Photo of the day - Success!

The final one (I think) I'm going with. Costco is a great resource, by the way, for printing photos. I've yet to find a local place that compares with the quality. I went to Target once because I wasn't in the mood to battle the crowds or stand in line to exit Costco. Never again! Target may be okay for casual snapshots but the black and white was just awful. The colors at Costco are always spot on and the black and white prints have nice rich, neutral blacks. I'm going to get this dry mounted as a 16 x 20 print for $15. Can't beat that!

Photos of the day - Just dandy

My daughter's bedroom has a bit of a dandelion theme. I'm working on some photo art for the walls and wanted to share some of my attempts.(click for biggie)

Photo of the Day – Buzz off

These flowers were filled with bumblebees last week at Duke Gardens. They were climbing all the way into each flower. Seems like a bee's paradise!

Photo of the Day - What is this?

Photo of the Day - Peony

Did you know the delicate, fragrant petals of peonies are opened by busy little ants? It's true.
This photo was taken at my mom's a few years ago. I thought I'd post it just to show you.

They have a great many varieties of peonies at Duke Gardens, but my favorites were the classic pale pink.

Photo of the Day - Irises

Until my trip yesterday to Duke Gardens, I really had no idea how many iris varieties there are. It's not just a difference in color either. Being near the end of their season, I didn't photograph all the varieties there, but take my word for it.

Photo Study - 4 hours post Hanna

Our house and yard actually fared extremely well in the storm. We took a walk this morning and found not everyone to be so lucky. Ellerbee creek is finally a rushing (make that raging) creek and Northgate park was more like, well, Northgate pond (at least at the south end). When I returned an hour later with my camera to capture images, more then half of the water that had flooded the park had receeded, but what was left was still pretty amazing.

The north end of the park is the higher end so it just had a little excess water and was beautifully green as always.





The south end wasn't as fortunate. As earlier mentioned, when we attempted to walk through this end an hour prior to this photo, there was no path and the water was about 6 inches deep and looked a lot like a pond.

The street and sidewalks were littered with these little guys forced down early by the rain and winds.

Ellerbee Creek was filled to the brim and looked like the chocolate river in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Photo of the Day - Flutter by

Photo of the Day - June bride

Name that plant

I've got a large shrub that has thorns on it and it goes dormant in the winter. Here it is with leaves. It's a very bright reddish pink. Anyone know what it is?

Photo of the Day - Jasmine tendril

Yet another lovely surprise that's abundant at my house is the jasmine that the previous owner planted! Sorry but it's hard not to post plant photos these days!

Photo of the day - Pretty in pink

Photo of the day - Pink papery flowers

I went to the farmer's market Saturday and noticed these flowers. I had never seen them before our honeymoon and they were all over the place at our villa. Anyone know what they are? They grow on a medium sized tree.

Photo of the day - A pleasant surprise

Purchasing an older home has been just one surprise after another. We had no idea what was planted and we continue to see new plants and flowers popping up. We have this group of sparse shrubs in the back that didn't seem like they fared too well in last years drought and we were considering moving them or just waiting for them to die off. Yesterday I was in the backyard and there was this overwhelming aroma. I turned towards the bushes and BEHOLD!!!! Gardenias! I'm in heaven.

Arizona - cactus study

We went to Arizona last November so I could show off my now-hubby-then-fiance to my extended family. It was a short trip, but long enough to take a quick trip up to Lake Pleasant for an hour or two. It's a lovely 45 minute drive north of Phoenix. The views are magnificent and it's very serene. Thought I'd share some of the photos we snapped.

Orange flower study

I was going to blog about Arizona today but I changed my mind. 2 July's ago I went and photographed all the lovely flowers in bloom at Sarah P. Duke Gardens with my dear friend, Melanie. It was quite the learning experience for us both. I thought I'd share some of my orange flowers from that shoot. Looking at these makes me realize I need to return SOON. Flowers are such wonderful subjects to photograph. They absolutely bring out the girlie in me!

Rosemary and lavender

I have pretty smelling things growing on my back porch. I love spring!