Day 426 - Independence Day

After enjoying the holiday with some friends, we enjoyed a beautiful sunset on the way home.

Day 424

Tonight, after dinner with my parents, a storm started. I was riding with them, so I took advantage of their back seat sunroof and windshield. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to capture any great photos of the lightning, but I was able to get a few nice photos of the street lights through the raindrop covered windows.

Day 393

Today, the temperature was 29 degrees in the morning. I found this frozen puddle in our parking lot.

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 364

Today, we awoke to more fog. I took some photos while waiting for Alex's bus.

Later in the morning, I had to go pick something up, in the city. Traffic was sparse on the bridge, so I was able to take a photo of the fog on the river and around the train bridge. I'm a very careful driver and after this project, I can take a lot of photos while moving quickly. I didn't take a panoramic. I cropped it, so you didn't see the interior of my car, the road and a lot of foggy sky. Instead you see the pretty part.

Day 358

While I was photographing the white azaleas yesterday, I noticed the creek run off was full of leaves and reflected the trees nicely. Today, I went back and took photos of it.

This is the last stop motion film of this project. They have been great to make. I'll definitely make more in the future, but of other things.

Day 332

We started out the morning in Philadelphia. We went to the Magic Gardens to see the mosaic sculptures.

Later, we went to New Hope, PA to see the unusual shops they had there. There was a lot of beautiful scenery in this unusual town.

Day 317

We had planned on going to Busch Gardens or the Norfolk Zoo (Virginia Zoological Park), but the rain dashed those plans. Still, we wanted crab legs, to get out of the house and ice cream. So, we drove to  Hampton, Va...well mostly because of the crab legs from Joe's Crab Shack. There isn't one of those in Richmond.

The restaurant is beside a Bass Pro Shop, which has water lilies and roses outside it.

Back at home, there were more mushrooms. The wet weather has breed them quickly and in many varieties. Unfortunately the mini cluster ones that sprang up smell disgusting when they rot. I need to get rid of those. The rest are fine.

Day 300

Since today is the 300th day of this project, I thought I would do a big post. Today, we had rain again. I went outside while the rain stopped, to photograph the wet leaves and flowers. My camera fogged up immediately due to the temperature change. I lightly rubbed the lens, to dissipate the water faster. This helped with focusing, but distorted the backgrounds in ripples. Sort of magical looking.

Japanese Maple leaves

 I tried to focus on the large rain drop, but the camera focused on the leaves behind it instead.

Black Eyed Susan

Azalea

This rose like flower was laying on an flipped planter and partially submerged in water.

More rose like flowers

Day 294

The heavy rain of the tropical storm has supplied the creek with water. Before the rain, the creek had dried up, killing our grass.

Day 248

Today, we went to the nature preserve on Chincoteague Island. Instead of the beach part, we walked on one of the nature trails through the marsh.

Wild hibiscus

There were many butterflies fluttering around on the flowers and across the path.

If you look closely, you can see a resident.

This crane was hiding in the tall grass along a marsh water.

Female tiger swallowtail on a wild hibiscus

This deer was alone on the marsh eating grass and flowers.

Grasshopper

The marsh was teeming with them.

I love the spots on the back of this butterfly. Reminds me of a monster drawing.

Cattails

The white ones are about to drop their seeds. The brown ones are what most of them look like.