Photos Taken With Apple iPhone XS Max and Canon 5D Mark III

Hello Everyone!  I hope you had a very blessed Easter and that you are enjoying these beautiful Spring days with soft breezes and pleasant temperatures.  Although, now, we are beginning to feel warmer temperatures more like Summertime.

For about ten years I was satisfied with my iPhone 3.  The only thing I used it for was to make and receive phone calls. Then I began to notice many other folks taking photos with their iPhone.  My poor iPhone 3 did not take very good pictures at all.  I love to take pictures and have very much enjoyed my wonderful Canon 5D Mark III camera.  I am not a real photographer, because I don't know how to use all the camera settings.  My thoughts are, if you have a good camera and use the "Auto" setting, then the photos should be pretty good.  Then I began to see all the advertisements for the new Apple iPhone XS wonderful camera.  With the iPhone being so small and handy I thought it was a good idea and decided to get one. Santa thought so too because on Christmas morning I found this wonderful gift under the Christmas tree.

I love the Apple iPhone XS Max because it is so light and easy to carry around.  The pictures are pretty amazing too. However, my Canon 5D is still my favorite, mostly because of the sharpness of the photos.  But, I have to say, sometimes it is hard to tell which camera was used because the iPhone photos are so good. 

I thought it would be fun to share with you miscellaneous photos I have taken with the iPhone XS camera and some photos with my Canon 5 D Mark III camera as well.

The below photo is the very first photo taken with my new iPhone XS camera.

I was sitting at the kitchen table with this cute Christmas gift coffee mug from my sweet sister.

I was so pleased with the color, lighting, and sharpness of this photo.   This photo was taken with only available light coming in from the kitchen window.

This next photo was also taken with the iPhone XS camera.

This is called a Pink Perfection Camellia which was my sweet Mother's favorite flower.

Shown below is the Pink Perfection Camellia bush
planted in memory of my dear Mother from many years ago.
It was just a little plant when planted.  Now, as you can see it has grown very tall.

This is another photo of the Pink Perfection.  Again, all taken with the iPhone camera.

Also taken with the iPhone we see a lovely sunset as we drive over the flyover in Tallahassee.
We were driving about 35 miles per hour when this photo was taken.

I love to collect the different Camella flowers growing around in our garden.  I thought they would make a pretty picture all collected together in an arrangement.

And below we see the same arrangement from the opposite side.
Again photos were taken with the iPhone.

Tallahassee is known for the many beautiful old Oak Trees in the area.  One day while pulling out of a parking lot I picked up my little iPhone and snapped a photo of these amazing trees.

My husband and I were invited to attend a fundraiser for the local Quincy, Florida Arts Festival. As we walked in the door I spotted this amazingly beautiful floral arrangement.  The flowers are what they call Snowballs and if you look closely you can see where the arrangement is filled in with Magnolia blossom branches.  Again the photo was taken with the small iPhone camera.

The lovely Katrina Rose was blooming so nicely out on the side yard arbor.
This photo and the next were taken with the iPhone.





This next photo of the arbor was taken with the Canon 5D.
This photo seems sharper.  And the color is different also.

This Confederate Rose was blooming so nicely out on the front fence.  As I was driving by, it was so handy to pull out my little iPhone to snap this photo and the next close up photo.

And when the Wild Azaleas were blooming I used the iPhone to snap the next two photos.

The Confederate Jasmine has been blooming for a couple of weeks now.  The below photos shows the front walkway arbor totally filled with blossoms from this delightfully fragrant plant.
This photo and all the following photos were taken with the Canon 5D camera.

I continued on around to the back side yard and spotted the Irises blooming.



A close up of the Irises ...



Looking out over the back yard to the left we spot the white Cherry Tree blooming.



A close up photo of the pretty white Cherry blossoms.



And, had to snap a photo of the back patio planter filled with colorful Petunias.




And, on the back porch, we see this lovely Maidenhair Fern.
I love the delicate little petals of this pretty fern.



Walking back around to the front I snapped a photo of the front of the house.  I love this time of year when everything has turned beautifully green again.



And the last photo shows an early morning sun shining through the trees in the front side yard.
Again, this photo was taken with the Canon 5D.

I love taking the camera and trying to capture some of the amazing beauty all around.  Spring is such a beautiful time of year when Mother Nature has magically given all of us so much beauty to admire.

Thank you for stopping by for a visit.

Wishing you many blessings as we all enjoy the rest of this beautiful Springtime.

Happy Day After Easter 2019

Hello Everyone and happy day after Easter!  I'm sure all of you have been as busy as I have been preparing and celebrating the amazing and blessed day of Easter.  Our family always gathers after church at our daughter, Sharon's home, for a delicious dinner.  Each family member brings a traditional dish to share with everyone.

As Easter was approaching I happened to see this pretty wreath with lots of flowers, seen below, at Jo-Ann Fabrics.

https://www.joann.com/home-decor-and-holiday/?q=wreaths&prefn1=prod_type&prefv1=Product&gclid=CjwKCAjwzPXlBRAjEiwAj_XTEY1IfvV5_zJ8KcxgZrXSUom0ElEd8vFpqIsYWNyr6_vGf9bbdcuYLhoCryoQAvD_BwE

I also saw these sparkling and colorful plastic eggs and thought it would be pretty to make this floral wreath into an Easter wreath.  Shortly after plugging in the hot glue gun I was able to take each egg, add a little glue along one side and immediately glue on to the wreath.  After adding a colorful bow it was all ready to hang on the front screen door.

The below photo shows my daughter's pretty Easter table all ready for everyone to begin filling their plates for Easter dinner.  The flowers on the dining table were from our local Publix grocery store.  I went upstairs and found one of my daughter Sharon's old Easter Baskets and thought it would be nice for making our Easter table floral arrangement.

Below we see a close up of the floral arrangement.  While walking through Hobby Lobby recently, I happened to spot the cute little bunnies and eggs which turned out to be just the right addition to the arrangement and give it an Eastery look.

Each year it is my job to bring the ham.  Our local Publix has delicious spiral hams along with  a special seasoning mix to cook and place between ham slices. It is so good it will almost melt in your mouth.   My sweet husband always does the most wonderful job carving the ham and arranging on this large platter.  We added the little bunny rabbit and jelly beans in the center, plus some delicious pineapple slices.  I usually put cherries in the middle of the pineapple, but totally forgot to put them on my grocery list. 

Daughter Debi brought this cute little pineapple bunny rabbit surrounded by strawberries and grapes.



Below we see a closer photo of him.  See his cute little blueberry eyes and nose!

Easter dinner would not be Easter dinner without deviled eggs as seen below.
They remind me of my sweet Mom who made these every year.

And, the potato salad was delicious too.

Everyone also enjoyed daughter Debi's very delicious egg salad sandwiches seen below.  Daughter Stephanie also brought green beans with ham and her traditional and very popular macaroni and cheese.  There were also strawberries with powdered sugar and rolls and condiments to make ham sandwiches. And, Sharon made her wonderful corn pudding.

And, last but not least, we can't forget the Easter Bunny himself showed up.  He is a chocolate cake with buttercream icing and a little coconut.  His eyes, nose, mouth, and bow-tie are made out of jelly beans.

We always have our picture taken with him every year.  I have been making this cake for my daughters since they were very little girls and now for all of the grandchildren.



The below photo shows a mural I saw in church yesterday depicting the Resurrection.

This time of year brings many positive reminders and inspiration.

I hope you had a wonderful Holy Week and Easter Day.
 I wish you joy, happiness, and many blessings wherever you may be.

My Orchid Is Finally Blooming

Hello Everyone!  I surely do hope you have been doing well and enjoying this amazingly beautiful Springtime.

How can time gallop by so fast?   I looked back, and it has been a good long time since I have added a post to Sweet Southern Days.  It was very heartwarming to receive an email from a reader today who lives here in Tallahassee, asking if the blog was going to continue.  Thank you, Miss Eileen, for the kind and sweet email.  And, yes, I love to take photos of the beauty all around and share on Sweet Southern Days.

One photo I took recently, which is seen below, is an Orchid Plant which finally decided to bloom.  A friend gave this plant to me a couple of years ago.  All this time it has never bloomed.  If you too have an Orchid Plant that has not bloomed,  you may benefit from some of these steps I have learned along the way.  And I am sure there are more tips that may help, but these worked for me.

1.  Water under the leaves once a week for one minute. Let drain and put back in a good light.

2.  Since my Orchid never bloomed, I re-potted the plant in a recommended Orchid Pot (from Walmart),    using special Orchid Soil (also from Walmart).  It was not long after doing that that I noticed little flower buds growing on this long stem.

And before I knew it the flowers had all opened.

This was definitely a first for me to have an Orchid Plant blooming.

It is so surprising to me how long this Orchid Plant has been blooming.  The flowers have been on the plant now for about two weeks.  It will be interesting to see how long the blossoms stay beautiful and it will be interesting to see how long it takes before it blooms again.

Thank you for stopping by for a visit today and I hope all of your flowers are blooming now in this beautiful Springtime.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend wherever you may be.