Check out the new friend I met outside my front door today…
It will be so fun to watch the babies hatch & learn to fly for the first time! Sometimes I am just blown away by nature & all the beauty we so easily take for granted.
There is a large gardenia bush in full bloom behind my house. I plucked a blossom this evening to fill the house with its heavy aroma. Don’t you just love the smell of them?
Hope you are having a great day!
Add comment June 12th, 2008
I recently visited the Arboretum for the Dallas Bloom festival. I’m not sure if it’s just in my head, but I always feel healthier after I’ve spent a day outdoors breathing in the fresh air! This particular day was no exception. I captured a few shots I wanted to share with you here…
A purple daisy bursting with color…
A beautiful Japanese maple branch gently blowing in the wind…
And the vivid hue of spring tulips in bloom…
Add comment April 1st, 2008
Took a walk around the neighborhood this afternoon, and snapped a few photos I thought I’d share. I was surprised to see so many beautiful roses still in bloom!
Isn’t this guy a cutie?!
Click more for additional pics…
3 comments November 11th, 2007
I think the highlight of the State Fair for my mom was going to the “Birds of the World Show”. She was fascinated by how close we were able to get to some of the birds of prey as they swooped just over our heads. This white falcon was particularly beautiful. Watch out for those talons!
We also saw a number of exotic birds including a brightly colored singing parrot that knew the lyrics to four separate songs! 
Now if you’ve seen this show at the State Fair before, you probably know that it usually runs like clockwork. Nobody misses a beat, and you’re amazed at the talent of the animals and their trainers. The day we attended the show, though, it truly was a comedy of errors. First, they announced a hawk was flying in from the ferris wheel when he apparently wasn’t loaded yet. Next, they introduced a bird who flew out from the stage & disappeared for about 10 minutes. He was later found & recovered from a nearby tree. And finally, it took about 12 different attempts to get one of the birds to obey a command to fly out to an audience member & collect a money donation. The emcee kept saying, “That’s just the way this show is gonna go today,” but I think we enjoyed it even more with all of its flaws.
The highlight of the Fair for me was visiting an enclosed butterfly garden that held hundreds of native Texas butterflies! I always jump at the chance to take photos of them. Here are a few of my favorite pics from the afternoon…
2 comments October 15th, 2007
Mike & I visited the Ft. Worth zoo last weekend. It was a hot day, but we had lots of fun. I took along my camera & took some fun shots. My favorite part was the area where you can actually feed the birds! You buy these little sesame seed coated sticks for a $1 and then they hop right on your stick & eat away. Here are some of my favorite pics of our visit… including everything from birds to lizards & zebras!
All of the birds had truly brilliant-colored feathers…
You would think they would get full based on the number of folks that were giving them treats… but they just kept coming back for more.
What fun! After we left the bird exhibit, we went throughout the park to see the rest of the animals.
This lion was roaring his best at the lioness next door…I wonder what they were saying to each other? I bet you could hear them for miles!
I’ve always loved the primates exhibits ever since I was a little girl. I could sit for hours watching them…perhaps because they have reflect so many human behaviors? They have dozens of different monkeys, orangutans, & gorillas at the Ft. Worth zoo. This silverback gorilla was checking us out.
And this lil’ fella, a meerkat, was busy digging holes and stopped for a moment to say hi…
Aren’t zebra’s beautiful creatures?!
And finally, when we went to the herpatorium, this lizard was posing just waiting for his picture to be taken!
After we left the zoo, we spent the night in Ft. Worth. The next morning, we went to see the Star Wars exhibit at the local science museum. Stay tuned for pics from the exhibit!
1 comment September 2nd, 2007
On Day 3, mom cooked a great pancake/bacon breakfast and we got everything packed up to leave. Not wanting to head out of town just yet, we decided to go to the local Beaver’s Bend Nature center & ride the train that runs through the park. The area is quite beautiful.
Beaver Bend’s Nature Center is a small building. It is full of live snakes, turtles, a stuffed bobcat, some shark jaws, and a few other critters.
I’m not the snake kinda gal - so I chose to head outside & spend some time with the birds of prey. It was surprising how close the center let you get to their cages. I’d imagine some curious fingers could meet their doom there!
Next, we headed to the park train depot. Apparently, it is also a popular place to go for horseback trail rides. As we waited for the train to return, we saw this guy grazing…
Our ride rolled into the station…
And we were off on these tracks leading into the woods for about a 20 minute ride. The conductor told us that they had seen a number of animals on the protected park preserve land…including bobcats, deer, & even small black bears occasionally!
We kept our eyes open & were able to see 6-7 deer during our short trip. Poor Mia (my niece) was upset that she missed them since they were so far away. She was in luck, though, because on the way to lunch… a huge buck crossed the road right in front of the car! Funny that he wasn’t frightened of the cars or people at all. Obviously, the animals feel safe in the park environment. Is nice for them to have that security considering most deer elsewhere would have been gone in a flash.
After eating at a local diner…we headed home. This time, no rain…and no near-death electrocution experiences. All in all, a great trip…and we look forward to returning again in the future.
1 comment August 21st, 2007
During my walk around the cabin grounds, I snapped a few shots I thought I’d share.
…some simple wildflowers on the side of the road:
… a local berry plant (apparently the berries & roots of this plant are poisonous, but many people actually make salads from the leaves. I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure I’d be willing to take the risk on that one!)
…a wonderfully shaped weed growing out of the surrounding stones. (Isn’t nature’s geometry fascinating?!)
…and some beautiful rock ground cover
When I took a closer look at the rocks all around the cabin, I actually began noticing that many of the stones had quartz stripes running through them. I was amazed….I’ve been collecting those stones for years, but have only been able to find them previously on the shores of Ireland & Costa Rica. To think there are thousands in Oklahoma is bizarre! I even have art prints in my house of this type of stone. I collected about 10 of them and am hoping to do some still-life photography with them soon, so I’ll post pics when I do.
My sister-in-law cooked a great dinner for us of grilled burgers, sweet potato souffle, asian slaw salad, & corn on the cob. After we had our fill, we put the kids to bed & pulled out the poker chips.
Now I have to preface this by saying…I’ve only played poker a handful of times in my life. I’m by no means a real poker player. In fact, I don’t even really know the rules because I always forget what makes a good hand & what beats what.
What I soon found out, though, was that not knowing what I had in my hand actually helped. Well - that and a dash of luck, of course! No one could read if I was bluffing or not because I didn’t even know what I was holding half the time. *LOL* Slowly my chips started accumulating. I thought it was a fluke. And for some reason, I kept getting more and more winning cards. Mike started commenting that we needed to go buy a lottery ticket…my odds were so uncanny. When it finally got down to only my brother and I left at the table and we were on the final hand (winner takes all), I was pretty sure that I had nothing. As he revealed his cards, I laid mine down and realized I had a flush. I said, “I think I have a flush thing!” We ended up doubling over in laughter because he totally didn’t see it coming & neither did I. I might have to take up this poker thing after all!
Hard to believe this was my chip pile!
1 comment August 21st, 2007
You may have noticed that some of my recent macro pictures have been taken with a white background. I actually built a light box for under $10 using a cardboard box, some white tissue paper & a piece of white posterboard. Beats paying $100 for a professional one! You can learn how to make your own here. Is great for when you can’t go outside for a pic or you need to take some late at night. It works great with ott-lites or daylight lamps if you own any. Happy photographing!
Add comment August 18th, 2007
I forgot to post an image I took in Renee’s garden a few weeks ago. What beautiful things flowers are! Can anyone help me with the name of this?
Add comment July 17th, 2007
We spent the 4th of July in Tulsa visiting family & my Mom’s garden was in full bloom. She has such an amazing green thumb (which I unfortunately did not inherit - I can kill just about any plant within a mile of my house!) *LOL*. Here are just a few of the blossoms abounding.
The colors in this Lantana just make me happy looking at them:
This is a Butterfly Bush (sans butterflies at the moment):
I just love the geometric design in this Dill:
And here’s a lone Black-eyed Susan (there were hundreds in that patch of the garden!):
My parents also picked up a new toy for the backyard - a portable disc golf basket.
Over the holiday, I had the opportunity to make another stardust art doll with my sister-in-law, Renee. I’ll post some images shortly of our creations. They were lots of fun!
Add comment July 7th, 2007
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