Dear Santa:

I would like a baby that squeaks, and some cookies, and.....

Peanut & Walnut...or, a Dingo's Got a Baby!

This is Peanut. She belongs to friends of ours. She was adopted and we believe she's part Dingo. She's a really neat dog.This is Walnut....Wally for short. He's just recently been adopted by our friends.
Peanut's not quite sure what to do with him just yet. The introductions have been gradual. But Wally's still a typical wild kitten and attacks Peanut and people...and furniture indiscriminately. Note Peanut's averted head...the better to protect eyes.
Peanut has to remain on high alert while Wally's out and about. If you look in the lower left portion of the picture you'll realize that bit of gray is Wally ;D
"Mom, Dad, are you sure we need a kitten?"

Workin' the Nets

Zoe

Meet Zoe. She's all that...and a bag of chips! She belongs to my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. She's a sweet little girl who likes to give kisses, but was gracious enough to pose for me the other day for a brief photo shoot.She struck different poses to model the latest in her collection...
...she's quite the fashionista!

Trouble!

That's his name. Trouble. He's my folks' cat (one of two). He's a big boy. He started out a little fellow who was born next door to me and who spent the first few weeks of his life hanging out under, on and around my deck. He's always had a huge personality!

He leads a rough life...as you can tell. Sometimes it's hard to get the rest you need. Especially when you top the scales at just under 18 pounds and don't fit on all the furniture!

Thanks for sharing the shots, Mom!

I'm Ready for my Close Up Mr. Deville

Do not, I repeat, do not point a camera at this girl unless you want an extreme close-up!

Back with more pix and commentary in the days to come!

I Haven't Forgotten You!

Really. I haven't. Just been wildly busy. Still recuperating from the fantastic weekend in Virginia (and will post about the U2 show eventually). Busy this past weekend with MumFest activities and horse stuff. Had fabulous ride yesterday. Solana's such a joy! She's also a bit mischievous--let herself out and went a few pastures away to visit the other night ;D

Been taking some fun shots including working police dogs and working commercial fishermen. Will through some up on ye' ole' blog soon.

Have a good one!

360

Review of our U2 360 tour experience coming soon. It was an incredible show and I'll have to gather my thoughts to tell you all about it.

Besides that, we had a terrific long weekend spent with family and friends. The weather was great and we had a good time noodling around in Charlottesville.

More soon.

Some Evening Shots

I was out at the barn feeding rather late yesterday evening and had fun shooting some low-light shots. Mind you, these are just with my Kodak EasyShare so no high-tech adjustments. But I amuse myself nonetheless.
I call this "Clouds in Puddle". We had a lot of rain this weekend. Not like Alabama or Georgia recently, but still a lot of rain.

More Clouds

Are You Ready For Some Football?

I am! LoML & I are off to the UNC vs. ECU football game today. Can't wait. It's been a long time since we've been to a game. Let's hope for a good one. Back soon.

Solana & the kids

Seriously, Mom, what am I supposed to do with these kids?!

Ferry Ride

We took a nice ferry ride to visit LoML's sister and our nephew on Sunday. As we were coming back home the cloud cover was amazing. Actually, the light was amazing. It shone through the clouds in radiating beams reminiscent of a rainbow.


Schedule is still wildly busy, but broken finger is healing--slowly but surely. I'll try to get back into regular posting.

Some Day

Ah, this would be a nice spot to be, no? Some day. Maybe even some day soon. But not today.

"Some day" has become a bit of a mantra for me of late. As in, "some day I'll get to that; some day soon I'll get this done." I frequently find myself wondering when, exactly, some day is. It's not a particularly healthy spot for me to be in when I'm trying to live my life by staying in the moment...by fully living in the here and now. I've had an all-too-real life lesson in the fact that we're not guaranteed tomorrow and we better appreciate all the beauty, all the gifts, all the grace that today holds before it slips away.

Sometimes that's hard. When you work full-time and try to juggle household responsibilities and family obligations and hobbies and passions and, and...you know, don't you? I'm not unique. We all deal with these challenges. I suppose it's part of the deal, the life deal, this learning to prioritize, to juggle. And sometimes life throws you a curve ball (like learning to type slower and with a lot more mistakes on account of a broken finger!).

Some days I play well with others; some days I just want to take my toys and run away...maybe to the beach to just sit and listen to the waves crash. Some days. But not today. Today I will breathe in and out slowly. I will say "thank you" for all the amazing gifts I have in my life that make it so full.

Today I will live.

Egrets Stand Watch

Another shot taken at The Trinity Center this past weekend.

SotD: "I Don't Believe You" by Pink

Too Much Cuteness!

A few weeks ago I got to meet my friend Pepper's new kittens, Gipsy and Earl. Is there anything cuter than kittens playing? Not much time this morning to fix red eye, etc. but here's a few shots to share. You can find out more about them on Pepper's blog: www.peppercory.blogspot.com (also in the links to the left).I will rid the earth of all evil mice!
I am kitten, hear me roar!

What a Weekend!

Well, it's back to the work week, eh? I'm feeling refreshed from a truly incredible weekend. I joined my mom for a conference on church music that was held at Trinity Center, a retreat and conference center owned and operated by the Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina.

Later on I'll tell you more about the conference itself. For now, I'll just tell you that the clinician was Dr. David Flood, the Master of the Cathedral choristers and the organist at Canterbury Cathedral! Yes, *that* Canterbury Cathedral! The man is truly amazing.

For this morning, I'll just share two pictures I took at the outdoor chapel on the grounds of Trinity.

Foxy!

One of the truly amazing things about going out to the barn is being able to enjoy the simple beauty of nature in all her glory. I have enjoyed watching the local foxes raise families each year. While not tame by any means, they are accustomed to our being out there and working with the horses. They will allow us to get pretty close to them as we go about our business.
They keep an eye on me to make sure I'm not up to trouble, but they're not particularly concerned...the one sitting ended up lying down too.
But at other times they ignore me completely and go about their business. Which, the other evening, involved some serious play time. There are three kids born this past spring and boy, can they ever get rowdy! I wasn't able to capture any of the actual play, but I was enchanted as I watched them pounce and cavort--very cat-like in their mannerisms.

P.S. SotD: "In Color" by Jamey Johnson

Thoughts on Blogging...or, the size of the world is shrinking

So, did you miss me? Sorry to have been absent for a bit. I've been battling the unknown crud for 2 1/2 weeks...not enough to be flat out for long, but enough that I've had no energy and have been resting a lot when not at work.

I've been thinking about technology. Some people talk about technology depersonalizing us. For example, few write actual letters anymore. There's certainly something to be said for taking the time to put pen to paper, take it to the post office and send it on its way. There's a delight in receiving a real, bonafide letter. But if you're like me, perhaps you keep in contact more often with people in your life when you can dash off an email in a few seconds. With letters I generally feel compelled to update the person on everything that's been going on with me since last we spoke. Whereas with emails I'm more inclined to just hit the highlights.

Then we come to blogging. While I started this blog specifically to share Westminster dog show pictures with family and friends, I realized it was a fun way to share random pictures and random thoughts. As I began blogging, I also began spending more time following other bloggers. What's fascinating to me is the ability of some bloggers to truly open up a window into their world. While some of the blogs I follow are those of people I met "in the real world" first, some I have never met in person. And in regularly following their blogs, I feel a sense of kinship with them...like I know them...I can rejoice with them when they share a personal triumph, or mourn with them when they lose someone close. (For example, the poignancy with which the Fat Cyclist shared his wife's battle with the cancer that led to her death earlier this month was incredibly uplifting and powerful...see www.fatcyclist.com). So what I'm saying is, the world is shrinking. I can check in with people all over the world and see what they're up to with a click of the mouse.

Oh, there's definitely a downside. There's lots of junk out there. People using the internet for all sorts of horrible, degrading purposes. (We watched the movie "Untraceable" this weekend. Talk about disturbing! It portrays a serial killer who makes his kills live on the internet and the more people log on, the faster the person dies. How creepy is it that I suspect there are a lot of people out there who would check out something like that!!!)

What are your thoughts on all the internet madness? Like it, love it, hate it?

Okay, I really must head towards the job....Just wanted to say I've missed you guys and will get back to you more regularly soon with more wacky musings and some fun pix.

btw, SotD: "Mississippi Girl" by Faith Hill

Quick Draw

So I was actually outside surveying the status of work being done to the house one evening when this flock in their loose v-formation flew over. I quickly drew my camera out of its holster...er, you know...anyway, I at least amused myself by being able to just point and shoot and catch this. (I'm actually quite easily amused.)

Meanwhile, I can't believe it's August already. Just saying.

We did the summer blockbuster thing by going to see the latest Harry Potter film last weekend. More on that later. Have a good start to your work-week.

The Supervisor

As I mentioned recently we have some projects going on around the house. So it's a good thing there's a supervisor always handy keeping an eye on things. We can't go too far astray under her watchful eyes.

BBQ anyone?

I took these shots on a recent road trip. I didn't make this up folks! This is an actual place. (Leave it to the Scots to come up with this one!)



Does this make anyone hungry? (Bet my sis' is thinking about Wilbur's.) This is eastern NC folks. We're very serious about our BBQ around here. And it's not really BBQ unless it's eastern NC BBQ! Everything else is...well, it might be okay, but it's not BBQ.

More Beach Time

Lots going on at work and at home with various projects leaving very little free time...so thought I'd keep sharing some beach pix...

The Watcher

The Foam Advance

Cliffs of Lookout

Flight

I continue to be enthralled by birds at the beach...all birds, but the easiest to shoot flight pix of are the gulls. All that's required is an assistant throwing food up in the air! Jonathan, is that you? (Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach is one of my all-time favorite books. It's a quick read. Check it out if you haven't already.)