Recipe for some photo fun

I am beginning to put together all the bits and pieces of information I absorbed during my photography class over the past five weeks, so today I applied some of them to this flower. Photographing flowers is not one of my strengths, but I had fun with this. I realize it is not the greatest picture ever taken of a dahlia, but I still had fun, and it's a good feeling to be much more in control of my camera. Three things would have helped me improve this shot:
1. Buy a tripod.
2. Carry the tripod with me.
3. Use the tripod!

Oh, and remember to blip flowers before they pass their prime and on days when there is not a stiff breeze like the one that was blowing in our back yard this afternoon.

It has been a lovely last day of June here in Ohio, and here comes July with Independence Day, lots of family birthdays (my older granddaughter will turn 29), and the midpoint of summer. What, already? Can it be? Where does the time go?