Category Archives: Photography

Special Dishes

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On a sentimental note, mom gave me a couple dishes. They’re not just your average dish either, they’re a couple special dishes that my grandma used to use and to me they’re priceless.

They found a new home sitting atop the microwave. I love the way the lighting under the cabinets illuminates these bowls clarifying the detail. And now I can’t imagine putting these any other place.

I took a few more pictures of the poinsettia. They seemed too exposed the other day so I’m toying with the other setting options.

I have not made any New Year resolutions per se. But I will say that I’m working on the goals I set for myself throughout the year. I try not to wait ‘til New Years to make resolutions rather I would like to continue making adjustments along the way. Each New Year is a new leaf, a fresh start, a point of reference that I like to build on. And I’m looking ahead to this New Year with Hope.

Playing With My New Toy

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I’m trying to get used to my new camera that hubby got me for Christmas. I’m finding such fun stuff in the manual and really looking forward to giving it a whirl this New Year!

As a matter of fact, I started in on this pretty poinsettia that our neighbor just gave us.

Hubby and I have had such an enjoyable Holiday Season and I hope you and your family have too.

Takes Two To Tango

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I allowed myself whatever I good and well pleased on Thanksgiving and reality set in quick! I gained (just shy of) a pound on Thanksgiving from eating anything and everything I wanted. Thankfully I was able to dust myself off over the weekend and ended up losing the pound I gained and then some. I’m really hoping for a good report at the doc’s in a couple weeks and I pray my cholesterol is coming down.

I’m enjoying the fresh fruit that I hand picked (at the grocery) and it has merged quite the treaty with my sweet tooth these days.

It takes two to tango and these were my specimens of choice today!


The lovely ruby red grapefruit


And the orange – They make a great duo


Shall We


Tango Baby!


It’s so good to be on the dance floor! Now all I need to do is tango through ‘til Christmas!

Good Morning

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I can’t seem to get enough of the early morning beauty out our back windows.

November 18th sunrise


November 19th sunrise


Friends that dropped by this morning


A stroll through our backyard


So long my friend!


The snow from the last two days is nearly gone but I have a sneakin’ feeling there’s a lot more to come! It dipped into the high teens this morning and I nearly kicked myself for standing with the door hanging wide open while taking my morning pics. My measly excuse is that my tootsies liked the warm carpet vs. the concrete to stand on. The heater is cranked and I’m off to enjoy the day drawing.

White Dusting

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I had a fun filled morning frolicking around in the snow with the white stuff providing a coating as far as the eye can see. And the forecast says we’re getting more snow through Thursday.

Here’s a few pictures taken early this morning from my yard

Sunrise


Bird Feeder


Baby Pine ~ No more than 2’ tall ~ Even the old weeds from summer are taller than this little guy.


Pine Cone


Bridge


Early Morning Light


We had a very enjoyable weekend ~ spent a little time with friends ~ went shopping ~ snuggled under our cozy little throw while watching a pretty snowfall ~ Watched NASCAR and some football ~ I did get sick Sat evening and by late Sun morning was feeling better. I’ll be starting my week with more drawing in hopes to be finished with the pansy by the end of the week.

Boots and Britches

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Here we come!


My little wish for snow came true yesterday afternoon and it snowed and snowed all afternoon! Nothing stuck but that didn’t stop the snow from falling and on into the night it snowed and it continues to snow today. By morning we ended up with a little white dusting and below you will find a little sample of what it looks like around here.

Looking through the brush out back


The leaves still cling to this tree/bush but just a matter of time and they too will be gone


The berries all nestled in


A little coating


A Trip To The Spa

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The last three weeks had me stressed a little more than I realized. After hearing such great reports from my Dr’s office, a huge weight was lifted but I was left with knots in my shoulders and back.

So last evening I casually mentioned to Bobby how tight I was feeling and that’s all it took for him to insist that I have a massage. He didn’t have to twist my arm and I was able to work a two hour visit to the nearby spa this morning. I’m feeling a bit sore but the knots seem to be worked out. (sigh)

I took the camera as these beautiful autumn days aren’t going to last forever. So here we go… The pictures below were taken at the resort.

A tent all set up for somethin’


A peak through the leaves at the golf course


A little winding path


A cool cabin


Ducks up ahead on the left – I believe they are either headed south or will be headed that way directly


A few of them up close – Have a safe trip dear feathered friends


Better than the Dr’s office


Another Autumn Day

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I’m enjoying another autumn day and I’m still overjoyed with the season more than ever. It’s been a while since I’ve lived where the leaves glow like they’re on fire and it takes my breath away to watch the daily changes.


The picture above was taken in my backyard just a moment ago. I was busy unloading groceries when the sun popped through the thick layer of clouds. I grabbed the camera quick to capture the little ray of light that trickled through the trees.

Now it’s back to working on the floor plan as we need to have all the windows and doors throughout the house picked out by Friday and presented to the builder.

I still can’t get over how crazy busy I am these days and I’m sick that I have not had time to get to my dear friends pansy drawing. Little did I know at the time that I would be in such a pickle.

So, my deepest apologies once again and I would like to send out a message stating that I would like to have the drawing project complete and in the mail by the end of November. I hope all can be forgiven as it truly is killing me.

I also stated sometime back how I had the urge to get a job. Well, that has all blown over and as hubby says. “Honey, you’re going to be so busy with the builder and picking out stuff for the home, how are you going to have time to work”? And he’s right as things are really starting to kick in and I’ve already had two meetings with the builder already this week. So let the fun begin!

Oh The Places I’ve Been

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Oh the places I’ve been all week. This week was supposed to start off slow and steady with drawing at the top of my “to do” list. Everything changed and in a hurry as I’ve had errands and duties 4 of the 5 days this week and a repair man here at the apartment the day I was home.

One of the big changes this week was an unexpected change in our floor plans. I’ve been working on the program “Better Homes & Garden – Home Designer Suite 8.0 ” during my free time and Bobby finished wrapping up all the loose ends around 1:00am this morning.

I can now “almost” officially say the floor plan is FINISHED! Our job this next week is to pick out the windows. We’re pretty much picking out all the stuff we want up front so that the cost of things doesn’t bite us in the end. We’re hoping we can move in by next spring/summer.

After the meeting with our builder today, I drove just about a mile out of my way to visit some of the homes in Historic Downtown. I was hoping to see some fall décor but enjoyed the little tour. Come along with me, won’t you?

We must first Cross the river into Downtown.


On the other side looking back at the bridge we just crossed.


There’s something about this house that makes me think “Hansel and Gretel”.


Quite a charmer with that nice porch out front.


There’s just somethin’ about about this place.


This place had me at hello.


I’m in love with the background.


Green and white with a burst of color.


Sorry for getting the wires crossed.

We went through rain, walked on sunshine and looked at masses of clouds on this crisp 52 degree day. And another thing, someone that saw me snapping pictures asked us (hey, you’re with me remember) “are you with the CIA”? We just didn’t pay any attentention to them and kept right on going. Hope you enjoyed your visit and I hope I didn’t embarrass you too much.

The Cleaning Crew Is Here

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My mind has been in a whirlwind of late with thoughts turning towards transformation around here. So I got out my trusty broom and dustpan and swept all the old formatting away. And scooped up a new format to provide a fresh new look.

While I had the cleaning crew at my fingertips, I decided to change the wallpaper and get things ready for autumn while I was at it. So don’t mind me while I’m sweeping around your feet, it shouldn’t take me too much longer to get situated.

And the picture for the day is one of my favorite little creatures that hang out around our place. This cute little guy was out front on the stone as I was running out to do errands yesterday. I can’t believe he held so still for his picture as they always flee the moment they see us. I think he likes me.


Monarch Butterfly Paradise

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I was in beautiful Monarch Butterfly Paradise while on vacation. The monarch’s were swarming this pretty butterfly bush or at least that’s what I’ve heard this bush called.

High On His Perch


This beautiful specimen had just landed and started fanning his wings so I shot him quick!


Two For The Price Of One


A View Up Under


If it weren’t a time issue, I would have hung out a whole lot longer with these guys. They had me mesmerized for quite some time.

A Special Family

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I’ve been enjoying the cooler weather with the windows open when I heard a deer cry this afternoon. I looked up there she was looking at me just about 15 feet away.

I went back to drawing and forgot about it until I heard her cry again. Well her cry went straight to my heart and I cut up a bunch of apple and tossed them out the door. I think she must have been looking for her baby as they didn’t come back ‘til this evening. It was so nice to see the family linger a while longer as it took a while for them to finish the apples. I never tire of seeing this special family.






A Fun Weekend

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I had so much fun at the weekend shindig with Cindy over at My Romantic Home. It was such a joy to visit each person’s favorite thing and hear all the wonderful stories that made it special. She’s still holding the party through the rest of the day, so if you’re interested please see the info in the post below. Thanks for stopping by as I certainly enjoyed this more than I can express. Thank you Cindy!

I dug out my Scrapbook Factory Express program yesterday and had a total blast playing with some the options. I took this

“serious face” that I shot last Thursday and had a ball using options that I’ve never explored in the past. It was fun!

I’m in the artsy mood again and the plan is to dig out my pencils tomorrow and continue to whirl around on this picture I started weeks and weeks ago. That should be fun! I’ll be posting the finished product this week.


I’m Serious

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It’s been down right serious business around here with house plans and whatnot and the picture above is ‘proof’ just so ya know.

Now that we’re on the heels of another weekend, this serious business has got ta go. I have big plans to trade it in for some dates and laughs with my dearest…

I’m Serious

In other news ~ I’m so in love with the Queen Ann’s Lace that graces our yard. Or shall I say the ‘back 40’ – we don’t ‘really’ have a back 40 but ya know, the part that doesn’t get mowed.

I took this picture after the rain yesterday. It’s so beautiful to me…

I’m serious

And now I can begin to feel myself relaxing and stepping out of that serious mold but now I’m concerned about this whacked state I’m in.

O never mind, I’m sure this too shall pass soon.

Summertime And The Livin’ Is Easy

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I just love that song and thought it would be the perfect title. I could continue singing but I’ll spare you this time. For the record, I continue to embrace summer and am gradually admitting that I actually am enjoying these days. Did I kinda just admit I like summer? Think I did. Yesterday at 3:30 pm it was 76 degrees with the most beautiful blue skies and I’m finding the summer months to be quite enjoyable. It’s never been a steam bath when I open the door to go outside and the evenings are always nice and cool. Sure we’ve had a few warm days but nothing like the summers I’m used to. I still can’t believe that. As my Bobby states, this is like “winter” in Florida and that’s no joke.

As I was on my way out the door to run errands I spied this deer in the yard.

I made a little noise to get his attention and he just looked at me like this.

The weeds continue to grow.

Our wild flowers/weeds continue to grow and I’m still as mesmerized with them as ever. I’m not used to wild flowers lasting this long into the summer but they continue to flourish. The pictures above and below were taken from my yard yesterday afternoon.

I would like to get some shots of the beautiful butterflies that I constantly see but haven’t gotten around to it yet. Oh yea, I would love to capture the cute little chipmunks too. We keep seeing them all over and they are so much smaller in real life than I thought.

I know, I know-wwwa I’m still sounding like a rookie up here and that’s because I am. I’m still amazed at all the little differences in nature than I’m used to. And it seems each new season brings with it new and exciting things for the eye to behold.

I’m on a summer kick folks, look out!