Macro Monday - Honeysuckle

Wild honeysuckle that grows behind my house.  I absolutely love the way it smells.  It's kind of hard to photograph since it grows up some large trees and has kind of taken over.  Hopefully it will choke out the poison ivy :)

Macro Monday

Happy Memorial Day

Sunday Stills - Company or Corporation logos

This week's Sunday Stills Challenge is Company or Corporate logos - things like the shell sign to fast food places to the more secretive not so obvious logos.

My Olympus lens

The Orvis logo on my Jeep Orvis Edition Grand Cherokee

My Blackberry for work

The TNT Fireworks logo on hubby's t-shirt. 

There's a store about 45 minutes away.

You can view other participants in Sunday Stills here

Miss Photogenic

I'm not sure what it is about Kali but she sure is photogenic.

Mother Nature in all Her Glory

Last night we had some severe thunderstorms roll through with the chance for hail.  It's been very hot here the past few days (in the 90s) with high humidity which makes perfect conditions for a thunderstorm.  Craig took my new camera, wrapped it in a plastic bag, and braved the elements to see if he could get some shots of the lightening.  I'd say he was pretty successful.  How about you??

Click to see full size

Not bad considering he wasn't looking through the viewfinder

and the camera was on auto with a fast shutter speed

There's something really haunting about this last photo. 
I think it's my favorite.

Skywatch Friday - Season 4, Episode 46

The view from the Equestrian Campground in Green Lane Park (Montgomery County, PA).  This park is very close to my house and a favorite of ours for hiking, riding and occasionally fishing.

The building you can see at the bottom of the hill is the amphitheater that was initially built for the Scottish-Irish Festival that is held every year in the park.  The park is now holding concerts during the summer.

Zooming in to the hills beyond

View skies from all over our planet at Skywatch

Wrought Iron Fence

Wrought iron fence at the barn

(click to biggify)

I have to say, I am loving this new camera! 

The clarity is amazing and the colors are so vivid they are almost painful to look at.

Wordless Wednesday - Water Lilies

700 Posts!

Can you believe it??  I've hit 700 posts!!!  I started this blog on a whim and I remember thinking "what on earth am I going to talk about?"   Here I am, 700 posts later...thanks to everyone that visits!  Keep the comments coming.

Orchids

I absolutely love flowers and some of my favorites are orchids.  The colors are fantastic and the shapes are almost alien.  These are from Ott's Exotic Plants - see Sunday Stills and Macro Monday for some other pics.

Macro Monday - From the Greenhouse

From Ott's Exotic Plants.  More pics to post later this week.

Peony

Clematis

Orchid

Sunday Stills - Landscapes

This week's Sunday Stills is Landscapes - Wide open places with lots to see, go wide angle with your shots.  


The weather hasn't been very cooperative.  These are my interpretations of Landscapes.

T and Jet on the conditioning track

The trees really make them look small

The main greenhouse at Ott's Exotic Plants

It seems to go on forever

Click to view full size.

You can see other Sunday Stills participants here.

Our Little Herd

Our little herd of 3 - Zip, Kali and Jet

wandering back towards the shed after running around and chasing each other

Heading for a collective drink from the pond

Kali in the lead, followed by Zip with Jet bringing up the rear

Skywatch Friday - Season 4, Episode 45

An overcast sky over the hill at Ott's Exotic Plants in Schwenksville, PA.

Each season they plant the hill with a different flower

Spring/early summer is pansies.

Late summer/fall is mums.

Winter is cabbages.

View skies from all over our planet at Skywatch

Checking out the Scenery

Bandit and Zoey gazing out the front door.

They love to sit and watch what's going on.

Notice how Zoey's ear is starting to stand up - they are like book ends

Wordless Wednesday - Waiting for their Turn

At the In Gate

Zip got a little excited at the show, by the in gate.

We'll be working on walking in like a gentleman.

Macro Monday - Raindrops

From my garden, after a rain storm

Japanese Red Maple

Hosta

Macro Monday

Champion!

Saturday night was Buxmont's second gymkhana of the year.  We took both Kali and Zip.  T completely rocked!  She won Grand Champion on Kali and Reserve Champion on Zip.

Big H on Kali

Big H on Zip

Peppermint Twist on Kali

Peppermint Twist on Zip

Keyhole on Kali

Keyhole on Zip

Flag Race on Kali

Kali wasn't quite sure what they were supposed to be doing

This is the only pattern that she didn't practice

Flag Race on Zip

Kali's times and placings

Big H - 2nd – 23.617

Peppermint Twist - 2nd – 20.347

Keyhole - 2nd – 11.674

Flag Race – no time

Barrels - 2nd – 19.933

One Lap - 1st – 10.672

Poles - 3rd – 26.410

GRAND CHAMPION!

Zip's times and placings

Big H - 1st – 21.999

Peppermint Twist - 3rd – 21.308

Keyhole - no time

Flag Race - 5th – 34.936

Barrels - 4th – 21.037

One Lap - 3rd – 11.012

Poles - 4th – 28.525

RESERVE CHAMPION!

I am very proud of her!!!  She works hard practicing for shows and it's really paying off for her.  There's a lot of really strong competition in her division.

You can see more show photos here.

Sunday Stills - Flowers/Wildflowers

This week's Sunday Stills is Flowers/Wildflowers - in the garden, in the wild, in the house.  I haven't had much time to seek out wildflowers this week plus we've had a lot of rain so I settled for flowers blooming in my garden.

The second lilac in my garden to bloom.

I have three in front of my house that bloom sequentially - totally not planned but really cool

Dianthus (Sweet William)

These are supposed to bloom every other year but they come up like clock work each spring

Climbing Hydrangea on my back fence

When we first planted this, it didn't seem to do well.  

It's totally exploding this year.

All of these were taken with my new camera.  I'm still figuring out how to use it but it's so much fun!

You can view other Sunday Still participants here.

Dilapidated

A garage and a chicken coop on an old farm.  Mother Nature has not been kind to these buildings.  I'm surprised the garage is still upright (sort of).  This farm is for sale (62+ acres) and has been empty for at least 2 years.  The person that owns it bought it to subdivide and found out that wasn't a possibilty so it's up for sale again.  I guess I need to play the lottery....

Off to the next gymkhana today with the new camera!