a belated post for photo quest

Okay when I first read the theme WPG presented for the first post in Photo Quest I could not think of something to take a picture of. At least not anything that I thought was photogenic enough or that really reminded me of someone that I cared about our admired, other than other photographs. While I was out this week I bought myself some flowers to cheer myself up and the more I looked at the flowers I was reminded of an elderly neighbor that I used to take flowers to every holiday. She was like the neighborhood grandma and she loved flowers, but as she got older she could no longer go out and work in her garden. As she got further on in years it was even harder for her to see the flowers outside very well. I knew how much she loved her flowers and all the bright colors, because this was a joy that both of us shared despite our age difference. I am not sure what inspired me to start taking her flowers, but I started doing it when I was in about 7th grade I think. At first I would just cut some blooms off of Moms roses and go across the street to the other neighbors house and ask for a couple cuts off of her flowers. When I was in high school I started buying bouquets at the local grocery store. Every time I would show up at her door with the flowers she would give me the biggest smile and the warmest hug. I think on some small selfish level I did it to get those hugs and the fact that I loved the flowers just as much myself. There were times when I just could not decide on just one bouquet so I would buy more than one and then rearrange the flowers to look there best as one unit. I knew right where the vases were kept and I would put everything together in her kitchen while she waited in the front room. There was a couple of times that I got so carried away that I had to use 3 vases to put all the flowers in. Oh I also would get her a mylar balloon on many occasions. She saved each and everyone one of the balloons after they went flat. She kept them on the spare bed. I am not sure what ever happened to all those balloons when she passed, I am sure they got pitched by her son when he cleaned out the house.

So in memory of a great lady that was like an extra grandmother to me, and who liked all the colors and beauty of flowers as much as I did, I present some late entry photos of flowers.

The first ones are with a flash.

The next ones are without the flash.

And here are a few showing the use of a zoom.

I only have a point and shoot digital camera so these will have to do for showing different settings.

ps: I tried to take some macro shots but just could not hold my camera steady enough to get a decent shot, maybe next time.