Day 430

This evening, we were surprised by a tree frog clinging to one of our living room windows. It stayed for about an hour, but eventually climbed up the window and disappeared. Tree frogs are common here, and part of the nightly Summer symphony. They are rarely bothersome. The 1st photo is about twice the size of the actual frog. The 2nd photo includes my hand, for scale of the frog's size.

Day 417

Today, John and I went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art while the Scalin family headed to a different museum and the Eastern State Penitentiary. On the way to our destination, we came across a small butterfly garden. There were two wrens being noisy. After observing them, I realized it was a mother bird feeding a baby bird bread. Behind them were tall lilies and even taller sky scrapers.

Also in the garden were a few beautiful pigeons. The photograph doesn't capture the irridecent purple and teal of their wings.

Later, before we headed to dinner with the Scalin family, rain started pouring down. This is our hotel window.

The rain had stopped by the time we returned back to our hotel room. The clouds were breaking up, which allowed the full moon to shine through.

Day 416

Today, my husband and I headed to Philadelphia, PA to meet up with the Scalin family for Noah's birthday, and Skull Appreciation Day on Monday. The clouds were beautiful on the way there. There was a clear sky with a full moon at night.

Day 387

Today, there was a full moon. I first noticed it with beautiful clouds around it, but by the time I could photograph it, the clouds had dispersed.

Day 385

Today the moon was out early in the evening.

Day 379

Tonight, John and I ventured into the back yard to take photos of the moon. I love how this shot came out. The  details of the craters at the top right are fantastic with the shadows across the rest of the moon.

Day 376

There was a beautiful sky tonight with light clouds, but I couldn't get a nice photo that included the clouds. However, I did get a night shot of the moon without the clouds.

Day 375

Tonight, we went to see two houses (side by side) that were at the top of the list of Tacky Lights houses. My favorite lighted things are of course, the plants.

There were large lights on this bush. This light was tucked between the branches, giving them a beautiful glow.

One of the trees wrapped with lights

Another tree wrapped with lights and a look at why these houses were voted at the most lit.

A tropical plant with lights

A tree with lights

Day 371

During our first full day, we did a lot of visiting. We went to breakfast with my grandmother. In the afternoon, we went to my aunt and uncle's cattle farm to visit them and let Alex see the cows. In the evening, we meet up with my other aunt, my other uncle, their daughter (my cousin), and my parents (who had just arrived in TN) for dinner. After dinner, we went to my aunt, uncle and cousin's house for dessert.

The car windows were frosted over. My husband was defrosting them. As the frost was melting, I took photos, to the amusement of my grandmother, who after all these years is used to me having a camera in my hands and taking "weird" photos.

My uncle took Alex and I out on his Kubota (like a golf cart, but more sturdy and for farms), to see the herd and the farm. I never realized how large the farm was. The dark horizon line under the tree line is a river. To the left is a bit of flooding in the lower field. The cattle were all on the upper field...which you will see in a moment.

There were several calves in the herd. This one was having a snack.

This is part of the upper field, where the cattle were.

As we were headed back inside the house, I noticed how lovely the sun was through the trees and the long tree shadow it was casting.

This is the full moon at my other aunt, other uncle and cousin's house.

Day 368

Tonight we went to Alex's school for a dance. Before we went inside the school, the moon was shining bright through a thin layer of clouds. The clouds caused the light to form a halo around the moon. After the dance, the clouds were gone and so was the halo.

Day 365

While I was pumping gas, I noticed these vibrantly colored crape myrtle trees in the near by parking lot. Since today is the last day of this project, there will be more photos than normal. Oddly, this set turned out a lot better than past sets. Maybe 365 days of practice helps...just maybe...or yes.

I've been tracking the moon cycle all month. It's sort of perfect that tonight it's a full moon.

Day 361

The sky is clear tonight, so the moon glowed brightly. This is not quite a full moon, but it's close.

Day 356

The moon is half full. I took photos as the evening light dimmed.

Day 353

Tonight the sky was clear and the moon was bright.

Day 338

We headed to dinner as the sun was setting. I was hoping to get some photos of the sunset, but we arrived as the sunset was ending.

Day 334

I think the challenge here is seeing how dark it can get before you can't tell this is a photo of the trees at night...this is also known as "try not to get so distracted that I forget to take photos before dark". Yeah, that.

Day 333

Tonight, we had a full moon and lightly cloudy sky.