My mother was so excited...

 ... Because she finally saw the tree in front of the guest room window (by our front door) has a flower on it. This tree had been planted about a year ago, and hadn't had any flowers bloom yet. "It takes time for these plants to make a flower" she was told by her landscaping friend (a neighbor).

We don't typically use the front door because little pests like to hide in that area and run in when we least expect it (snakes, lizards, etc). So we always use the garage when we can. Since it was so nice out today, she went to open the window and lo and behold, she was ecstatically yelling she "can't believe it! A flower is here!!". I was like "what??" and when she finally calmed down, she told me "the tree outside the guest room has a flower". 

It's the little things, some days. I swear. 

So we went outside and she took a few photos on her phone to then text to her friends, to show off what was finally in place. 

I took out my Canon EOS Rebel T7i (yes, this time I got it out of my closet) and snapped pictures along with her. 

All I did to these photos was put them in Photoshop, add my name to them and "sharpen" them a bit. I left everything else as is. 

I know there are a lot of the photos. I wanted to show what the difference was with my iPhone pictures of a dead flower versus using my Canon DLSR (with no kits, just the stock lens). 

There's probably not much of a big deal difference, as I didn't do any editing or crazy with it. I still don't have my monitor calibrated for photo editing, so WYSIWYG. 

I still feel like you can do so much more with a steady / reliable camera than a phone. I am old school like that; I can admit to it. As my friend Rachael once said (eons ago), I'm "a neo-luddite". I always will be. I even hung around with the same type of people once upon a time (if you still read this, hi "Eddie"). 

It is what it is; you like what you like. Again, simple things in life make it easier. Although the way things are going, the upgrades can be tough. 

Like the fact Skype is going away (Microsoft is killing it, in favor of Teams) after being release 21 years ago. 

Wow, it's officially drinking age and it's going bye bye. That's sad.

So a lot of people who are still using it (like myself) need to find something else to use. I don't want some of the other platform, as I have questions and concerns. Therefore, I know I'll be spending a few days figuring out what to do. The program is going away in May, so I've got time, but you know if you "sleep on it", May will be here in a blink. 

At any rate, spring is coming in a couple of weeks. Maybe the flower showing up is a sign that winter is almost over and something positive may be on its way??

Who knows. 

Except I know I have a Ko-Fi page. If you like anything you see and want to contribute to the cause, drop a dime or two and help out. The photos and videos don't come cheap. Gotta keep the batteries charged at some point. 

Until we can get all the chocolate bunnies on sale, be safe in your winter best and take care of yourselves..

Cheers;