The Dahlias are Blooming! The Dahlias are Blooming!

Ever since somewhere around this time last summer, I've been eagerly awaiting the blooming of the dahlias -- sort of like the wearin' of the green that happens every March 17. A few short weeks back, we visited the park and found a handful of blooms in the garden behind the D.D. and Velma Davis Visitor and Education Center; since then, we've made the trek at least once each week so as not to miss seeing these magnificent flowers at their peak.

Yesterday, we had the pleasure once again of entertaining two of our four grandchildren -- Jackie, age 11, and her brother Jarrett, almost 8. Their mother, a middle school language arts teacher, had to be at school today, but the kiddies don't arrive with full force till Monday. Since dad works in a steel mill on night turn and sleeps most weekdays, we inherited the "job" of care and feeding of the munchkins from mid-morning till around 3 p.m. when mom was set free (for the record, the school at which she teaches is right across the street from our house).

At any rate, we'd done a pre-arrival conditioning campaign to convince the kiddies that they should get more practice taking photos in preparation for next year's photo contest sponsored by Mill Creek Park; we happily provided the cameras (a tiny Casio for Jarrett and my old Sony Cybershot DSC-P200 for Jackie). They've used them before and, truth be told, have become pretty proficient at using them!

Meantime, I wanted to put the Canon EF 100 mm f/2.8 macro lens to the test once again (on the Canon EOS Digital Rebel I "inherited" from my husband Jack when he bought the then-new XTi). On our last couple of visits, I'd taken the easy way out, relying on the macro mode of my new Canon PowerShot A590 -- which for the record does such a fantastic job it's lulled me into complacency about using the more powerful, but more difficult to use, macro lens on the SLR.

Quite honestly, I can't say I really was "focused" on quality this time out, either; since we had the kids along, I dared not tarry long at the dahlia garden. Still, while they had fun snapping away in the Family Garden right behind the dahlias, I moved from bloom to bloom, color to color, snapping as fast as I could with both cameras in the hopes I'd get a handful of standouts.

After a quick walk through the visitor center and rose garden (where we all got a few more shots), it was off to the lily pond and some deceny photos of ducks, geese, cooters sunning themselves on logs and even a dragonfly that was willing to pose for me for a few minutes. By the time we hiked the trail around the pond, taking photos nearly every step of the way, it was time for lunch (no need for a clock to remind us, by the way; the stomachs of kids work on autopilot, sending urgent "feed me" signals that grandparents ignore at their own peril).

Several chili dogs and fries later, we were back home downloading our photos and checking the fruits of our labors. I'm happy to report the day was a success all around; both Jackie and Jarrett got at least a couple of photos good enough to enter in the contest if they want, and both of us did the same. I'm especially thrilled with the dragonfly and the dahlias -- both cameras performed admirably and already I'm having trouble deciding which one I'll post at which of the Web sites we frequent. Oh well -- that's a problem I'm happy to have!