“No man needs a vacation so much as the man who has just had one.”
Elbert Hubbard
Terri Webster Schrandt, who hosts Sunday Stills, mentioned that as a retired person, “everyday is like Saturday.” Who knew?
Two weeks ago we took our first “vacay” back to our “home” in California to see our friends. On the way to our vacay, we stopped in Las Vegas to look at houses – that’s what retired realtors do! We also had a foto frenzy in the Bellagio Spring Gardens.
#Las Vegas Bellagio Gardens Walk #3
In the last two Bellagio Garden Walks, we stayed near to the entrance of the gardens looking at the Dutch entry and then looked up at the butterflies. To see any of these posts, you can search the Walk title.
Like Terri, I love to submit to several challenges at once. I put my pictures through the blue and green sieve to meet the requirements for Tina’s Lens Artist Photo Challenge #149 Cool Colors this week. I love being one of the Cool Bloggers, don’t you?
For this post, we are going to do some birding. Lisa Colman hosts Bird Weekly. This week’s challenge is birds with a G in their title. This is a Great Big Blue Hummingbird.
Since this is a vacation for us, not a research project, you don’t get a lot of explanations with this post. We had our cameras busy, but didn’t see any major explanations along this walk. Here are several more posts of this beautiful Great big blue hummingbird standing still for all of us parading around it.
Don’t you love the shadow on the flower? These photos are also being submitted to Cee Neuner’s Flower of the Day Challenge. She is giving me composition advice and this week we are working on lighting. Take a look at her new page, Tips from Cee to get some advice from her too. The designers even took lighting into account when they created this lovely display
Distinctly Cool Pictures
If it’s getting hot where you live, click on these pictures to cool off while sipping a cold glass of lemonade.
That’s what we did in the fifties and sixties when I was growing up in Indiana before air conditioning – and my dad was an air conditioning designer for Carrier Corporation. At home we used an enormous house fan mounted in the garage window to take out all the hot air to cool off the house enough to sleep at night. We also took long “cool off” rides, ate ice cream, and drank lemonade. Just a bit of TMI that came to mind just now. 🙂 Hope this helps you keep cool.
Finally to support my Always Write brand and favorite color, I have to include a bit of turquoise. As some of you know, I love to do digital puzzles through an app on my computer when I’m just dinking around or can’t sleep. This next picture made a great puzzle because it is so colorful.
Finally, I’m way too late for this, but a few weeks ago Cee had a real and fake challenge. Well, this post is all fake, but here’s one of the fakiest birds of all in the Bellagio Giadini shop next to the Gardens. Isn’t she elegant? There’s some more nice greenery in the store for Tina’s challenge and a little bit of everything else.
Coming Up This Week
- #Writer’s Quotes Wednesdays the next topic is Hope. I hope you join in. There’s still time to write or link your post (with quotes) for this week’s topic of Healing. Check out some of the fabulous posts in the comment section and pingbacks for more ideas.
- #Story Chat – Oh my gosh, Anne Stormont had NO idea of what a storm she was creating when she wrote “Nailing It.” The comment box has just exploded. Tuesday I will post the Story Chat Summary post using your comments and links to your blog. I’ve got a lot of work to do before Tuesday!
- #Challenge Interview Series I’m still working on the interview with Sandy and Amanda from the Friendly Friday Challenge which comes out May 29th.
Marsha Ingrao - Always Write 
68 responses to “Sunday Stills, LAPC #149: Las Vegas Vacation in Green and Blue”
[…] Always Write […]
LikeLike
I love the hummimng bird statue and the colourful flowers 💚
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Cathy, I love it too. That is a marvelous place to go if you ever go to Vegas. It costs nothing, and it is gorgeous. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
[…] Marsha – Always Write […]
LikeLike
Great photos, Marsha. You have a lot going on. Well done!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Amanda. We’re on for tomorrow. I made Sandy’s changes this morning, So we should be good to go. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Excellent. Looking forward
LikeLiked by 1 person
[…] visit to Las Vegas and the larger than life creatures in the Bellagio Gardens and her breathtaking (sometimes breathless) views on Thumb Butte Trail in Prescott, […]
LikeLike
You have taught me about another place to visit. I’ve been in the Bellagio, but did not know they have a botanical garden!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s amazing, John. I’m not through showcasing it yet! 🙂 And it changes every season.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love the Bellagio! Dang! I’m really missing Vegas about now. Way to think outside the box on the “G” birds this week! Great big Ruby-throated Hummingbird is what that portrays to me. Funny because that variety is here and not there. Yet, there are more hummers there than here. LOL! Wished we had been there with you! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, I have to push the envelope a bit to match up with your challenge. But it was sure fun. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, that’s okay. I like out of the box thinking. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m out of the box, out of the store, out of the delivery truck sometimes. 🙂 So is my new camera. It came yesterday. We saw the UPS man. I should have jumped out of the car and waved him down . I let him drive away having a sinking feeling that he had my camera. He did. He left us a note saying that it was going to CVS Pharmacy. It didn’t. I hope it’s still in the box. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Did you get your new camera? What did you get? Oh I missed so much! LOL! 🙂
LikeLike
Yes, I got a Sony. It’s a glorified point and shoot. It does so much more than my big Canon. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m so glad you got a new camera. A lighter and better one too! Have you been using it?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, I took it out for a spin last night. I found out the lens I really want is $800. 18-200.
LikeLiked by 1 person
How do you like it? Do you want to talk about the lens I have?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I can see the difference in clarity. I’m longing for my telephoto lens, but I want to have both – clarity and telephoto. 🙂 You have the big one like Cee’s right? I’m not in the market for that one but I think I’m going to go with the 18-200 E mount.
LikeLike
Dang…for just $400 more you can get a much better superior lens. Honestly, it isn’t as heavy as it looks. But, you need to do what you think is right for you. 🙂
LikeLike
That’s $1200. I have $900. 🙂 Is that the long beautiful one you and Cee have?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, and it has actually gone up. $1298.00. That is more than I paid for it. Forget I said anything. LOL! Whatever you buy, make sure you buy a clear UV filter lens to go over your main lens. You always want to have a UV filter on all your lenses. You can find out the size by the specs of the lens you want. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, I always have a filter. It protects the lens, too. 🙂 It doesn’t protect it when you fall on it, though. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL! Yeah or drop it. I did drop my Nikon one time years ago and it landed on the lens. Luckily it was the UV lens. It had a dent but I never had to replace it and it didn’t mess up my lens either. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Mine broke when I fell out of a car. It still worked for a while, but I had to replace it. I broke another one in HI stepping up onto a wall to get a better shot of the ocean. Give me a break – how much does the ocean change if you are up two feet? It change about $300 at the time. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
OMG! Put the strap around the neck before climbing up to get that extra two feet. LOL! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was around my neck. I tripped, caught the front of my sneaker on the edge and dropped down on one knee and the camera banged into the edge of the rock. I was in extreme pain at the time and very embarrassed but it did the damage.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, dang! I’ve had those klutzy moments too and they are not fun. I went to St. Pete to shoot a wedding at the Thunderbird and the night before the wedding I was hanging out by the pool with the family and I went to leave. I tripped over a lounge chair and face planted on the landscaping stones. Had my camera in my hand but it stayed up in the air. Busted my lip. Had to go to the VA and get 4 stitches. The hotel called 911 and bent over backwards for me the whole weekend. I guess so that I wouldn’t sue. Wasn’t anyone faults…just an accident. My camera had no evidence there was a problem. I couldn’t be in any of the photos though. This was one of my BFF’s daughter’s wedding. Talk about embarrassing! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ouch. That’s way worse than what happened to me. I’ve never had to have stitches from my falls. I think I had a mild concussion once, but after sitting for a bit I was able to drive home. No camera in my hand that time. I had a cup of water. The cup and I broke. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Fun times! Usually when those moments happen, they are not funny at the time but looking back, I find I have to laugh at it and myself….LOL! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
We have to laugh!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes we do! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
we did the same things to cool off when I was a kid 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was a slower life style than most people live now, don’t you think? When my first husband and I moved to sunny CA in 1985, the temps soared into the 100s and we had a swamp cooler and a car with no AC. I arrived at work looking and feeling wind-blown because the swamp cooler blew right into the hallway outside our bathroom door. Coming home it didn’t matter how I looked, but it was miserable. 🙂 I am very grateful for air conditioning now. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
it was a simpler time. and yes, central air is wonderful. although I could live without the AC but not a heater…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Amen to that. We never lived without the heater. Indiana gets pretty cold in the winter. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I can live with being warm, not so much with being cold… 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Amen to that my friend. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow the colours, that Hummingbird and visiting a place I’ve not been to before was fabulous – thanks so much Marsha!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Come on over, I’ll show you around. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I thought that you might continue your Las Vegas theme here…and I was not disappointed.
Awesome photos, Marsha. I love the bright colours!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Donna. I love the bright colors. They are perfect for my puzzles. 🙂
LikeLike
Hello
Good work combining the challenges and my fav today is the artsy great big bird – that is so well done
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Yvette. I can’t take too much credit for him other than snapping his photogenic picture. 🙂 He poses well. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
😊🌺🌺🌺🌺
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very interesting photos. I really like the cool color palette. Also, your great big hummingbird is quite interesting. I guess he’s a topiary bird?
LikeLiked by 1 person
He’s not caged, but the cage is behind him. He just loose out there for everyone to photograph. If you’d been with me, we could have taken each other’s pictures. Vince hates his picture taken. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
That would be fun. I’m glad to get to travel with you virtually. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wonderful photos for your green and blue response!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Anne. There were a lot of greens and blues to choose from in the gardens.
LikeLiked by 1 person
These are great pictures Marsha. Thanks for sharing
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Sadje. We had so much fun.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re welcome 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Beautiful. I love hummers!
LikeLiked by 2 people
I do too. They are so delicate and energetic, I don’t know anyone who hates hummingbirds!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love that hummingbird! It reminds me of something we might see on a Rose Parade float.
LikeLiked by 3 people
That’s exactly what I thought, Janis. Only we didn’t have to watch it roll by from a distance. We got up close and personal. 🙂 I’m sure the materials and techniques were similar.
LikeLike
That’s a cool hummingbird! Do you know what materials it is made of?
LikeLiked by 2 people
I didn’t see any signs. I’m guessing feathers, seeds flower petals and other materials usually used on floats.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love this Marsha . Great photos and very colorful.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks so much!
LikeLike
Yay, what a great post, Marsha! Great job linking so many challenges (you ARE the cool blogger) this week! Las Vegas has a lot to offer and I don’t mind going back there in the near future. Always something to see on the strip for sure!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Even without gambling, I enjoy going there. There’s so much to see!
LikeLiked by 1 person
More wonderful photos from your trip to Las Vegas. 😀 😀
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks Cee. They make good puzzles!
LikeLike
That’s a big hummingbird. Funny isn’t it, that they chose one to the smallest birds to make such a huge statue. I guess an emu wouldn’t be as colorful 🙂
LikeLiked by 5 people
Built in the same proportions it would be the size of the buildings. LOL.
LikeLiked by 2 people