Vacation

This was the last big "hoo-rah" before school starts in September. My daughter and I made a whirlwind tour of the grandparents (my husband's and mine) this past week. With all the sleeping I've been doing (the joy of having doting grandparents), I have hardly time to check my email! I did get out today to enjoy the rural scenes in Parsonsburg, MD with the moody skies and all. Lovely!

The Apple Harvest

Well I've harvested the apples from the famous apple tree today. It may be a bit early for them, but the black spots were steadily growing on some of them. And I really wanted to taste one!! They were tart, but I suppose if I wanted sweet apples, I would not have planted a Granny Smith. My daughter and I ate 4 of them, but, of course, they were pretty small. There are 3 left on the counter and I'm sure they will be gone tomorrow. Check out the slideshow of the apples from itty bitty, to this...

Death of the Countryside

Well, the McMansions are coming. There is this beautiful farm (I believe it was called the Springfield farm) on the way to Fredericksburg from King George that was sold to a developer (the one, I believe, who owns most of F'burg now). It's been sold now for a couple of years. I knew it was happening when the cows disappeared from the hillside. But, this is the first sign of construction, I've seen. The corn has been nearly cleared from the field and the roads are beginning to appear. When the developments come, it truly is the death of the country....

Those tall trees...

I was out in this beautiful unusually cool August day (76 degrees!!) making some images with the digital pinhole. Funny, how you go out with an idea and end up coming back with something completely different than you started with. I started playing with panning the camera up while looking at the many pine and tulip trees (two very tall types of trees) in our back yard. I like the vertical-ness (hmm... maybe I should have held the camera vertical!) of the image that wasn't planned...

Yellow Flowers and Rocks

Took a walk down the pond at the end of our street. Didn't have a long lens to capture the beautiful lilies floating in it, but I did get this nice image of the yellow poppies (?) someone planted in the rocks. I took this with the Nikon Coolpix s600 macro feature. Love that thing!

Back to the Lensbaby

I had a friend out to the country today for a visit with her daughter. She's also a photographer in the Fredericksburg, VA area. So, while she was out here I showed her some of my cool toys, including the Lensbaby 3G. She loved it SO much, she left with the intention of buying one for herself. So, since it was on the camera, I decided to take some shots this evening. I've been taking SO many pictures of pretty flowers, I decided it was time for a change...

I need a cleaning person...

When I graduated college, I had my own place (rented apartments & owned a townhouse) for 7 years (until I got married). I had very clean, neat places. Then I got a dog (Dinah), then a boyfriend (now husband) with 2 dogs (Bubba and Danielle), then another dog (Rusty), then another dog (Jack), then a HUGE house, then another dog (Buckers, yes 6 dogs now), then a daughter (Alexis), then slowly 5 dogs, 4 dogs, 3 dogs, 2 dogs, 1 dog, and lastly 2 dogs (now Dinah & Moose). It is tough being the only neat freak in the house. I've spent the last 3 days cleaning, neatening, and otherwise trying to control this mess I've got growing around me. I'm tired...

On the Road Again

Living out in the country has it's benefits. Quiet (no car traffic), DARK nights full of stars and the sounds of crickets. No homeowner associations saying your flowers aren't pruned correctly. Au Natural, baby. Neighbors I can't see!! But, then again, to get ANYWHERE we need to drive 30 minutes. So, I see a lot on my trips between King George and Fredericksburg. I see lots of corn, soybeans, barns, corn, soybeans, barns, old Virginia Renaissance Faire (I need to get in there and make some pictures), corn and soybeans. But, the one thing I look forward to EVERY time I make this trip is this one particular barn that I have photographed many, many times. I actually stop once in awhile, too. And I have a flickr set dedicated to it. Here is the "fly by" version I snapped today.

A present from the squirrels...

I suppose I should go out and thank the squirrels for our wonderful garden this year. Not only did we have sunflowers popping up all over the yard, but we have discovered that they have also planted us a pumpkin vine. And since we have quite a woody/brushy property, it went unnoticed for quite a while. While out throwing a ball for my dog, Moose, I saw a bright yellow-orange flower in the brushy part of the back yard. I went out to inspect it and sure enough, a flower, on a HUGE vine. The leaves are larger than a small child's head (at least my small child's head). So, I headed in for the cameras and came out with this...

Snapped on the Pinhole...

Well, after playing "macro" with my compact point & shoot camera for quite a few days, I decided to snap on the NO DUST digital pinhole bodycap from Pinhole Resource on to my D70s. So, the past few days have been full of blurry flowers and mushrooms instead of crystal clear ones. Ha, ha... I'm having fun and that is all that matters. Here is the blurry picture of the day!!