Out of control

Earlier this week my friend emailed me something her brother sent her. He had "Elfed" her and her family on www.officemax.com I laughed so hard and had to go on and try it myself. I have made many of them but this one has got to be my favorite, so click on the link and enjoy my elfen husband and his biker friends
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9582892627

Photo Walk at the Steinhardt Private estate and Gardens

November 1st I had the most amazing opportunity. As I posted earlier, I signed up to do a Photo Walk at the Steinhardt Private Estate and Gardens. This is a beautiful 50+ acre estate in Westchester County, NY and home to some beautiful gardens. A wonderful couple have been overseeing the work on these gardens which inspired the book, The Landscape Diaries: Garden of Obsession by Gayatri Carole Rocherolle. After spending the day there I can see why obsession is an appropriate word. I know I could spend a lifetime wandering this property trying to see all that it has to offer. What also made the day so special was being able to share it with people I love to be with, My friend Anat, her husband Marc and another friend , Alyse. What a gift to spend a day walking around with them with the sole task of photographing to our hearts content.



We were all much more awake by the time I took the group photo...below I caught Marc and Alyse getting prepped as dawn's light was breaking.

Fall Flowers

One does not immediately think..Ah, November, what a great time to photograph flowers and yet there were some beautiful shots to be had.

The hold out. in a sea of dead flowers and leaves this one, lone flower hangs on to it's color

Pathways

whimsical creations

Someone at the gardens has a great sense of whimsy. No ordinary scarecrow for the people at this garden, I just loved this fashionable stickcrow.



At the top of a hill, overlooking a beautiful pond was this house with a mother and daughter enjoying the view.

There was even a potted plant by the window inside the house

G Rated Zebra Pictures

When I went on safari in 2001 I got my share of pictures of zebras. On occasion I would capture one that showed the zebra was all male. (I believe my friend Barbara DeJ will remember this along with my photo of a self pleasing chimp) As we went to take photos here once again I was facing a very well endowed zebra, what's a modest women to do? Get head shots LOL

Camel love

The camels were very friendly. I was a little anxious about getting too close to them, remembering my camel Max at the pyramids of Egypt- He was a spitter. But these camels had no expectoration issues.

I even let them get close

Alyse had fun getting some close ups

Garden Gates

In one area of the gardens there were a few beautiful iron gates.


This gate led to an aviary

I loved this peacock gate. It also led towards the aviary from another direction.

Out Buildings

Even the out buildings at the gardens are beautiful. The Hay silo was a stone building with windows.



The Green house was also attached to a beautiful stone building

A Crested Crane Wannabe

The Real Thing

I saw some Crested Cranes when I was in Africa in 2001 but was not as close to them as I was to this guy. He was quite the dancer and jumped around quite a bit, I was not sure that I would get a good shot of him. I love my digital camera where I can change the ilm speed to adapt to the situation

The Towers