Flower Power

Good morning. Not too sure what's so good about it at this point. Its very overcast and humid outside. And the worst part is I'm not in bed! LOL These Peppemint Hibiscus are in my neighbor's yard. They live on the next block on the corner. These flowers are HUGE! I've never seen Hibiscus so big.
These Tiger Lillies and Sweet Peas are in another neighbor's yard. They live behind me. They have a huge house we all jokingly call the Munster House. Don't get me wrong, it's a gorgeous house, it's just a very large older house. I probably would have done better with a wide angle lens for this shot, but I don't have one. Only a 75 - 300 mm zoom lens, so I make do with it.
This is a close up of one of those Tiger Lillies.
This is back to the other neighbor's place. This is another large Hibiscus. It's in their front yard. I got the shot over-exposed, so I did my usual playing around with it. Darkened then over contrasted it.
And yet, another Hibiscus from the same yard. I had several more pictures from yesterday, all of flowers but I ended up losing them because my computer had a brain fart! I had already deleted the pics from the camera, so I will have to pester Lori and ask her to put the memory card on her computer and recover the lost pictures. My computer doesn't have that capability, but hers does. She stopped over yesterday afternoon and brought me a CD of my horse show pictures that were on her computer. She did have to keep some off the website though, because of being out of focus, or over exposed. Hey, give me a break, I'm new at this photography thing! I'm still trying to figure this camera out. I still don't know much about f-stops and aperature. I mostly know about setting the ISO for proper lighting and focusing. She is taking me to another horse show next weekend. August 9th & 10th. It will be in New Castle, Indiana. Quite a bit closer than Rochester was. But we will still be staying there, instead of driving back and forth. Mom should be getting out of the hospital today. They cancelled her pet scan and chemo yesterday. Needless to say, she was not a happy camper. She will have to go back over, I believe she said on Sunday for one of the procedures. She was a bit loopy when I talked to her yesterday. They have been switching her between Morphine and Toradol for her pain.
Gonna go for now and crawl back into bed for a while! I need all the beauty sleep I can get!
Love ya
Lisa

More Heat And Humidity

Hello! I thought this turned out pretty cool! It's a picture of a vulture that I took while we were at the horse show. When I tried to enhance it, I hit "auto levels", which usually brings out the correct coloring, the second picture is what I got.
The same happened with this shot below, but slightly different effect.

As Lori said in the comments on the last post, I can only post pics of the horses by themselves. No humans without written consent. The ones that I have currently are slim pickins, but here they are.

Lori has the rest of my pictures on her computer and I will have to wait until she gives me the disk. My mother called me earlier. She is still in the hospital and will be until either tomorrow afternoon or some time Thursday morning. The biopsy came back positive for cancer of the liver, but the good news is that it is treatable, so she will start chemo tomorrow. She also still has to do a pet scan to try to find the origin of the cancer. The doctor says that it didn't originate in the liver, but they don't know where else it could be until they do the pet scan. Please keep her in your prayers. Gonna get off here for now and get ready to go to work. :(

Love Ya

Lisa

Long But Fun Weekend

Thank you to Nancy for these awards. She left a comment on my last posting to come over and pick them up.

Lori and I got back from the horse show about 9:00 last night. Both days of the show lasted longer than planned, but I didn't mind. The weather cooperated for the most part. Saturday, it looked like it wanted to rain, but passed over. It was in the 80's both days. A lot of very nice horses and ponies. A lot of different show categories, but don't ask me what they were! LOL I don't know if I am allowed to post any pictures from the show on the blog yet. I will have to check with Lori. This is her show. She has most of my pictures any way. I only have about 200 from the end of the show. Poor Lori kept saying "oh my gosh, you're probably cursing me for bringing you with me. You'll never want to come with me again." No Lori, I was not cursing you, and yes, I would go again. I will put up a few pictures from the drive back, since I don't know about being allowed to post show pics. Don't expect much, they were taken at 55 MPH!

Old delapidated barns are my favorite to photograph. These were several, but I didn't get many shots of them.This was the sunbeams shooting down through the clouds on the way home. I took several of the same type shots on the way up there, but they are currently on Lori's computer from transferring all the show pics. I don't know what river this is, but I over-contrasted it because I couldn't get the proper colors to come out. It was getting dark, so I didn't have good exposure. My friend Fredi sent me this in an e-mail today. I thought it was kinda cute. Today is sister's day, send this to all your sisters even me if I am like one. If you get back 7, you are loved. Happy Sister's Day! I LOVE YA SISTA'!!! :-) Girlfriend and Sister's Week I am only as strong as the coffee I drink, the hairspray I use and the friends I have To the cool women that have touched my life. Here's to you! National friends Day What would most of us do without our sisters, confidants and shopping, lunching, and traveling s? Let's celebrate each other for each other's sake! TO MY FRIENDS! If you get this twice you know you have more than one friend. Be Happy! PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS AND RETURN IT TO THE FRIEND WHO SENT IT TO YOU! It is good be a woman:

Gonna go for now. Have a lot of errands to run, including going over to Ball Memorial Hospital to see my mother. She still has not gotten the results of her biopsy from Friday. They are still doing tests. She may get to go home either tomorrow or the next day. She doesn't know yet. I'll try to post again tonight. Love ya Lisa

No Air Conditioner Needed!

Hello again. Sorry I'm getting so bad about missing days. I was absolutely exhausted last night(Wednesday night). Michael wanted me to sit here and flip through several pages of a really funny website. Almost all cats caught in hilarious poses with funny captions written on them. The past couple of days have been wonderful. I turned off the air conditioner last night and opened all the windows. I much prefer sleeping with the windows open and the fan in the window. It is so much better for sleeping! Fresh air and the sound of crickets. Gotta love it! I went out to the garden today to pick green beans and see if anything else was ready to pick. Of course, there wasn't. Lori had told me that if I see any more Cicada shells, that she would like to have them. I told her there were some at Grandpa's unless the storm tore them off the trees. I got to the tree where I had seen them the other day. I saw a couple on the tree and one on the ground. I went to pick up the one on the ground and saw the live Cicada on the ground by the shell. I took a couple of shots of him in the grass, then I held a stick down to let him crawl onto it. I then let him crawl onto the tree and took a couple more shots. I was going to catch him in a jar to also give to Lori, as she has never seen a live Cicada. I got the jar, but had trouble getting the lid off. Of course, as soon as I did, he was gone. I ended up collecting 6 shells for her. Had to hurry home from the garden to go get my hair cut. As soon as I got it cut, I took the shells out to Lori. While I was out there, I saw all kinds of hummingbirds at her feeder. I hardly ever see any at mine. The only reason they were out like that for me to see was because I didn't have the camera with me......Again!!!

These flower shots are from Wednesday. Taken at my neighbor the next block down. Of course, this first one is a Hibiscus.
I'm not really sure what the one above is. Their flowers are growing all bunched together. Almost can't tell one plant from another.

And last, just another shot of a Hibiscus.
I will be going with Lori this weekend to a horse show. This will be the first time I've been to one. I am mainly going to help with the computer end of the photography, but I will also be taking some pictures. I hope they turn out good! Keep your fingers crossed for me. Toes too if possible! LOL
My mother was admitted to the hospital this afternoon. She is having a bunch of tests run. Very strong possibility of cancer. She has been complaining of severe pain in her sides and back. They did an ultrasound a couple of days ago, and bloodwork today. She doesn't know how long she will be in there. Please keep her in your prayers. We lost my grandmother, mom's mom, 3 years ago to cancer. She was diagnosed almost at the same age as my mother is now, maybe a little bit younger.
I am going to get off here now. I probably won't be back on to post until Sunday evening when we get back home from the horse show.
Love Ya
Lisa

Wonderful Day (And I'm Off Work!)

This came as quite a shock to me this morning. Thank you to evening bell/Steven May for thinking of me for this award and now I should pass it on to some other very deserving bloggers. Here are the rules:

1. Put the Logo on your blog
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you
3. Nominate 7 fellow bloggers for this award
4. Add Links to the recipients
5. Leave a comment to recipients or email them to let them know they have an award
Here they are

ProPhoto By Lori
God's Blessings
Fugazi Foto
ANICO
Reader Wil
Mississippi Nature
OLD LADY LINCOLN
Sorry I didn't post last night. Fell asleep at my computer again! I was up editing pictures. This bug is a Cicada(not sure of spelling). We always used to call them katydids. I was sitting outside Monday night playing with Mouse, one of the neighborhood cats, and she started playing with this bug. Michael went in and got a dish and caught it and put it in the maple tree. I think Mouse got it anyway.
This pic is one of my white hibiscus. I was playing around in Photoshop last night. This effect is neon glow blue.
This is Charcoal and Chalk. The yellow came into play because I had chosen that color for a different project and it stayed in this one.
This one drove me crazy! I was playing around with all the different filters to see what the effects would be. I got this effect from a single filter, but for the life of me, I have no idea which filter is was. I even tried them all again, never got the same effect! Just my luck!
These are two Cicada shells. One was on the trunk of the tree and the other was on the handle of a shovel propped against the fire pit in the neighbor's yard. I put them on the low branch to take the pic. I would have used more, but they were all out of my reach. I'm a little on the vertically challenged side. In other words, SHORT! That about does it for now. I may see you again tonight.
Love Ya
Lisa

Slightly Cooler

This will be short. I have already fallen asleep here at the desk, but the rain woke me up. Not a lot happening today. Chuck is on the Detroit run this week, which means he drives at night, home during the day. After our late breakfast, I went out to Grandpa's to pick some green beans. So far, it's the only thing ready. I got 2 one-gallon ice cream buckets full. I was picking fast because a thunderstorm was rolling in fast from the west. I got caught in it, but fortunately it was mostly wind. The rain hit harder after I finished. This is what I got out of it. I used some of them for dinner. I cooked some black-eyed peas then added some green beans to it. It is really good that way. Also fixed white rice and Shake & Bake chicken. Turned out pretty good!
This is yet another hibiscus in my next door neighbor's yard. He has 2 white hibiscus and 1 purple one. They are very pretty. There were only 3 blossoms on the purple, so it was hard to get a nice shot.
I really like the white hibiscus. These 2 bushes are the only white hibiscus I have ever seen that don't have the yellow center. They are solid white, as the purple one is solid purple, without the red center.
This is just a weed. It is called Queen Ann's Lace. I darkened it, then over contrasted it for this effect. I know, I get bored easily! LOL
Personally, I'm getting tired of the tiger lillies, but when I rarely venture out of the yard, not a lot of variety! Gonna get off here before I fall asleep again! Hopefully I will see you tomorrow.
Love Ya
Lisa

Family Reunion

Hello everybody. Sorry I have been so slack in posting. Yesterday(Saturday) was the Towns' family reunion. Unfortunately, not a lot of people were able to show up. All the remaining elder Towns' were there. My uncles Lyle, Dee, Earl and aunt June. My father, Neil and my aunt Lavetha are no longer with us. My grandmother's sister Betty was there with her oldest daughter, Darlene. My cousins Lyle Dean(Deedle)(He'd kill me if he knew I put that in there! ), Sharon and Ralph. It was terribly hot, and we were outside. I did manage to go down to the pond and take a few pictures. Most of the pics I took at the pond were of the dragonflies. They were everywhere! There was also evidence that Peapot was shedding his beautiful tail feathers. The kids found them all over the barn yard and around the pond. When Chuck got in from Cleveland on Friday, he was handed the key to his newer truck. The old one is a day cab. They are going to start using it only for hauling grain. The new one is a condo and he absolutely loves it. It was already part of the company fleet. Before Smith bought it, it was used as a Nascar transporter. He's having to do some major cleaning on it though. The previous driver was NOT a very clean person.

I know this starling is totally unrelated to the happenings of the day. I took the picture yesterday, so, might as well be part of the day's post! Abe, does the speckled belly on this guy mean he is juvenile, like the robin?

After the reunion, I had to come home, shower and go to work :( Chuck wants me to quit working there because they are jerking me around with hours. I only got 7 hours this week and 10 hours for the week coming up. Not worth my time. They told me it's because I don't scan fast enough. Whatever! The customers like me because I take the time to keep their groceries relatively organized in the cart. (they bag their own groceries at our store). If they want me to start throwing stuff into the cart just to make it faster, too bad! Aren't I just such a witch!? I really want to find another job first before I quit this one, even though Chuck makes decent money with this company. Okay, enough ranting and raving! LOL

Well, that's about it for tonight. I will now go around and visit your posts. Hope to see you tomorrow.

Love Ya

Lisa

It's The Weekend!!!!!!!

I went up to the courthouse yesterday to take some pictures of Superior Court. I really thought it was neat, because it is so nostalgic looking. The courthouse was built in 1893-1894, and is the tallest building in Blackford County. I took this first picture out the south window from the landing between the 2nd and 3rd floors. Superior Court is located on the 3rd floor.
This is a shot of the judge's bench, taken from the gallery.
This is a shot of the audience gallery. Note how old the seats are. They kind of remind me of the old movie theater seats.
This is a shot of the gallery from behind the bench.
This mural is located on the second floor. The middle is the county and the four to either corner are the county's four townships. Washington, Harrison, Licking and Jackson. Lori and I both live in Licking Township.

Today was back to my yard pics. I caught these 2 crazy squirrels in the bird feeder at the same time. The birds are usually content to stay on the ground and eat as the squirrels knock a lot of seed out.
I had to take this out the kitchen window. I washed all my windows today. The one in the kitchen, I took the screen out because one of my hummer feeders is outside it and the screen hinders picture taking.
Poor Salem got his quarterly bath this evening. He actually doesn't mind it. He's not to crazy about the lathering up, but he likes the rinsing off. I use the hand-held shower and put it on massage. It feels good to him, plus it gets the shampoo out faster. Yes, another lilly picture. I just wanted to show you what I do to these pics. The one on top is shown as shot.
This one is the exact same picture, but I over-contrasted it to get this effect. As you can see, the original pic is slightly blurred toward the top. So rather than deleting the pic, I did something different with it to make it still useful.

Gonna go for now. I have a family reunion to go to at noon tomorrow, then I have to work from 4 to 7. :( Hopefully, I'll see you tomorrow.

Love Ya

Lisa