Sunrise: A Diptych

(This is a merge of two separate images. I didn't even realize how well these images fit together until I was putting them together in a photo book.)

Here is an oddity for me. I was so excited over the sunsets I had seen on my trip to Petoskey that on my last day there, I woke up early before the sunrise and sat out on our little balcony and watched the sun rise over the little town of Petoskey. I am not a morning person for me to be up before 9am is a rare event. Before children I would typically start my day around 11am. I am a total night owl. I hate to go to bed for fear of missing out on something. What I am missing out on in my own living room I will never know. My mom says I was like this from birth. I never wanted to go to bed. My dad was working second shift when I was born (as he did most of my life), so he would do the night time feedings and such and keep me up for a few hours at night for quality time with him. I have been trying to go to bed earlier. This is in part because my husband has been basically working double shifts. He is working his night stocking job and then as soon as he gets home in the morning he turns around and goes to work with his dad in their construction business. I do miss him working his construction job but since business has been slow, we had to have another means of income. Although when he doesn't have to work both jobs, the morning is his quality time with his boys. He gets them up, fed and dressed most mornings. I am thankful for my husband although most of the time I'm not the best at showing my appreciation. I try to but most of the time my emotions and stress just seem to get in the way. One of the reasons that I am trying to go to bed earlier is so that I can try to get a better control of my stress and most of all my emotions. I know I am still battling a bit of the baby blues because unlike after having my first child I can't just pack everything up in a few minutes and take off to someone's house. Being that my second was born a mere twelve months and eleven days after my first it isn't always easy ohh and it was winter. It is starting to get easier to do this now but I still feel overwhelmed.

Well I realize that this was a long post. Thank you for taking the time to read to the end. I hope everyone enjoys. For more skywatch photos click the icon to the right.

What's in a Name?

This image is from November 2005. I thought it quite fitting for the title. Surprisingly I don't have many rose images. I was surprised that this little rose was still out this late in the season.

I found this meme game on the Potted Frog site and thought it would be fun. What if I needed a different name? What if I needed to go into the witness protection program? What if I wake up tomorrow with superhero powers? How would I come up with a name then? Well, here's the answer:


1. Rock Star Name: Chloe Montana (first pet & current car)

2. Gangsta Name: Mint Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter (fave ice cream flavor & favorite cookie)

3. “Fly” Girl/Guy Name: C-Woo (First initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)

4. Detective Name: Blue Butterfly (Favorite color, favorite animal)

5. Soap Opera Name: Rae Flint (Middle name, city where you were born) I sound like a guy.

6. Star Wars Name: Chrwo Bafli (This is a longer one- 1st 3 letters of your 1st name+1st 2 letters of your last name then 1st two letters of mother’s maiden name + 1st 3 letters of town you were born in.)

7. Superhero Name: The Purple Green Apple White Tea Snapple (“The”+ 2nd favorite color, favorite drink.)

8. Nascar Name: Walter Willard ( The first names of your grandfathers.)

9. Stripper Name: Vanilla Lace Chocolate (favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy)

10.Witness Protection Name: Paulette Edward (parents’ middle names)

11. TV Weather Anchor Name: Anthony Austin (your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)

12. Spy Name: Winter Lily (Your favorite holiday/season, flower)

13. Cartoon Name: Pear Capriey (Favorite Fruit, article of clothing you are wearing right now+ “ie” or “y”)

14. Hippy Name: Apples and Cinnamon Oatmeal Dogwood (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree)

15. Rockstar Tour Name: The Photography Snow Tour (“The”+ your favorite hobby/craft, fave weather element+”Tour” )

So what’s your name?
Meme by Someone Else but the answers are mine.

Elegant in White

Not much to say today, but I wanted to share another image with you all. This is another flower from my cousin's flower garden.

Gray Comma?

I followed this butterfly around my cousin's yard trying to get a good picture of it. While this is not the greatest shot (I would have liked a more close up shot), it is still a nice image. I love how the butterfly stands out among all of the greenery around it. So, I decided to be resourceful and try to identify the butterfly myself. Brain stimulation overload - there are way more butterflies than I thought, not to count all of the moths. So as I was looking I thought I found it but thought hey I should double check some of the others to see if I might be missing something. Remember to write down what you think it might be before you do this. By the time I concluded I was right, ummm... well I forgot what I thought it was in the first place. So... off I went trying to narrow the choices down again. This time remembering to write down the ones that were contenders. So I think I have it figured out a Gray Comma Butterfly. The only other possible one that I thought it might be was a Compton Tortoiseshell Butterfly but it is missing the white spots. I am 99.9% sure that it is definitely a Gray Comma butterfly. I could not find a single image of a moth that looked remotely like this particular one. I do have to say that there are some really beautiful moths out there though. And some of the ones that are butterflies, I would have mistaken for moths. Anyhow that is another issue. If I have identified this butterfly wrong please don't hesitate to let me know. I am trying to be accurate. Thanks for taking the time to stop by.



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Salvaged Flowers

These flowers were accidentally broken off the bush. Well, I think it is a bush. My son was walking on the path, or rather what he considered a path and lost his balance and knocked the flowers off the bush. He had fun walking on the border around the flower beds, the border was three bricks wide, the perfect size for an almost two year old. These flowers were set on the table and as I sat there I thought you know I should take advantage of these beautiful flowers sitting right in front of me. This is the best of the macro shots that I took, well at least the ones that you can see both flowers. I loved seeing the flowers that my cousin had planted. I envy her yard. I long for when I will be able to have my own house and a yard that I can truly make my own. I envision something similar to my cousins but who really knows. I doubt that I will live on a river. But it is nice to dream about. I enjoyed the scenery, I saw a deer down by the river. My cousins husband was standing so close to the deer, they have learned to trust him and actually come up to the house to beckon him to feed them. I saw a squirrel, a couple of red-winged black birds, a cardinal, a blue jay and a few butterflies. Most were around while my camera was inside. I could have gotten a picture of the deer but being that I was at the top of the hill and it was at the bottom, and my zoom was not giving me the image that I wanted. I'll have to recheck the butterfly image and see if it is worthy of posting. Maybe I can use that as my camera critters shot. Well that is all I have for today. Thanks for coming by.

What A Duo

Two of my favorite flowers. Okay who am I kidding, I like all flowers, even the ones most people think of as weeds. I just like a few more than others. The lillies remind me of the fake flowers that I brought home from my Aunt Mary's funeral back in November of 1999. I rode down to Alabama with my sister and husband. They had been married less than a month, it was an interesting trip. We relied on mapquest to get us down there when we knew where we were going, why I depend on it when I now where I am at I will never know. It is nice to use as a visual to refresh my mind but I find I do better planning out the route by looking at the map and not the directions that are given on mapquest. But I digress. These flowers are from my cousins flower garden that literally wraps around her house. The lillies remind me of the flowers that I brought back and made into a floral wreath that hangs just inside my front door. I see the lillies every day. I love the color of these lillies in particular. Then again burgundies and dusty pinks/mauves are among my first choice when choosing decors. I chose this image to start with because of the combination together. I found it rather stunning.

Old But Always Beautiful

There is something about old farming equipment. I love the look of it whether it is rusted or care has been taken to keep it from rusting. I have always claimed I was born in the wrong century, decade, era what have you. I love the Victorian age, I love the clothing of the rich of the Renaissance, I love the ideals of the pioneers starting their lives anew traveling into the unknown of the States, and I am definitely a fanatic of all things World War II. But then I stop and realize, how oh how could I ever survive without air conditioning. I love having the benefits of this modern convenience. I know that I could live without my computer (I do enjoy having it though). I will admit I am a modern girl. I enjoy jumping into the car and zipping across town or across the state. I did this yesterday. I went to drop my mom off at my aunt's house so they can go down to Alabama. I really wish. I could be going down there. I had a nice afternoon in Saint Joseph. I actually made it over to my cousin's house on the river. I did not make it down to the river though. I had a slight headache, just enough to make me feel off balance and I didn't think that I should try and go down the mountain umm I mean hillside even though there are steps carved out. I plan to go down next month when I head over to the other side of the state. I got some nice pictures of the flowers in my cousin's garden and will be sharing these over the next couple of days.

I will be away today. Hopefully I will have some new pics to use. I should have a new image up late tonight or early tomorrow.

Outlined in Pink - A Watercolor

Here is another flower picture that I took while out at the Renaissance. I was so frustrated once the pictures were developed because I had forgotten to adjust the shutter speed and aperture. The wind was blowing as well which didn't help. However on a hunch I decided to play with the artistic devices in photoshop. I really like the way the watercolor filter looks on the flower. It gives it a soft appearance that looks intentional and not just out of focus. It's great to salvage these otherwise unusable images.

Looking for Something to Do

I remember the day I took this photo. This horse looked so bored and really enjoyed the visitors that came to see him. He (I assume he) had a large area to roam but just looked like he was in need of a friend. It was really warm this day, unseasonably warm for October in Michigan. We are talking mid eighties for the temperature, it was the end of October when we are lucky to have mid seventies. This shot was an achievememt for me because he really didn't want to cooperate with my efforts to take his picture.



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Last Sunset

This was the sky the evening after the funeral for my Gran-granny. The funeral was beautiful, the weather was beautiful, and the sunset was a perfect end to a beautiful day. The funny thing about the funeral, everyone kept commenting how it felt more like a family reunion than a funeral. In all honesty this is what my gran-granny would have wanted. Mind you there were tears but most were tears of joy because now my gran-granny was free. Free of pain, free of the memory loss that had plagued her for so many years. My gran-granny was physically here for years but she had truly gone from us many years ago. As my family prepares to head to Alabama for the first reunion since her passing the time of her funeral is fresh in my mind. The time spent with my aunts, my mom and my uncle in the hotel room. It was such a pleasant trip, I didn't want to go home. The weather was wonderful while we were down there. Michigan was cold, it was February. I'll leave my readers with a paraphrase of something that my uncle said while we were down there - The more I look at pictures of this family, the more I realize we are all just a bunch of inbred freaks.

Thanks to all who read and comment. Your support and feedback is much appreciated. It is official - I have received 1100 unique hits on my two blogs. Yeah! I had hoped to catch the 1000th hit but the 1100th will do just as well. Thanks.

Floral Fantasy

Sorry that I haven't posted in the last couple of days. I had to take a small break. My mind has been full of so many things, I needed time to sort through them. Also to top things off my computer has been misbehaving. I really need to get my other hard drive soon so that I have room for all of my images. Anywho....Here is an image that has been on my mind lately. I actually posted this image earlier (back in the beginning of my blog). I have cropped the image differently and I really like the look.

Duck, Duck, Duck, Goose?

Well everyone, I have been looking and have not been able to find out exactly what kind of ducks these are. At least I think they are ducks, in my research I landed on a goose (I don't remember which one at the moment) that it might possibly be. So if someone knows and would tell me I would appreciate it. I have never seen birds like these up close before. I usually see the normal mallards and canadian geese in this spot, oh and of course I can't forget the seagulls. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks.



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On Seagull's Wings

Well a couple of posts ago I said I would share images from my recent visit to Stepping Stone Falls. Well I haven't done that for the last week, so I decided that I should hold true to my promise. Here is a beautiful sky from that trip. And again I have captured seagull in flight. I like seeing these birds soaring around and floating as they hover over something that could be lunch. I know many think of them as a nuisance as they tend to frequent parking lots but for some unknown reason who knows why I can sit and watch them even in a parking lot.

To view more Sky Watch photos visit Wigger's World.

Take A Seat

One of my favorites from my Petoskey visits. I am sure I got the idea for the shot from somewhere else but I couldn't tell you where. I came across these chairs and I just loved their set up. I would have loved to have stayed here longer and watch the sunset but we had to get to dinner and I think we were actually trespassing on the grounds of the resort nearby. We weren't staying at this resort but would love the opportunity to go and stay here. The grounds were beautiful and right on the lake.

Hollyhock

After a busy weekend of doing nothing, I have finally posted my image for today. I hope all enjoy. I sure have enjoyed getting to know my little community of bloggers and look forward to continuing my sharing with all.

Quiet Reflection

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Happy Fourth of July - Skywatch Friday

Since this Friday is the Fourth of July, I thought I would be a bit patriotic. These are from my recent visit to Stepping Stone Falls here in Flint, MI.

The sky facing the west.


The sky facing the east.


for more skywatch posts click the icon on the left.

The Steps

Here is why they are called stepping stone falls. Obvious enough the concrete steps that the water flows over. This image was taken in the same spot as the previous image, I just shifted my view to the right. I truly love this area. It is a favorite of mine to photograph as well as use as a background for my senior portraits. I had plans to shoot some wedding shots here but the wedding was in April and the park doesn't open for the season until May. This was a real disappointment since the reception was just around the corner from this beautiful spot.

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to me, Happy Anniversary to me,
Happy Anniversary to me-ee
Happy Anniversary to me.

Today I celebrate ten years of marriage. Hard to believe that much time has past and yet at times it seems like forever. I enjoy my life and try to love every minute that I have been and will be blessed with. And with this blog I am trying to share my joy with others.

Thank you to all who visit my blog, I love sharing and enjoy all of the feedback, while I may not always comment back know that I do visit your sights.

The Dam

This is one of the many attractions in the Flint area. Stepping Stone Falls is a man made dam where Mott Lake flows into the Flint River. It is a nice family place with nature trails both paved and unpaved, viewing on different levels and if you like you can bring food to feed the birds and fish. This is one of my peaceful places, however I don't come here often enough since it is across town from me now and gas prices being what they are. I will have more images from here over the next couple of days as well as a post about it on my other blog, Life with the Woods.