Olives, Anyone?
First off, an update on my coworker with the spot on the brain. She came in after her neurologist appointment, and had some good news, although to be honest there is still concern. He told her that she had an infection in her brain stem, and has her on antibiotics and steroids to clear it up. So in a way it's good news, but is still a pretty big concern until it actually IS cleared up. Still, better news than it could have been. We aren't sure how long she'll be off work, but no one is too worried about that. The main thing is she takes it easy until she's healthy again.
There is no news about our other coworker's dad. II would think that means that as of Friday afternoon he was still alive, because I'm fairly certain we'd have heard if not. I just hope and pray that he's healing. If not, and if he's not meant to live, then I hope and pray that he isn't suffering, and that he passes fairly quickly.
Now, on to the olives. We have a Russian Olive tree out front, and it's been flowering like crazy. I went out and took some pictures of it, but they didn't turn out very well. The leaves and flowers are quite small and abundant, so it's very hard to get in there and have the camera focus without the poor piece of equipment having a nervous breakdown. It also didn't help that the first time I went out to get pictures it was extremely windy, so it was impossible to keep anything still long enough to get a decent picture. But the second attempt the next day didn't produce much better results, even though there was very little wind.
At any rate, I told Judy I'd post them here for her to see, as she also had been trying to get some pictures of the flowers. So here they are, Judy! I'll post the original shots and a couple of crops that I did of them.
This is the original shot. In quite close, so you can imagine how small the flowers and leaves are.
Cropped version.
Another crop.
This is the original of the second one that turned out semi-decently.
Cropped version.
Of course the focus is all out of whack on them, but the other pictures I got were horrid - at least you can get an idea of what the flowers are like from these two pictures.
If it stops raining before the flowers are gone, I'll go play some more and try and figure out how to deal with the focusing issue. If I can't sort it out before the flowers are gone, I guess I'll just have to wait until next year!
I think that's it for me tonight. I'm very tired and about to head to bed. As a matter of fact, I'm not even going to bother proof-reading. So have a good sleep everyone!
There is no news about our other coworker's dad. II would think that means that as of Friday afternoon he was still alive, because I'm fairly certain we'd have heard if not. I just hope and pray that he's healing. If not, and if he's not meant to live, then I hope and pray that he isn't suffering, and that he passes fairly quickly.
Now, on to the olives. We have a Russian Olive tree out front, and it's been flowering like crazy. I went out and took some pictures of it, but they didn't turn out very well. The leaves and flowers are quite small and abundant, so it's very hard to get in there and have the camera focus without the poor piece of equipment having a nervous breakdown. It also didn't help that the first time I went out to get pictures it was extremely windy, so it was impossible to keep anything still long enough to get a decent picture. But the second attempt the next day didn't produce much better results, even though there was very little wind.
At any rate, I told Judy I'd post them here for her to see, as she also had been trying to get some pictures of the flowers. So here they are, Judy! I'll post the original shots and a couple of crops that I did of them.
This is the original shot. In quite close, so you can imagine how small the flowers and leaves are.
Cropped version.
Another crop.
This is the original of the second one that turned out semi-decently.
Cropped version.
Of course the focus is all out of whack on them, but the other pictures I got were horrid - at least you can get an idea of what the flowers are like from these two pictures.
If it stops raining before the flowers are gone, I'll go play some more and try and figure out how to deal with the focusing issue. If I can't sort it out before the flowers are gone, I guess I'll just have to wait until next year!
I think that's it for me tonight. I'm very tired and about to head to bed. As a matter of fact, I'm not even going to bother proof-reading. So have a good sleep everyone!
posted by Fullmoondolphin at 12:53 AM
5 Comments:
Ah, your pics turned out well! Very good job!
A relief so far with your co-worker, and hopefully good news will be heard about the other's father.
See ya in the a.m.!
Thanks, but I'm not happy with the pics. They're not awful, but the focus isn't right.
Yes, it's a bit of a relief, but we are still concerned about the situation. Until it's healed, she's not out of the woods. Plus, I have to admit that there is some concern about the diagnosis, so we won't rest easy until she's back to health.
See ya shortly!
Good news (gee, needless to say!) about your co-worker. And I hope the other's father is on the mend (gee, another obvious statement). Sure makes one feel lucky, thankful, and grateful, however, when so many others have awful challenges they are dealing with.
I have a question: what do you do with the olives once they set? Do you cure them? I wish I had a source of olives near me...
Brooke, from what I can gather, I don't think the fruit of the Russian Olive is a real olive. One site says it "resembles olives". Apparently birds eat the fruit, but it's not used for much else.
Interestingly enough, the Russian Olive is considered an invasive plant, a threat to many environments. It has been declared a noxious weed by the state of Utah. I've browsed through several websites on this shrub (apparently it is actually a shrub, not a tree), and all talk about how it is an environmental threat in North America, and there is quite a wealth of information on how to kill it! It is pretty much considered to be a kind of weed, from all the stuff I've been reading.
This is the first time I've researched the Russian Olive, so I was quite surprised to discover that it's not looked on fondly!
Sorry Judy - I'm sure that was so not what you wanted to hear about your beloved tree - er, shrub.
I love olive trees...I think they are really quite lovely. But I do know they can be very messy when the fruits drop. Had no idea there were ornamental ones, though I guess that should come as no surprise.
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