06/11/12 - Cabbage Dot and Purple Sage My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/06/cabbage-dot-and-purple-sage.html My daily shot was taken in the parking lot at Yates Mill. It's a Cabbage Dot Butterfly on Russian Sage. the purple looked sooooooo dreamy! SmugMug Link SmugMug Link I love the top shot of Johnny in the collage below. Boy do they grow up fast! SmugMug Link Look at the size of that fungus and the poison ivy at the base of the tree. SmugMug Link The obligatory mill HDR. SmugMug Link The flowers at the entrance way to the A. E. Finley Center sure did look pretty! SmugMug Link And last but never least, Madi, Joey, Teen, and Johnny trying to get Salvo to hold still for me in his fireman suit:-) What a comedy of errors that was! SmugMug Link Thank you all for your wonderful comments on my butterfly shot from yesterday. 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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06/15/12 - May the Beauty of the Day Embrace You...

My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/06/may-beauty-of-day-embrace-you.html

I keep trying to take a hydrangea picture I am happy enough with to post.  I still didn't like my sooc shot from yesterday enough to post it, so I added a slight texture and some more detail and I think white neutralizer and then framed it.  I like it better now:-)  It's such a gorgeous bush!  Here's a wider area view including a cheerful Uncle Sam.

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It was either the hydrangea or stick you with a food shot for the daily.  Here you see pork chops being sauteed in the cast iron skillet with red spring onions and garlic plus sugar snap peas and some gravy I made from the drippings and heavy cream.  Got a bit too much salt in the gravy:-(

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HAGD,
Maryann

06/14/12 - Jeanne's Garden

My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/06/jeannes-garden.html

I stopped by my neighbor's house yesterday to take a few pictures.  When we were scootering and walking Blaze the other night, I noticed how gorgeous the garden was.  Jeanne's daughter Judy and her partner Mindy put in the garden earlier this spring and are in the process of completing the stone wall.  Before, the yard was mostly grass.  Now...WOW!  Jeanne said to come back any time, and I am sure I'll be back!  My favorite shot is bottom middle in the collage although there are several I really liked. 

Here's a pano of the garden after the sun went in.  Used the lomo filter in Picasa to bring some color back.  Canon utility PhotoStitch used for this pano.

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Joey's Little League Baseball team the Lugnuts played their first and unfortunately last tournament game last night.  The boys were cold on offense the first two innings and when they got fired up in the 4th a win was still possible but they couldn't quite make it.  Below is the team with Coach Anthony giving them a pep talk around the 2nd inning.

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Here's Joey running as fast as he can to get to third.  He walked onto base twice and made it home both times. 

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It was a great season and learning experince and a big thanks to both Donnie for being an assistant coach and to Coach Anthony for working with Joey starting at the very bottom to get him to being a reasonable ball player.  Joey made friends, got good exercise, learned the game, and improved his people skills.  I went and signed him up for fall baseball this morning:-)

Thank you for your comments on my sp silhouette from yesterday:-)

HAGD,
Maryann

06/13/12 - In the Light

My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/06/in-light.html

Do you really want to know about the picture today or would you rather just ponder the who, what, when, and where?  :-)

This is me from a few weeks ago at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham from when we were at the Disco Tech.  I knew right away that I wanted to try to pp this shot like this, I just hadn't gotten around to it until last night.  Here's the original:

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Note that I had to remove the camera strap as well as darken and even out background and adjust color, etc.

On June 11th 2009, I posted my first picture to the Daily Photo Community. Where have the 3 years gone?!? I'm happy to now be posting in my 4th year. I do find some days that it is harder to find exciting things to shoot within a 5 miles radius of my house, and I long to take trips to other locations for new material. But I still enjoy posting as much now as I did in the beginning. Mostly I enjoy the fellowship and support of the other great photographers in this community as well as my family and friends as I continue to grow my photographic skills. On my bucket list this year is lightning, more bird shots, and more barns plus capturing all the smiling faces and memories that I have always loved to catch. Thanks for your support!

It was cloudy and rainy most of the day yesterday.  I did take these shots on a late day walk with our dog Blaze and Johnny and Madi on their scooters.

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To be clear, the kids are laughing at the bottom of the hill.  No one was hurt.  They do this all the time but I'm thinking bike helmets next time...oops.

HAGD,
Maryann

06/12/12 - Flower Power

My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/06/flower-power.html

I made this collage on May 12th after a trip to Lowe's Home Improvement.  It's been the wallpaper on my laptop ever since.  Usually I have pics of the kids and Donnie as my wallpaper, but I accidentally hit a button in Picasa that put it there, and it was just too pretty not to leave up for a while.  The only picture I took yesterday was of dinner and about making homemade frappuccino's.  Nothing worth a daily, so before the day totally runs out, I had to pick something worth sharing.

Dinner!  London broil in homemade teriyaki sauce, sauteed onions and sweet bell pepper (orange) in coconut oil, fresh green beans from Porter Farms and Nursery and sour cream and salsa dip.  Yum!  It was only my second time using real grated ginger.  I like!

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A dove outside my window this morning.  I played with filters but never really liked any of them.

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Thank you for all your comments on my butterfly shot yesterday too...

HAGD,
Maryann

06/11/12 - Cabbage Dot and Purple Sage

My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/06/cabbage-dot-and-purple-sage.html

My daily shot was taken in the parking lot at Yates Mill.  It's a Cabbage Dot Butterfly  on Russian Sage.  the purple looked sooooooo dreamy!

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I love the top shot of Johnny in the collage below.  Boy do they grow up fast!

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Look at the size of that fungus and the poison ivy at the base of the tree.

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The obligatory mill HDR.

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The flowers at the entrance way to the A. E. Finley Center sure did look pretty!

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And last but never least, Madi, Joey, Teen, and Johnny trying to get Salvo to hold still for me in his fireman suit:-)  What a comedy of errors that was!

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Thank you all for your wonderful comments on my butterfly shot from yesterday.

HAGD,
Maryann

06/10/12 - Butterfly Bush Magnet

My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/06/butterfly-bush-magnet.html

I was walking Madi home when I spotted two yellow Eastern Tiger Swallowtails on my butterfly bushes.  I know I've posted a bunch of butterfly pics lately.  Hopefully you won't mind.  Here are two more I really liked.

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And here's a red shouldered hawk I saw driving to town today.

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HAGD,
Maryann

06/09/12 - Field of Daisies

My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/06/field-of-daisies.html

Well, it's not exactly a field, but it is a large group in the center of my front yard. It's about the only sunny spot I have.  This is the 3rd or 4th year that these gloriosa daisies have come back, and they are fuller than ever.  I am happy.  I need to set out my gazing globe (cement pillar) and birdbath.  No tenants in the bluebird box right now.

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This box turtle was my company while taking the shots.

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I tried swordfish for dinner last night.  Using a cast iron pan on the outdoor gas grill works great!  It's Italian dressing and coconut oil.

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Spider at Madi's pool was kindof neat too!

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Thanks for all your comments on my recent butterfly series...

Out the door NOW to baseball practice and Madagascar 3:-)
HAGD,
Maryann

06/08/12 - More Butterflies

My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/06/more-butterflies.html

I stopped  by Porter Farms and Nursery for some green beans and an onion and hopped out to take pics of the butterflies on their orange colored butterfly bushes.  There are 5 huge bushes, and they were just covered in various sulphurs, crescents, painted ladies, and buckeyes.  Wow!  I shot off over 350 shots in about 20 minutes.  Here are the ones I think are the best besides the daily.  Some were shot with my Canon S3 IS and some with my Canon SX40 HS.  I even put the SX40 HS in continuous shooting mode trying to capture inflight shots!  Take a look at the bees flying into the shots!

Watch out here I come!

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Just stopping by!

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Butterfly Angel...

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These guys are relatively tiny in comparison to a swallowtail but larger than a gray streak

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This is a Buckeye.

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HAGD,
Maryann

06/07/12 - Pink Out of the Dark

My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/06/pink-out-of-dark.html

My daily photo today is a fancy pink coneflower shot taken in my friend and neighbor Judy's yard.  I darkened the background and cropped it a bit plus using Picasa to add the border.

Judy also has this allium? growing in her yard.  It's a neat round ball, and I've captured just a corner of it in the shot below.

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We had rain in the AM, and I thought this sweetgum tree leaf looked neat wet.

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This fly just sat there for me.  He was tiny,and I liked the details in the show below.  It always amazes me how hairy flies are!

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Still checking out the butterflies on my butterfly bush.  Yep, if you hardiness zone will support one of these bushes, planting one in your yard is sure to get you a few butterfly shots each summer!

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Joey's team, the Lugnuts, had a baseball game last night.  Here the team is having the opening 'prayer'.  Joey and Donnie are both in the line-up.  Can you spot them?

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What a sky it was at game time!

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Here's Aiden on 3rd working to get the sliding player from the other team out.  The ball got to Aiden too ltae, was a bad throw, but he stopped it and got it back to the pitcher with no more runs scoring.

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I used PhotoScape to combine a series of shots of Hunter and Cam pitching.  Kindof neat to see the progression of their pitch!

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We had concession stand duty last night, and here's helper Johnny ready to serve up your snack!

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Joey's team did go on to win.  I think the final score was 7-3.  Way to go Lugnuts!  That was the last regular season game with the tournament starting next week.

Thanks for all your comments on my butterfly shot from yesterday. They really made my day!

HAGD,
Maryann

06/11/12 - Cabbage Dot and Purple Sage

My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/06/cabbage-dot-and-purple-sage.html

My daily shot was taken in the parking lot at Yates Mill. It's a Cabbage Dot Butterfly on Russian Sage. the purple looked sooooooo dreamy!

SmugMug Link

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I love the top shot of Johnny in the collage below. Boy do they grow up fast!

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Look at the size of that fungus and the poison ivy at the base of the tree.

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The obligatory mill HDR.

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The flowers at the entrance way to the A. E. Finley Center sure did look pretty!

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And last but never least, Madi, Joey, Teen, and Johnny trying to get Salvo to hold still for me in his fireman suit:-) What a comedy of errors that was!

SmugMug Link

Thank you all for your wonderful comments on my butterfly shot from yesterday.

HAGD,
Maryann

Yates Mill. It's a Cabbage Dot Butterfly on Russian Sage. the purple looked sooooooo dreamy! SmugMug Link SmugMug Link I love the top shot of Johnny in the collage below. Boy do they grow up fast! SmugMug Link Look at the size of that fungus and the poison ivy at the base of the tree. SmugMug Link The obligatory mill HDR. SmugMug Link The flowers at the entrance way to the A. E. Finley Center sure did look pretty! SmugMug Link And last but never least, Madi, Joey, Teen, and Johnny trying to get Salvo to hold still for me in his fireman suit:-) What a comedy of errors that was! SmugMug Link Thank you all for your wonderful comments on my butterfly shot from yesterday. HAGD, Maryann" href="javascript:openLB(1898581624,'',XLarge,'',613,768);">