Unter den LInden

 Unter den Linden is a famous avenue in Berlin (where I've never been IRL) - but I have one or two streets lined by Linden trees (Tilia) much closer to home. One is the path along the west wall of the old cemetery where I walk almost daily. Just now, walking there, one can hear the big old trees constantly "humming" or "buzzing" over one's head, as they are full of bees and bumble bees collecting nectar from the flowers... I wish I could transfer the sound to the blog as well, but you'll have to make do with my photos and your imagination...

 

 

 

 

I find that humming sound quite comforting, as it proves a lot of bees must have survived the strange long period of heat and drought we had this spring and first part of summer. July has started out cooler, and rainy... This weekend the sun is back, but forecasts predict more rain next week as well. 

 

Yesterday, I also walked into town for a few errands, and took the way through the park.

Lone Islands, Annoying Birds, and the Art of Holding an Umbrella

Others among my blogging friends have been doing it lately, so I had to give it a go as well - the Microsoft Bing Image Creator...

Not feeling very imaginative, I started by just giving it the title of my blog.

Wondering what to try next, my neighbour's annoying bird started screeching again. (Even with doors and windows closed now that it's chilly and rainy outside, I still hear it through the wall...) So I gave the image creator the prompt "a really annoying bird in a cage". 

Now I have some suggestions what it may look like...

I added "cartoon" and tried again...

I then tried to create an image of myself walking around the cemetery in the rain - which is as far as my outdoor activities this week have stretched. 

Below is what I got from the instruction "68 year old woman walking in a cemetery in the rain, wearing a purple raincoat and holding a red umbrella".

Photo or cartoons, I have to say that I think there's still room for improvement... ;-)

 

Overlay Images

For Sandra the MadSnapper and others who enjoy playing around with images... ;)

Sandra's comment on my previous post: "wait till you figure out how to put the cut out in a photo. woo hoo"

So of course I had to take on the challenge, and find at least one simple way to do that...

Today I found this free online tool: https://overlay.imageonline.co/ and tried a few experiments with my recent photos + the cut-out feature that I accidentally happened to find included in the photo gallery on my Samsung Galaxy phone. (I did the overlay editing on my computer though, not on the phone. That might be possible too, I suppose - but I prefer a bigger screen for things like this.)

I thought the dry football (soccer) ground could do with a splash of colour, so I stole a flower pot from the apartment complex down by the river to liven up the place. (Not very convincing, but ok for my first experiment.)

 

I also brought the watering can from the cemetery to another dry spot nearby. (As I still don't know how to separate the tap from the can, that had to come, too.)

 

I moved a grave ornament from one spot to another, giving it a more interesting background. (This one I think actually looks quite convincing, if you have no special reason to question it...)

Feeling bold now, I even experimented with moving a skyscraper around to change the silhouette of the townscape...

Below is the original photo! That grey "tower" is really in a different place altogether - a few hundred meters to the right of the photo above.

(original photo)

 

Hello July

 

Third day in a row of cooler temperatures and rain (showers). I've been having a very "tired" weekend (sleeping and resting a lot), but I think that's mostly still a reaction to the long hot period that went before - and now enjoying the relative silence of mostly closed doors and windows again!

On my walk yesterday, I was trying to "spy with my little eye" things that my phone gallery app in turn might find worthy of "clipping"...

Please "bear with me" - it's probably just a phase I'm going through!!!  ;-)

 

 

 

     

 

Puddles and Playtime

 

Puddle with tree reflections, and leaves from a nearby hedge that had just been trimmed - to illustrate that the heat wave and drought seems to have ended for now. Rain showers and temperatures around 18°C (64°F) expected for the next week or so... (So far it just feels refreshing. Remains to be seen how long that feeling lasts...!) 

In an earlier post on The Importance of Water I mentioned how staff at the cemetery often leave water dripping here and there for the birds during the drought. Below is another photo to illustrate that. They also often leave a watering can below the tap to collect some of that water. Then the next person who needs a full can of water can take that one, and put an empty one under the tap instead.

This photo also proved a good one for experimenting with that automatic 'clipping' feature that I accidentally discovered yesterday on my phone:

 

Today I experimented a bit further and learned that with the Paint program on my laptop, I can make the background black (or some other colour) instead of transparent/white.

And below is yet another such photo experiment: