Extracting Fun in the Rain

It's been raining most of the day and that's great for writing. It can also make for some interesting pictures. I was enchanted by the droplets of rain clinging to the mountain mahonia leaves out my writing window and thought they'd be a good way to show the weather.
It also seemed like a good time to play with some of the settings on my Pentax K20, the bulk of which scare me.
This is the color extraction setting. I found I really liked the effect.
What does the effect do for you?

Gratitude Monday - Rain is Good Edition

Raindrops accentuate the leaves of a blooming hawthorn tree in the early morning.

It finally rained. We had some on Friday night/Saturday morning. It perked up the leaves and grass and made everything smell fresh and clean. It was a start.
The rain, liquid hope from the sky, returned Saturday night and kept up for much of Sunday.
It was a reasonable soaker. We desperately need it.
Several counties and municipal districts have declared agricultural disaster due to drought. Any area which has benefited by this rain now has some hope.
I am grateful for the rain.

**
Today is the new moon and you know what that means.
Whip out your chequebook and write yourself an abundance cheque.
The new moon is at 1:35 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time. Cheques can be written from that moment forward all the way until Tuesday, June 23 at 1:35 p.m. MDT.

Lonely Dreams

Please click me.

I often wonder when I see abandoned buildings what happened to the owners.
Was it tragedy? Or did they light out in the middle of the night never to be heard from again?
Did times get hard and they simply walked away?
Or was it so good that they built a bigger, better house for themselves down the road?
I see tracks in the snow leading into it and wonder if it is on a used trail or someone simply ventured in to have look. I know I'm usually tempted to poke around in old buildings. I often wonder what feeling I'll get.
Old buildings have such tales to tell, but too often they only tell the wind and the rain because the people no longer care or believe they've no time to listen.
And what about you? Do you wonder when you see the houses and farms left to the elements. Or are you too busy?