmly into my memory banks. :rolleyes:

Alice

[jtb1951]

Happy Easter to you and yours, Alice, and keep those great photos coming!!:)

John.

[tangential1]

Is there another way to do this????

Depending on what I'm using the photo for, I generally do re-sizing in Adobe Photoshop and save as a smaller copy of my original. There is a resize function in which you can put in the actual dimension you want (like if you want it to be a 4x6in image for printing) or the pixel dimensions (which is what I would use for uploads since the attachment option so handily provides that number;)).

I think it also depends on how you are uploading (photbucket vs. flickr vs. straight file upload directly to site). I'm using a flickr account and I found that I can technically insert images in various sizes to here from there, they prefer that you just put a link back to your flickr page. *shrugs* Options, options...

[tangential1]

I did shrink mine b/c of having dial-up. All you do is go into My Pics, email, shrink - yes, O/E opens in a window, File, save attachements... done. You never actually email them to yourself.

Hmm...just tried your method to see what you meant and it really is a quick method for re-sizing. It does however open an Outlook/Email program window to accomplish this, which is probably why I never thought to do it that way as I don't use an email program. Will have to keep it in mind, though. Thanks Sheri:)

[Strawberry Curls]

Really, what I was wondering was the direct upload option... does it exist? And if so, how do you do those thumbnails?

SheriI have directly uploaded all my pictures to this site, it is in the "Additional Options" section directly below your window to type your reply. Click attach files and a window opens that allows you to browse your computer files and pick something to upload. It will become a thumbnail on the reply when you submit it. But as John has pointed out there is a very small limit to the file size and if your picture is too big (file wise) it will give you a fail message which is why I then had to go into my pictures and resize them. I use the "Paint" in Accessories, which may be a more difficult method, but it works and I know how to do it, am quite the expert after those flower pics that I had to keep downsizing until I got them to a size this site would accept.

[tangential1]

Really, what I was wondering was the direct upload option... does it exist? And if so, how do you do those thumbnails?

There is a brief description in the FAQ section: What are attachments? (http://laurierking.com/vbulletin/faq.php?faq=vb_read_and_post#faq_vb_attachment_exp lain)

As SC said, there is a "manage attachments" button in the additional options section at the bottom of the reply window (you have to be in "advanced" reply mode, not quick reply) that gives you the option of uploading a file directly from your harddrive or from an external URL. Pretty cool=)