Overgrown
I’m glad to have gotten some shots of this lovely overgrown field because the next day I walked by and it had all been mowed down. It was growing out of control, but still…makes me sad. But I know it’ll grow back again next summer. Nature always wins.
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Remembering Summer, Part 3
Polygonia interrogationis, AKA Question Mark Butterfly
Most of these were taken at the Ivy Creek Nature Area earlier this summer. I almost got a shot of a deer but it was too fast for me. The rabbit was kind enough to sit and let me snap a few shots of it, though.
Rural Pennsylvania, Part 1
Well, I’m back from my vacation. Actually we got back late last Monday, but I didn’t get my photos processed until this past weekend. Honestly, it was a pretty crappy vacation. I thought I was going to get a ton of photos (as evidenced by the 4 memory cards I brought) but I came back with slightly more than I usually get from walking around my own neighborhood for a few hours.
The problem was that we didn’t actually get to do anything. We were at the whim of Brandon’s mom and she didn’t seem to want to do much of anything except hang out with some of her old friends and eat their food. It was really boring. She had made all these plans for stuff we were going to do (like going to Washington D.C. or Fort McHenry), but I guess when we she realized it involved actually getting out of bed early and driving somewhere she lost all motivation. The only touristy thing we did was go to Gettysburg, but all we did was walk around the welcome museum. His mom didn’t even make it through the whole museum! She wound up sitting in the food court most of the time and then she made us all leave before we actually got to see Gettysburg. What’s the point of going to Gettysburg if you don’t get to see Gettysburg??
The yurt we stayed in was…interesting. It wasn’t horrible, but I doubt I’d choose to do it again. I love nature, but I’m just not a camper. I need indoor plumbing! Mostly it was a chore having to be in a very small space with 4 other people. It would have probably been okay if it was just me and Brandon. And I didn’t even get any photos of the yurt, either. I kept putting it off and then on Monday it was pouring rain and Brandon just wanted to leave so we wound up going home a day early.
Anyway, these photos are of the garden of the friend that we spent the whole week mooching off of. The poor guy had to pay for the yurt, too! He was really outdoorsy and apparently rents the yurt all the time so he can fish and hike and I guess he thought it would be fun for us, too? He and his family lived out in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania surrounded by corn fields. I wouldn’t mind living in an area like that, it was quite beautiful. He had a giant back yard and a beautiful garden. I’d love to have a garden like this someday.
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TAGS: apples, flowers, green, orange, Pennslyvania, pumpkin, vegetables
Obama Rally in Jacksonville
I got notice a few days ago that Obama would be in Jacksonville for a rally and despite my reluctance of attending an outdoor event (outdoor events in Florida are the worst), I thought that this might be one of those once in a lifetime things that I just shouldn’t pass up. Plus, I credit Obama for getting me to care about politics at all. I voted in 2004, but I wouldn’t really say I paid much attention to the race. I voted for the democrat because I identified with the democrats and I didn’t like Bush. Period. Beyond that I didn’t really care. But with all the craziness of this year’s race, with Obama and Hillary and everything, I’ve actually tried to stay up to date with the goings on both sides (not just the one I plan to vote for) and to know where the candidates stand on all the issues so that I know I’m voting for the right person (IMHO). Anyway, it seemed only right that my first political rally should be for Obama. After guilting my boyfriend into going with me (he also hates outdoor events as well as anything with a crowd) and getting my shift covered at my part-time job, it was all set.
I had no idea how early we should be there, but I figured the earlier the better. It had rained the night before and was still overcast, but somehow it did not rain during the rally, despite looking like the sky was about to open up several times. This was a good thing because they weren’t allowing umbrellas (or much of anything else, I heard that people with kids in strollers got turned away!). We had parked and walked about halfway to the park when someone shouted this to us, so we had to walk back and leave everything in the car. When we found the line, I cursed myself for not arriving earlier (we were about 1.5 hours before the gate opened, which was 2 hours before the event was going to start). The line was already snaked around into two lines by then, but about 30 minutes after we got there it had snaked around into 4 distinct lines, so we actually got there at a pretty good time.
You can see the people ahead of us on left.
Still in the middle line, but you can see a new line on the right side, eventually there was another line beside that one.
Blood Oranges
I’ve heard of blood oranges before, but never actually bought any until this year. I’m kinda in love with them. I don’t even think that taste that great (they don’t seem to be as sweet as normal oranges to me), but they are just so beautiful that I would probably continue to buy them even if they tasted awful.
I took these photos a few weeks ago when we had a power outage for no reason in the middle of the day. Seriously, it was bright and sunny and only slightly windy, so I can’t imagine what caused us to be without power for 2+ hours on a Friday afternoon. But I figured I would make the most of it and take some photos and the blood oranges were the first thing that came to mind.
That actually made me realize that I need to be making time to practice taking photos like that more often. It was fun, it was a nice stress reliever and I’m never going to grow as a photographer if I don’t practice all the time. I’m going to try to take a “power outage” break at least once a week from now on.
