At our final state park in Washington, we found a jewel! There was a pond with hundreds of waterlilies in it......and dragonflies! I was lucky enough to be able to get this image of a dragonfly relay....
I think this will make a great bookmark - it gives you an idea of how many waterlilies there were all around. What a wonderful find!!
And, finally, here's an intimate portrait of a waterlily pond. This was just a wonderfully relaxing and renewing place to spend a couple of days.....Enjoy!
These are a bit different from my usual photos. These are some photos that I took while I was wandering thru the garden of Jeff's sister, Nancy. The above flowers were just below the window of the office (formerly the dining room) of her and her hubby (Lonnie)'s home. The title of the photo - "From My Window".
The above image is of a flower in Nancy's garden that I applied a special effect filter to. Altho the original image is of a soft pastel, with this filter, the petals appear to be glowing. The title of this image is "Glowing Petals". Hopefully, this looks as cool on this blog as it does on my PC!
"Colorful Blooms" is the name of the above image. I applied a sort of painterly type filter to the image so that it looks like this is a painting instead of a photo. Wonderful wanderings thru Nancy's garden!
And, the last image is "Season's End". As I was walking by the bird bath, I saw that someone had tossed some roses into the empty bird bath. I thought it was just the perfect set up for a photo. I converted this to a black & white image, and then "erased" the black & white from certain parts of the image to allow the color of the roses and leaves to show thru. I plan to use all of these as note cards - that's why there's the special effects on these images.Enjoy!
We spent a couple of days at a great state park in northwest Washington state - Raser State Park. There was a very nice series of paths thru some second growth forest, and Jeff and I explored those trails. Above, I am just a sucker for sunlight thru leaves on trees, and this image came out really well - hopefully, it gives you an idea of why I love when sunlight does that!
The above image is one that I find glorious in a subtle sort of way. This wasn't an old growth forest, but was what Jeff thought was a second growth forest. Still, it's very old, and I just love the image of ferns and moss growing up the trunks of trees!
And, finally, here's an image of Jeff as he stood on the path (see the right side of the photo) next to the stump of what was probably an old growth forest tree. Jeff is about 6 feet tall - gives you some perspective about how tall the old growth tree once was, doesn't it?Enjoy!
As we drove from Rick & Barb's across Washington state, we happened across this beautiful lake at a scenic view area off the side of the road. It was actually a much larger lake than this photo implies - this was actually the view looking in only one direction!
I just love seeing snow covered mountains during the summer months, while the flowers are blooming.Enjoy!
While at Rick & Barb's, one afternoon we visited the downtown area of Spokane, WA. In the city park area, they have a carousel that is over 100 years old, and free to everyone to ride. We didn't ride, but I did get some great photos. I just love the above photo because it captures the speed at which the carousel went! There was even a place where one could reach out to grab the brass ring (altho they are now plastic - sign of the times, I guess), and then try to toss it into a (fake) clown's mouth, while they rode around. The above image helps you to understand that it isn't as easy as one might think!!
I loved the above image of 3 carousel horses that were lined up next to one another. I thought they kind of looked like race horses all reaching for the finish line! The detailed work on each horse was quite something to see as well.
And, finally, this pretty little thing. Doesn't she sort of look like what someone's Prince Charming might have rode up on to steal away the princess's heart?Enjoy!
The first stop on our 2 week RV vacation was at Jeff's brother, Rick, and sister-in-law, Barb's place. They've added some new critters to their family! Sammy (aka Samson) did inadvertently pose for a nice portrait of himself for me. He's a very pretty horse, altho Barb says he needs to be worked with before he's really good to ride. A bit rough around the edges, I guess!
The two chickens, above, are two of the 5 (I think!) that they've got. They are laying chickens, so Rick & Barb will soon have to just walk a few feet to enjoy absolutely fresh eggs! The white chicken is called a Leghorn (yes, as in Foghorn Leghorn!), and the other is a Rhode Island Red. They really do love to pick at the corn on the cob after we humans are finished with it. And, when they are done, the horses (Rick & Barb have 2 others beside Sammy) finish off the cobs, so no waste!
This last photo is of Sammy just clowning around with me! He's a very friendly guy, and just kept getting right up to me so I could pet him and give him some attention, I guess. So, I just decided to take a close up shot of him!Enjoy!
Welcome to another month of bizarre holidays!! I know this is a bit early, but I have been working to get all my art commitments finished before vacation, which is only a few days away! However, there's no bizarre holiday in September called Vacation Day, so we'll just celebrate my upcoming vacation with these three! September 8th is National Date Nut Bread Day - I really love date nut bread, so I just had to create an ATC to celebrate this day! I used the color of date nut bread crust as the predominant color, and added a recipe I found online and then a layered image of the actual finished product!
September 4th is Newspaper Carrier Day (are there even any newspaper carriers left??). I used a text page as background (after all, newspapers are mostly text, right?). I then added the images of a bike (that's what the newspaper carriers in my old neighborhood used, unless they had a fabulous sister who used the car to help them...) and the actual newspaper. Kind of a fun reminder of yesterday! 
This last ATC honors a wonderful little lady! I didn't know who Emma M. Nutt was, so I looked her up. The phone is a hint for you, but I'll tell you anyway. She was the first female telephone operator, and September 1st is her day! Of course, I used a page from a phone book as the background, and then added the image of the phone and of Emma herself!Enjoy!
