Beauty in Nature

Japanese beetles and bugs loved these tasty treats! Look at how cool these leaves looked resting in the creek.

p.s. I have a lot to blog about, I've just been tied up with other things. I'll get to it. I promise!

I Went Walking...

What did I see?
Well, here's a little peek.

Birdy...

Uh-oh kitty! This is a bad picture, but I really like my kitty.

A cool sun wind chime.

A water bug.

A dragonfly.

And a cute squirrel.


Annnnd maybe a little more, but you'll have to wait!

Glorious Gaze

The other day I was feeling snap happy, so I went out to my yard and started shooting photos of flowers, birds — you know, whatever I could find. I'm not going to lie. This photo was a total accident, but I think it's very cool and I like it a lot. I thought I would share it.

I guess that's why they call it a gazing ball...

Creek Finds

If you were to visit a creek today, what are three things you would expect to see?
If you guessed...

A YooHoo bottle...


Some sort of electronic thing...


And a crawdad...


You would be right!

If you were thinking something more natural... I'll add those tomorrow. Night!

My Sweetie

I love this picture of Vincent. You can just see the look of delight on his face.



Vincent calls himself my sweetie. He thinks sons are their momma's sweeties and even calls Gary "Memaw's sweetie." What a little angel.

Yes, It's True.

It was about 6 a.m. Saturday, July 16. Gary, Vincent and I were at his parent's house visiting, sleeping in our respective recliners. They have a spare room, but it also had a guest, so we got the chairs. Gary nudges me. It went something like this. You'll have to forgive me if I'm a little foggy- it was early.

"Babe, have you seen this?

You see, Gary's mom is a trinket person. She loves shopping and getting cute little knicknacks and pattywacks and whatnot. I barely opened my eyes before I said "mmhmm."
"But look," he said, and opened the top. Inside was...another littler bejeweled box!

Still not amused, I said something like, "Yeah. I've seen it, there's a smaller one and a smaller one and it keeps getting smaller." See? I had it all figured out.

But what I didn't have figured out, or any idea of whatsoever is what came next.

"Will you marry me?"

At this point I sat up and said "Are you serious?" I really had no idea, and to be fair, I was still halfway asleep. I'm sure I was very attractive, both looking and feeling. Fortuantely for you, I didn't get any photos of me that morning.
After a moment, I realized that he was serious and of course, I said yes.

I mean, I knew it would happen eventually and I had wondered when and how he would ask. None of it is what I expected, but that's why I love and continue to love him.
The ring was given to Gary's mom by her mom about 50 years ago. It's unique and different. It's better than anything I could ask for or pick out at a store.
And the best part?
It was a surprise.

Nature

The other day I decided to take my lunch break and walk the riverfront trail. I snapped a few photos.

Aren't We Cute?

My Stick Family from WiddlyTinks.com

I can't figure out how to put this at the bottom of my page like Miss Emily so I thought I would just post it. Anyone have any ideas on how to do it?

A Few Lawn Photos

Gary works very hard on our lawn and landscape...and I get complimented constantly.



















G may be one of the few men who someone has to say "Why are you mowing the lawn...again?!" Sometimes he even uses a reel mower after the regular mower to "shave the inconsistencies" left by the incredibly expensive Cub Cadet 33" mower. All this because our yard is on a hill.

Anywho. It looks wonderful. The grass, the flowers... all of it. Most of it was done before he began working for a landscaping company. Most of the hard scape was done using "found" items, things people didn't want or we got for free.
The flowers...not so much.

Beautiful Butterfly

This butterfly has been visiting my purple coneflowers for the past few days. I got a ton of pictures of him (or her I suppose) — wings open, closed, even fluttering. Here are my two favorites:





Happy Summer!

p.s. There is no editing on either of these photos, except my name of course. That wasn't actually in the photo. ;)

Happy 4th of July!

Each Fourth of July, I try to take firework photos. Usually they don't work out. This year was going to be different though. Armed with my work camera, the correct settings and a tripod -- I was ready. I even had a tutorial Friday from my boss. I have to say this year turned out better than others, but still not awesome. Some I hit the button too late or didn't hold it long enough. Those were my two biggest problems. Also, the fireworks were at such different heights that a lot I cut off because I couldn't move quickly enough. All of that will get better with practice though, I'm sure. Here are a few of my favorite shots of the fireworks.

I know this one is a little blurry, but it looks like it has a heart in it!

My view of the finale, note the tree silhouette.

Oh, and finally, my neighbor's trees are getting quite tall! I've been watching fireworks from my front yard for 15 years, so I guess that's to be expected.

Anyway, I'm pretty pleased with how I did for my first year. Next year I will try to remember each of these lessons and get even better shots! I'll add a few of Vincent later.

Happy Fourth of July everyone!