Category Archives: photography

Jun29

We ♥ Commerce Bank

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Sean and I went out for a few hours this afternoon. We had to exchange some trousers I had bought as a gift for him. We also had two huge bags of coins that we have saved for many months. Commerce is open on Sundays and they have a free coin counting machine. So we guessed we had $124.00 (they ask if you want to guess) and after all was said and done-we had $197.00! Yes! We split it up and I saved Bri $50 (Sean got $100 since he will be driving the most for his internship) and then we went to Macy’s. Sean got an extra pair of trousers and a few shirts in another store-from the coin money! We then went to a shopping center where Old Navy and Michaels is-I went to Michaels and Sean to O.N. I picked out some things there and went down the clearance aisle and I started to chat with a nice lady there. She asked if I had ‘a coupon’ which I didn’t. It was for after 4pm and for 25% off your total purchase. She had an extra and gave me one. I thanked her and headed to check out and saved $10!

We ate in Friendly’s and shopped a bit in Trader Joe’s then headed home. I called my mom and she had talked with brother #2 and they may be seeing eye to eye again. I seriously hope so. He tends to get mean about things that he doesn’t agree with. I still am not crazy about being chummy with him as I feel like I don’t know him anymore and he talked about me behind my back that night he horned in on our ‘girl’s night out’. I wish mom hadn’t told me he thought I looked fat. He had said that to my face when we went down to visit him in Florida in 2002. Nice isn’t he? I’m not having high hopes about this, but at least, and I’m praying, he’ll treat her nice and with respect.

Anyway, here are some yard shots for your enjoyment. They sure make me smile. : )


This is what I call my herb bed. The Roma tomatoes are taking it over. There’s basil in the front along with fennel and cilantro.

My favorite lilies are blooming too! I missed the first blooms a few days ago.

A pretty hanging basket with pinkish daisy like flowers and portulaca

Look how big the butterfly bush is! You can see the rain gutter there. Not a ton of blooms, but we cut it back a lot last year.

Sean got a B- in his English class he just finished. My boy’s not a writer, so he was happy.

Jun26

Neither bright-eyed or bushy-tailed

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I thought my walk around the gardens would help me to feel all refreshed today. Nope, just had allergy issues-so did Bri. The Chestnut trees are dumping their catkins now. They look like fluffy rat’s tails and they smell like funky corn chips. Also had to proof a 6.5 page research paper for Sean that was due tonight, his final night of class. I burnt the midnight oil doing that. And then today I went food shopping. Does anyone enjoy it anymore? ; ) I’m fine if I am buying ingredients for a special dish or cookies, but the same old thing is so boring and the stores are too big! I see elderly ladies pushing their carts around probably thinking the same thing.

I want to make a small project for a pal’s July birthday. I need to get the fabric and floss pulled for that.

I was looking for Sean’s long lost Social Security card (which he really needs for the internship) and ran across old photos of me trying to sell things at a craft fair that a local neighborhood had years ago. I sold like two things. My mom had made things also. It should have been canceled as it was pouring rain. The only person who sold anything was the lady who made American Girl doll clothes. I had short hair and was pudgier-I should burn those photos!

Sean needs to exchange some nice trousers I bought for him (he needs a size bigger around the waist), so I may go with him tomorrow. It’s going to be a scorcher!

Ok here’s a nice photo:

The Bell Tower, waterfall and lake at Longwood Gardens

Jun25

2 hour excursion

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I was able to venture over to Longwood Gardens and had a nice time trying to see all I wanted to see this time, including their veggie patch and idea garden. Here are some shots that I really like, but I did take over 100 and most will be in my flickr account within the next few days. That’s a lot of photos to upload and tag!

Coneflower and orange butterfly weed. There’s a bee on the coneflower in the middle there.

A neat birdhouse and faux gourds hang in the veggie patch. The residents, I think wrens, love it!

Pretty coleus! I also bought some, not the same as the above and some Persian Shield.

This plant was in the conservatory, I believe it’s like throatwort? I think it’s pretty!

Some pretty roses. I heard a gardener say they aren’t doing well this year. I noticed many of them had black spot on their leaves.

I told this guy (inside the pool with the waterlilies) that my little pond was really green. He told me to buy some water hyacinth to help balance it out or add dye to it. These are dyed.

Here’s a link to my flickr slideshow!

Jun14

Photo Hunt-Emotion

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PSHunt
Grab the Scavenger Hunt code.Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

I don’t know if he is giddy from the heat or just acting up for the camera. Thought you’d like to see how he spends his early Friday evenings lately. Sean cuts around the house and Bri gets to do the long and bumpy part of our 1.4 acre lot. The yard ends right about where the truck is. That weedy thing to the left use to be where our garden ended (that’s part of a fence). We decided to go smaller to save work.

Jun13

It really is Friday the 13th

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I’m thinking about the former classmate of mine that passed away as it was her funeral today-31 years to the day that we graduated from high school. As I was reflecting on that, I see that news journalist Tim Russert had  died suddenly at the age of 58. I always enjoyed watching him as he was really excited about reporting, especially the elections. He did get to see his son graduate from Boston College this year.

I know election coverage won’t be the same without him. My mom had just bought his book about his relationship with his dad, ‘Big Russ’ to give my uncle for his birthday. Ironically, my grandfather passed away at the age of 58 also.

Sean’s ‘gal pal’ Kat is graduated from high school tonight. He’s been gone for a few hours to the graduation. She is going to Penn State, but another campus and yes she has a steady boyhood, much to Sean’s chagrin-no he really sees her as a friend. He’s going to her grad party tomorrow night and got her a nice frame with ‘2008’ cut out in the mat so you can add photos under them.

Here’s some more surprises:

I knew I had planted this Clematis out front, but what a neat surprise to see it had really grown and was blooming! I had to untangle it from the bleeding heart there and take a trellis from another area of the yard. It’s a pretty white with a lime green accent.

The Red Hot Pokers are having a good bloom year all around. Here are some next to the pond and gazing ball. I also have the original next to the house in the back and more in the yucca garden.

Here it is up close. It’s a rather unusual bloom isn’t it?

The Sweet peas are coming up well. They are in my herb patch plus in Sean’s garden.

I know I show you a lot of close ups, but here is what I call the Lily/Grass garden. The Lamb’s Ear really has spread well. I have a clematis and moon flower where the supports are. The lilies are situated more in the back. The grape arbor has been here the entire time we have lived in this house. It use to provide us with dark purple grapes, now it has a disease. I’d love to cut it down and plant a variety of azaleas here. The veggie patch is way to the right. And those are Queen Anne’s lace a wildflower next to where I am trying to grow wildflowers. I do see flowers, but I am seeing lots of grass too. I can see why people put a block like newspapers in an area they want to garden to smother and kill the grass, etc. there. You really can’t just rototill it and hope for the best.

I found this Blue Moon delphinium at Lowes the other day. I love true blue flowers. I tried to grow it before, so we’ll see.

And last but not least, for Zoey:

See that little grayish green clump there-my only Rose Campions from the seeds Zoey sent me! They are right near the above plant.

Have a great weekend. I have a funny photo for Photo Hunt tomorrow, so watch this blog. : )

Jun10

Power outage and flowers

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Summer Flowers 2008, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

The names of the flowers are listed on Flickr, but most of the above are Snapdragons.

From 3 pm and on, the power went out 5 times. The last time was a little before 7 and we are expecting thunderstorms too. Sean is at his night class, so I’ll be holding my breath until he gets home in an hour or so.
I did grab the camera after dinner as I wanted to mainly take photos of the gorgeous snapdragons I have in a few gardens. Each petal looks like a little gown for a fairy.
Sean and I felt a bit blah today, like that feeling you have when you eat green apples-you get my drift. I had to take some medicine for my tummy. I think it’s the heat-it should be breaking soon!
Since I sat in the dark for a few minutes and had the camera right there, I took this shot:

Jun7

Photo Hunt-Bad Hair

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PSHunt
Grab the Scavenger Hunt code.Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

So let me explain-That’s me above, 3rd grade-Mrs. Allison’s class at Sandy Bank Elementary School-1967-68. My great aunt Edna decided to give me a home perm-left it on too long-fried my hair! They tried to make it curl on the ends. My grandmom added insult to injury by adding a clashing red bow to my hair. (Mom was probably at work). Seems this was the year I got yelled at in class for chewing my hair too! The pink and green dress was one of the only things my father picked out and gave me in my entire life. I also went to speech class and that was a little humiliating. But, I do remember being one of the only kids in class to be able to draw Snoopy and got many requests to do so. I photoshopped the first one to take out some signs of age and to fix the colors. The second one was just for fun. See, I still like to be artistic. : )