07/04/12 - Happy 4th of July! My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/07/happy-4th-of-july.html The town of Fuquay-Varina, NC always has their fireworks display on July 3rd. I like it! That way if you are so inclined you can get to a great fireworks display in the area on both the 3rd and the 4th:-) Don't know that I'll get to more tonight as it's scheduled to be another volleyball day in the pool, but I like the option. Donnie and I were able to park and set up chairs on the southwest side of the field where they were putting them up from. We really lucked out getting there at 8:50PM and the display starting at 9PM prompt. A big cloud came up a few minutes before 9 and lightning was filling the skies, so the town wasted no time starting the 15+ minute show. Usually they might have waited until 9:15 for it to get a tad darker. The first few shots I took had a blue background! Just as the show ended big drops of rain started to fall. Donnie and I got to the car quick and all was well. I think the bulk of the rain stayed east giving the 1000s of people at the event time to get to their cars too although some had a much longer walk than we did! SmugMug Link The shot below moves on my screen. How about yours? SmugMug Link SmugMug Link SmugMug Link HAGD, Maryann

Thanks for stopping by to view my daily photo! I will post a new photo each day to this gallery. Typically, I will post early morning, and the photo will have been taken the day before. Sometimes the photo may be from sometime earlier in the week, but all the pictures posted will be relatively new. I hope you see something that makes you smile. Feel free to leave professionally appropriate comments.

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07/12/12 - Views of the Setting Sun

My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/07/views-of-setting-sun.html

I couldn't help but notice the reflections in the windows of an office building out in center field during the Durham Bills Game last week.  I was too busy talking about the fireworks and Wool E. Bull to mention this photo then, and I didn't take anything yesterday worth sharing, so here it is today.  It looks like some combination between sun and water to me.

Here's an earlier picture showing the building that later had the reflection.

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HAGD,
Maryann

07/11/12 - It's Raining It's Pouring

My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/07/its-raining-its-pouring.html

It poured yesterday afternoon and more rain is expected over the next 3 days.  Woo hoo except that it cuts down on the light and therefore my outside photo ops.

I was standing in the garage watching Donnie and Johnny working on Teen's flat bicycle tire when I took the daily of my birdbath splashing in a heavy downpour.  (The boys are home from their trip with their dad now.)  Donnie's very skilled at fixing things, and he's patched several bike tires already this year.  We read an article or saw a news show recently that talked about how today's kids aren't learning to fix anything.  Many cars are too hard to work on these days; I think car repair used to be a great how to use tools opportunity.  The world is so fast paced that we're all in must do mode instead of taking time to show and do with kids.  It was nice to see Johnny who is interested in all sorts of tech stuff interested enough to pay attention and Donnie patient enough to slow down and explain a few things to him.  I just love the reflection of their work showing up in both vehicles.

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Here's a wider view up the driveway.  You can just barely see the blue birdbath on the right.

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Joey asked Donnie to teach him cards today.  As in playing cards.  Hard to believe, but the boys had not played Go Fish, and that's the game Donnie chose.  What fun!  Madi showed up for a while too!  She was glad to see 'her' boys.  It did my heart good to hear all the laughter and see all the smiles at the table.  Sometimes it's life's simple pleasures.

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Thank you for the comments on my statue and flowers...

HAGD,
Maryann

07/10/12 - The Statue and the Flowers

My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/07/statue-and-flowers.html

The cold front arrived yesterday bringing an inch and a half of rain to my house along with cooler temps:-) While the break in the heat is great, it was raining when Donnie and did our errands yesterday, and I didn't get to take Jennifer over to Yates Mill like I had hoped. That and stopping by to see Sir Walter Raleigh were the two other things I would like to have done during her stay. Maybe some other time.

I took my daily shot at a quick stop we made between the raindrops.  I loved the backdrop of flowers.

I did do some shots with Jennifer and my dragonfly lights.  I didn't like how they turned out enough to post as a daily:-(

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HAGD,
Maryann

07/09/12 - Jennifer in the Hot July Heat

My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/07/jennifer-in-hot-july-heat.html

All vacations need a down day, right?  Well that's what yesterday ended up being for Jennifer.  It was 101 at the house again, and Donnie and I stayed inside most of the day.  I gave Jennifer a great view for watching DVR'ed Nascar and Wimbledon and the movie Timeless.  I have this large window upstairs in the garage bonus room where the good TV is.  There's a half circle (moon) glass on top and then for the regular window I have a curtain with sun/moon fabric.  I thought it made a nice back-drop for today's daily.  I used to be really, really into celstrial stuff in my decor.  Remnants remain, but I don't add to the collection too much anymore. 

The red glow to the fabric in the daily is from the Picasa neon filter.

Here's a pink tinted version of the daily.

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And the real fabric.

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I took a couple of pics of the grandfather clock (from my father's house) with  the curtain and light creating neat reflections.

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The shot below is the weights (is that the right word?) with the curtain reflecting on them through a glass panel.

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Donnie and I  have errands to run late afternoon, so I hope to get a few parting shots of Jennifer around town and then send her off to her next destination tomorrow.  We're starting a cool down today which kicks into earnest tomorrow and is also scheduled to bring several inches of rain.  We really need the cool down and the ability to go outdoors without instantly sweating again.  Yesterday for exercise we resorted to using the xBox Kinnect Adventures game inside with AC! 

Thanks for stopping by to comment and read about Jennifer's journey.

HAGD,
MAryann

7/7/12 - A Walk in the Ferns

My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/07/walk-in-ferns.html

It was too stinkin' hot to do much of anything in Raleigh yesterday.  At 102, you go from house to air conditioned car to store and back and that's about it.  Donnie and I took a trip into town to run a few errands including going to Guardian Angel Thrift.  Arguably, it's my favorite store in town:-)  This charity has raised over 1 million towards Alzheimers Research and is still going strong.  Jennifer helped me pick out several new shirts, and us girls had a good time browsing everything in the store.  Thanks to Donnie for snapping the shot of me and Jennifer in the parking lot.

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Also at Guardian Angel, Jennifer and I picked up a quick gift for her next host, Linda G. Linda has a collection of tiny shoes, and Jennifer thought it would be nice to add another one to the group.

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Jennifer and I did take a short walk to Madi's driveway to snap this quick shot with the pink chair.  Go pink!

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And of course at night, Jennifer took some time to enjoy the mood lights.  We watched Girl with the Dragon Tattoo also.

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Jennifer thinks we are eating pretty well!  Homemade fajitas!

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Thanks for stopping by to check out Jennifer's Road Trip and for your comments.

HAGD,
Maryann

07/07/12 - Jennifer's Road Trip and NC Bling (Pink Cadillac)

My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/07/jennifers-road-trip.html

I am very excited to host Jennifer over the next few days. She's not your ordinary girl; she's a class act! Read more about Jennifer and her road trip at The Sisterhood of the Traveling Bras. I know most of you are already aware that I'm a breast cancer survivor having been diagnosed in October 2011, having surgery, and then chemo. But, I'm doing great these days, my hair is growing back, and my life is moving forward. It's easy to understand why participating in Jennifer's Road Trip takes on a very special meaning for me.

I was out and about in my yard and around my house with her yesterday, and a I captured Jennifer in patriotic and romantic moods. She's so fun!  I hope to have more photo shoots with Jennifer and pictures to share over the next few days too. Enjoy her trip with me!

My daily is showing off the pink Cadillac pin that I added as part of the bling or memento that Jennifer will be picking up at each of her stops.  I've always had a thing for Cadillacs and better yet pink ones;-)

Here's a collage showing the other pics I took of Jennifer yesterday and linking you back to the gallery I'll be updating daily during her visit.

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All you flamingo lovers out there, take note!  Here's Jennifer posing with a very special flag from SmugMug friend Carole.  The girls, Ms. Flamingo and Jennifer, were quick friends!

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Jennifer also got to view these beautiful lilies in my front yard.

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Best stop typing and get busy hosting!

HAGD,
Maryann

07/06/12 - Wool E. Bull

My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/07/wool-e-bull.html

Donnie and Wally let me tag along with them to the Durham Bulls baseball game last night at the DBAP (Durham Bulls Athletic Park).  Although the Bulls lost 10-5, the game was interesting, and we had a great time with all the between inning festivities and crowd encouraging music.  They even had fireworks after the game!  Donnie and I tried to get up on the Kiss Cam with no luck but did get up on the big screen dancing to one of the upbeat songs.  Too bad there's no picture of that!  Featured in my daily is the team mascot Wool E. Bull with some kids they picked out of the seats to dress up and follow him on a humorous tour around the field.  The kids LOVE Wool E. Bull!  He gets out there in mini cars and drives like a crazy person around the field too!

A big thanks to the guys for the pink hat which they picked up for me at the last game.  I like!

In the collage is a cell phone picture of the 3 of us (center), a scene from the sumo wrestling (lower right), and the field crew (upper right) dragging the infield and dancing to M. C. Hammer Can't Touch this:-)  I loved that!

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Bye bye fireworks until next year...

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HAGD,
Maryann

07/05/12 - Red-Bellied Woodpecker

My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/07/red-bellied-woodpecker.html

While cooking breakfast yesterday, the mother red-bellied woodpecker came up with two of her babies to feed on the suet in my backyard.  The suet is about 15 -20 feed from my kitchen window past the deck rail. Of course I stopped what I was doing, grabbed the camera, and tried to take a few decent pics of them.  It was cute how the babies scooted up and down and around the small sweetgum tree.  Looks close at the upper left picture and you'll see the one baby on the backside of the tree poking his head around for mom's beak full of suet.  Lower right you'll see the baby mouth open below mom.  The female adult red-bellied woodpeckers don't have the red crown coming all the way to their front beak.  There's a break in the red.  The males have a fuller red crown.  I didn't see the father although I am sure he comes to the suet also since I frequently see males feeding too.

Here's Madi with her Martha Washington impersonation:-)

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Donnie and Madi in the pool yesterday.  She begs him to 'throw' her now:-)  We gave her some lessons yesterday on how to push off better like Johnny does and she was getting the hang of propelling herself even farther.

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Me and Donnie poolside.  See, I really do have hair now:-)

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Thanks for your comments on my fireworks shots.

HAGD,
Maryann

07/04/12 - Happy 4th of July!

My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/07/happy-4th-of-july.html

The town of Fuquay-Varina, NC always has their fireworks display on July 3rd. I like it! That way if you are so inclined you can get to a great fireworks display in the area on both the 3rd and the 4th:-) Don't know that I'll get to more tonight as it's scheduled to be another volleyball day in the pool, but I like the option. Donnie and I were able to park and set up chairs on the southwest side of the field where they were putting them up from. We really lucked out getting there at 8:50PM and the display starting at 9PM prompt. A big cloud came up a few minutes before 9 and lightning was filling the skies, so the town wasted no time starting the 15+ minute show. Usually they might have waited until 9:15 for it to get a tad darker. The first few shots I took had a blue background! Just as the show ended big drops of rain started to fall. Donnie and I got to the car quick and all was well. I think the bulk of the rain stayed east giving the 1000s of people at the event time to get to their cars too although some had a much longer walk than we did!

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The shot below moves on my screen. How about yours?

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HAGD,
Maryann

Fuquay-Varina, NC always has their fireworks display on July 3rd. I like it! That way if you are so inclined you can get to a great fireworks display in the area on both the 3rd and the 4th:-) Don't know that I'll get to more tonight as it's scheduled to be another volleyball day in the pool, but I like the option. Donnie and I were able to park and set up chairs on the southwest side of the field where they were putting them up from. We really lucked out getting there at 8:50PM and the display starting at 9PM prompt. A big cloud came up a few minutes before 9 and lightning was filling the skies, so the town wasted no time starting the 15+ minute show. Usually they might have waited until 9:15 for it to get a tad darker. The first few shots I took had a blue background! Just as the show ended big drops of rain started to fall. Donnie and I got to the car quick and all was well. I think the bulk of the rain stayed east giving the 1000s of people at the event time to get to their cars too although some had a much longer walk than we did! SmugMug Link The shot below moves on my screen. How about yours? SmugMug Link SmugMug Link SmugMug Link HAGD, Maryann" href="javascript:openLB(1944659104,'',XLarge,'',960,768);">