Sketching Out Blog: Sketches of art, watercolor, photos, recipes, books, interviews, Jewish topics, and Highland Park, New Jersey

Thursday Theme: Blurry

pom pom flowers
Today I visited Rutgers Gardens with my friend Hannah Katsman. I don’t know the name of these delightful purple flowers, but I nicknamed them pom pom flowers (maybe Gomphrena globosa). My photograph originally had more blur in front; I cropped out some of the front flowers. Now you can see more of the blur of the background flowers.

chipmunk
Hannah has a good eye, and thus twice we saw chipmunks. Chipmunks are quick and thus a subject for movement. His eyes were white from my flash, so I toned them down a bit with some brown. I hope it doesn’t look unnatural.

chipmunk
This was the other chipmunk we saw. Here we have a little more of our theme: as the chipmunk moves away, I get blur in my photo.

Thursday Challenge theme is: “BLURRY” (Unfocused, Moving, Foggy,…)
Next Week: LANDSCAPE (Mountains, Trees, Forest, Lake,…)

I’ll post more photos from today’s trip next week for Nature Notes. See an older post of Rutgers Gardens (or click the tag at the bottom for many Rutgers Gardens posts).

Indrani says

You are so right about the chipmunks, they move too fast.
The focus and defocus in the first shot makes it interesting.

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leoraw says

Well, I was happy to get a few shots of the chipmunks! We also saw a groundhog, but it was too far off for a photo. They are also not nearly as pretty as chipmunks (they like to eat my garden).

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Risa says

Lovely photos and I'm sure you both had great time! I'm very jealous! B-)

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leoraw says

If you have an excuse to visit New Jersey, Risa, I would happy to take you on a tour of any of the gardens in our Garden State.

Of course, it's not just the gardens. Hannah is wonderful company, as is her daughter.

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Amar Naik says

never knew that rutgers had such a nice garden. had been their last week to check our some fall colors :) perfect for the challenge

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leoraw says

Amar, it's one of my favorite parts of Central New Jersey.

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Pheno Menon says

Flowers always make my day

PhenoMenon

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leoraw says

And a lovely comment like yours makes mine. Thanks for visiting.

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Hannah says

Nice to see that Hannah Katsman is visiting. Say hello from me.
I enjoyed seeing your chipmunks.

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leoraw says

Right now she is on the plane back to Israel. I feel so fortunate to have spent time with her! And I got to meet her older daughter as well.

The chipmunks were fun.

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Janice says

Love the flowers. And we had a squirrel get in our chimney at Christmas, OMG!

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Rajesh says

Wonderful effect.

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Kati says

O those chipmunks are cute! Chipmunks such as those don't live here in the Netherlands, we only have their cousins I guess. :) lovely shots.

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leoraw says

So fun to hear about which animals live in different parts of the world. We have quite a few in New Jersey.

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An* says

Nice shots, espescially the first one!

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Lorri M. says

I enjoyed your photos...blurriness and all! Great captures!

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Ramblingwoods says

Pretty flowers and I love the chipmunk..

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Hannah @A Mother in Israel says

Leora, our walk was one of the highlights of a busy trip! Thanks for showing us your own garden too, and for chauffering us around town. Just sent you a picture.

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leoraw says

I'm happy that I got to show you one of my favorite New Jersey spots. It was a nice time of year to visit.

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