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  2. Daily Photos

My Best Daily Shots

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. Here's a link to the SmugMug Daily Community.
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09/25/09 - I was working at my computer yesterday when I noticed that there was a lot of condensation on the outside of my water bottle. One thing lead to another, and I came up with this shot. There's a flashlight behind the bottle that has a lot of little tiny light bulbs in it. The water droplets took on the pattern of the bulbs. I turned it b&w, cropped it, and fixed a bad spot on the water bottle that was distracting. It's different...certainly in my daily gallery next to yesterday's vivid Halloween color shot! Work was just horrible yesterday. I hope I get to spend more time with my kids and my camera today. <br /> <br /> Thank you all for the feedback on yesterday's glass shot. You're a great inspiration to me to keep pushing to come up with something even more creative and pretty. <br /> <br /> Happy Friday!<br /> Maryann<br /> <br /> While I wasn't fully awake this morning, I put the caption under the keywords. Thankfully, I discovered my error and was able to copy the text instead of having to rewrite it.
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09/25/09 - I was working at my computer yesterday when I noticed that there was a lot of condensation on the outside of my water bottle. One thing lead to another, and I came up with this shot. There's a flashlight behind the bottle that has a lot of little tiny light bulbs in it. The water droplets took on the pattern of the bulbs. I turned it b&w, cropped it, and fixed a bad spot on the water bottle that was distracting. It's different...certainly in my daily gallery next to yesterday's vivid Halloween color shot! Work was just horrible yesterday. I hope I get to spend more time with my kids and my camera today.

Thank you all for the feedback on yesterday's glass shot. You're a great inspiration to me to keep pushing to come up with something even more creative and pretty.

Happy Friday!
Maryann

While I wasn't fully awake this morning, I put the caption under the keywords. Thankfully, I discovered my error and was able to copy the text instead of having to rewrite it.

  • 10/10/09 - Muscovy Duck<br /> When I asked Joey how he wanted to spend his birthday, he said he wanted to go to Lake Wheeler Park and feed the ducks and that he wanted to go to Build a Bear. You may remember Lake Wheeler is where he got bit by the fire ants. I'd been wanting to go back, really, it's a favorite spot of ours, but I put him in knee high Spiderman boots while we were out of the car there!<br /> <br /> We often see plain white ducks, muscovy ducks, and mallards at this spot plus a few others depending on the season. Joey and I are both fond of the muscovy ducks. To me, he's so darn ugly he's just absolutely cute. Also, much nicer than some of the geese and other ducks too. He wants his cracker, but he doesn't try to take your finger off!<br /> <br /> As you can see, it was cloudy while we were there:-( Still, I liked this majestic looking shot of him. I also got a very nice close-up of the female and baby duck pictures too. It was very hard to pick which to post.<br /> <br /> More pumpkins could be in my and maybe your future if we make it to another fall type event today. Cloud and drizzle are forecast:-( Thanks for the comments on the multicolored pumpkin shot from yesterday.<br /> <br /> HAGD,<br /> Maryann
  • 10/09/09 - How many? What Kind? See how many different kinds of pumpkins you can spot in this photo. I counted 6...maybe 7 if the super big one upper right is a different variety. The green ones look like watermelon pumpkins:-) Believe it or not, they have more types that aren't picture like turbine pumpkins. I was at <a href="http://www.porterfarmsandnursery.com">Porter Farms and Nursery</a> before and after work yesterday taking pictures again:-) It's so nice that this great place is only about a mile from my house. I spoke with one of the owners, and she asked me if I'd go to their Facebook page and provide a link to the pictures I was taking and of course I said sure and have done that. Joey is 7 today! I took the day off, and he's tracked out of his year round school schedule, so we're off for some fun! Thanks for the comments on yesterday's pumpkin picture:-) TGIF! Maryann
  • 10/08/09 - I stopped by <a href="http://www.porterfarmsandnursery.com">Porter Farms and Nursery</a> on my way home from work yesterday with the intention of trying to take my daily. I only had about 5 minutes to spare. This is the picture that I liked the best. There's a huge wagon with pumpkins and scarecrows and mums and cornstalks all done up too, but the morning light vs. the evening light is probably going to work best for it because of the way it sits on the property, so I may try to go back for a few photos again this morning. At any point, I'm just in the mood for orange:-) I used Picasa to darken shadows, bump up color just a tad, sharpen a tad, and add the soft focus. Thank you for the comments on the egret shot. It's always so exciting to catch one of those magnificent birds, and it's even better when you get to share the picture with you guys. HAGD, Maryann
  • 10/07/09 - Egret<br /> While I was at The Vollmer Farm on Sunday, I saw several egrets in various irrigation ponds. I was just fascinated by them. I have several great blue heron shots from over the years that I'm excited about, but no egret shots that were taken very close. 3 different times during the day Sunday, I tried to sneak up on the egrets and get a good shot. I think this one is the best I managed to get. It's a horizontal shot cropped vertical. The reflection and background are not helping in this case, but he's pretty clear, and I can remember the thrill of the 'chase' when I look at the shot. This one will be the best for me until the next time I get lucky enough to get close to one and maybe have a better background or lighting. I know any of you guys could have taken this shot or much better if you'd been standing where I was. <br /> <br /> We're just not having nice go outside and shoot pictures weather. Maybe by the end of the week. <br /> <br /> Thanks for looking at the hay/blue sky picture. It was kindof neat to be inside the cornfield:-) <br /> <br /> HAGD,<br /> Maryann
  • 10/06/09 - Swaying in the breeze...<br /> I took this picture Sunday while the boys and I were inside the corn maze at The Vollmer Farm. I thought it was neat how several of the corn stalks appeared to be higher than the rest, and of course I was enjoying the blue sky. I have cropped slightly and sharpened a bit, but I decided against saturating the colors any.<br /> <br /> This corn maze is pretty neat. There are 5 stations that you have to find inside of it. At each station, you color a finger on your right hand with a piece of chalk. Then, when you leave the maze, you line up the finger colors with a chart (e.g., Joey's thumb was red but my ring finger was red). Joey got number 112 which said to go stand on all fours. I got 68 which said to caw like a crow. This game certainly helps to keep the kids interested.<br /> <br /> It was cold and rainy here yesterday. The boys wore jeans and long sleeve shirts for the first time this fall. Today is going to be a repeat of clouds and drizzle. <br /> <br /> Thanks to those that looked at and/or commented on Jump! from yesterday. The boys are still talking about how much fun they had over the weekend.<br /> <br /> HAGD,<br /> Maryann
  • 10/05/09 - JUMP!<br /> As promised, another 'orange' picture:-)<br /> The boys and I had a great time at The Vollmer Farm yesterday. This is the best fall fun place around with pumpkin picking, a huge bouncy pumpkin pictured, a 60' through the moutain potato sack slide, a corn crib, a barrel train ride, a corn maze and many other things. We spent about 5 hours in gorgeous NC October weather having tons of fun and trying to fit in everything twice.<br /> <br /> I had to crop this one manually to get them centered and to remove a light post on the right in the distance that I didn't like. They bounced on this thing for 15 minutes straight because they were having so much fun and the crowd was so reasonable during our trip.<br /> <br /> About 200 more pics from our day in this gallery:<br /> <a href="http://fotomom.smugmug.com/Children/The-Vollmer-Farm-100409/9858444_5vgnq#670620515_B8T3X">http://fotomom.smugmug.com/Children/The-Vollmer-Farm-100409/9858444_5vgnq#670620515_B8T3X</a><br /> <br /> I am sooooooooo sad about going back to work today. Clouds and sprinkles may help me suffer through it, though. <br /> <br /> HAGD,<br /> Maryann
  • 10/04/09 - 3 Scarecrows<br /> Well, not really;-) The boys and I got more of our outdoor Halloween decorations put up yesterday. 3 more inflatables and 12 scarecrows and assorted spooky people on sticks. We have a lot of fun doing this each year, and I get to take lots of cute pics of them posing with the various figures as we go. On my blog, there's a collage of them by all the figures.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://maryanng.blogspot.com">http://maryanng.blogspot.com</a><br /> <br /> Today we're off to The Vollmer Farm for a hayride, corn maze, potato tossing, pumpkin picking and lots of other fun fall fun. Probably be another orange picture tomorrow too:-)<br /> <br /> I got the closest ever to an egret at the local swamp yesterday, but he flew and the pictures just weren't that great. <br /> <br /> Thanks for sharing with me my excitement over the GBH shot:-)<br /> <br /> Have a great Sunday!<br /> Maryann
  • 10/03/09 - Great Blue Heron at Lake Johnson<br /> Joey and I went for a paddle boat ride on Lake Johnson (inside Raleigh city limits) yesterday morning while Johnny was at preschool. There wasn't a lot of bird activity, and even though I brought my usual camera out on the lake, I figured I'd end up with just a few pics of Joey in his life vest. Boy was I surprised when I saw a GBH hanging out near some pine trees on the shore. It looked like he was asleep. His head was tucked down and he was standing up straight and quiet. It was SO hard to keep me and the boat still...I was so EXCITED:-) As we moved closer, he became more alert, moved around a bit, and after enough shots to satisfy me, flew off. Looking at picture timestamps, it looks like I tooks pictures of him for about 5 minutes. This is SOOC...not even a crop. Boy was it a joy to be able to take these pictures with my little helper right beside me!<br /> <br /> Today may just be stuff around the house and grocery shopping day. We've been running wide open for 3 days now:-) I promised the boys we could put up more Halloween decorations, and I've got to get netting up over my ponds before the acorns start coming down too fast.<br /> <br /> Enjoy your Saturday and have a great day!<br /> Maryann
  • 10/02/09 - NC Zoo Trip Fall 2009<br /> As you can see, we had a great time at the zoo! I took about 850 pics and put 250 of them into a 'Best Of' album and then out of that 250 picked these for a collage. I just couldn't pick just one to post today, so please forgive me. I was falling asleep with my computer in my lap again last night trying to get these processed so I could pick one for today, and then when I went to post my blog this morning <br /> <a href="http://maryanng.blogspot.com">http://maryanng.blogspot.com</a><br /> I created this collage real quick using Picasa and I liked it so much I wanted to post it.<br /> <br /> The new geyser is a WOW! The kids did get to feed the giraffes from the platform. The new bee exhibit was open, and we got to watch the bees coming and going to the hive. I got a Monarch Butterfly (I think it's not a Viceroy) shot! Tons of great smiling kid shots! Just grand flowers and foliage to photograph around the park.<br /> <br /> So, we get to the lion exhibit, and they are both sound asleep. The kids are roaring and hollaring and just about begging them to get up. Finally, as we were leaving, the male decided that he needed to reposition. He stoood, I snapped, he walked about 10' and collapsed right back to sleep. But, Joey was so thrilled that his real Lovey got up for HIM:-)<br /> <br /> I'm off again today and hope to find some more fun!<br /> <br /> Thanks for making me smile about the pumpkin picture from yesterday. When I got home and saw that you guys had enjoyed it, that certainly made me feel good!<br /> <br /> HAGD,<br /> Maryann
  • 10/01/09 - I'm been saving this one to help ring in the month of October. Happy October 1st everyone! These are the mini LED pumpkin lights I have on my mantle, and I thought they were too cute and colorful to pass up taking a picture of. <br /> <br /> As I've said a couple of times this week, we're off to the zoo today. Another 2 hour each way trip. The NC Zoo prides itself on wide open spaces and natural habitats, so we'll be doing several miles of walking today in the woods of central NC to cover it. We'll start out on the Africa side and then move our way over to the Northa America side. I hope the cooler morning temp (54) means that the animals will be feeling frisky and ready to have their pictures taken! Maybe you'll get an elephant shot tomorrow! The new giraffe feeding station is open, and they have opened a geyser feature too. Can't wait! <br /> <br /> HAGD,<br /> Maryann
  • 09/30/09 - I took this picture on the beach Monday. The boys and I took crackers for intentionally drawing the gulls over near us (far away from the other swimmers). I got some mid-air shots that I like, but this close-up 'still' shot is more detailed and clear. I spent about an hour trying to figure out what type of gull. All I can say is that I think these are juveniles. The black beak and black feet just proved hard for me. I have other shots that have what I believe are the adult markings...more gray and white with the brown gone. Maybe one of you can put me out of my misery and tell me what these guys are. I just hate not knowing.<br /> <br /> Thank you for your comments on Joey's 'in the surf' picture. Looking back at it this morning, I wish we were headed to the beach again today.<br /> <br /> HAGD,<br /> Maryann<br /> <br /> Late note: Juvenile Laughing Gulls according to the<br /> <a href="http://www.whatbird.com">http://www.whatbird.com</a><br /> forum.
  • 09/29/09 - Joey playing in the surf at Wrightsville Beach near The Oceanic Pier<br /> The kids and I had a wonderful time on our trip to the beach yesterday. We headed to the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher first and spent about 2 hours looking at the exhibits. We've been before, and the kids really wanted to go again. Then, we headed back to Wrightsville Beach and spent about 3 hours in the water. 12.5 hours and 300 miles later we were back home. Lots of fun!<br /> <br /> Both boys love the water and were out in the surf getting tumbled and having a blast. Joey got crushed under by waves several times and barely batted an eyelash about it. I was much more afraid when I was a little girl visiting the New Jersey shore at Island Beach State Park. <br /> <br /> Beautiful day of 86 and full sun and the water was quite reasonably warm.<br /> <br /> Twice I had Johnny sit up high in the sand and Joey and I went out past the breakers and let the current take us down the shore about 75'. The surf was code yellow yesterday, and it was definitely one of those days where you get in and if you weren't careful just a few seconds later you were down the shore quite a ways. I was pleased that there was a lifeguard still on duty right near the pier. <br /> <br /> The boys are wearing UV swim shirts and the sleeves are a tad long, but the shirts do a great job of keeping their torso from getting burned.<br /> <br /> Sorry I was so MIA yesterday. Things should be back to normal today although normal will be nowhere near as fun! We have a zoo trip planned for Thursday, though, so I'll just focus on that!<br /> <br /> HAGD,<br /> Maryann
  • 09/28/09 - Pumpkin Boy<br /> The huge pumpkins are in at Porters Farms just up the road from us. Another yearly tradition is to go take pictures by the big pumpkins:-) We bought a few small ones. And, if you have $30 and are looking for the biggest, nicest pumpkin around, this is the place to go! They have really pretty mums and gords and cornstalks and... Oh, I just want 2 or 3 of everything! <br /> <br /> We took pics, ate their homemade ice cream (the lemon flavor has Cheesecake Factory cheesecake in it!), and took more pics. Then of course I had trouble picking just 1 pick. Could you choose? <br /> <br /> I wish I knew how to 'fix' the sky in the one on the right, but even though there are no pumpkins in that shot, it's my favorite facial expression.<br /> <br /> Leaving in just a few for the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher and Wrightsville Beach. Both boys are out of school, and I took the day off. 2 hours each way will make for a long day, but I'll be on later processing my beach shots.<br /> <br /> HAGD!<br /> Maryann
  • 09/27/09 - Having Fun!<br /> L-R front Joey, Madi, and Johnny (me in the back).<br /> 6 tries using the 10 second self timer and racing from pressing the button to getting back in the picture. Last one is the one I used. <br /> <br /> The kids and I ended up at Chuck E. Cheese yesterday. Joey is tracked out of year round school for 3 weeks, his b'day is coming up, the kids have been asking for forever, it was below average cold and drizzle yesterday, AND Joey did good on his interim progress report. $15 for 100 tokens plus a pizza kept us happy for 3 hours!<br /> <br /> You know the lighting in that place is not good. Still, I snapped away:-) That's my fun. I am proud to report that all 3 can now successfully get the skee ball up the ramp and score points without knocking anyone out with the ball during the process. We did a lot of Skee Ball.<br /> <br /> There was an 18 month walking up the Skee Ball ramp and placing his ball in the holes:-) That was super cute too! He'd waddle back down the ramp, get another ball from Grandpa, and waddle back to score more points. Of course I took pics of that too.<br /> <br /> If you aren't familiar with Chuck E. Cheese, it's a small kid arcade where small kids and their adult big kids can have fun and sometimes celebrate b'day parties. <br /> <br /> Thanks for the feedback on my planet POTD from yesterday:-) I just may have to try that again!<br /> <br /> Have a great Sunday!<br /> Maryann
  • 09/26/09 - Firestorm Planet<br /> OK, so I was trying to take some traditional (for me) glass shots last night, and they just weren't turning out like I was hoping. I needed sunlight (and it was 9PM), and the glass pattern just wasn't smearing the glass the way I wanted it to. So, I started playing around with moving the plate. Up and down, in a circle, and then left to right and right to left. This 'planet' is a result of the latter. The entire planet is SOOC. On the right, I changed the color of that area from my ceiling to black. I used the light over the kitchen table. Ta da! I don't know if you'll like it or not, but with the clouds and drizzle yesterday and work I didn't get to take not even 1 outside shot:-( The kids and I will be going out to places with lots of color and interest today, so hopefully I'll be inspired!<br /> <br /> I was truly surprised by the feedback on yesterday's water bottle picture. Honest, at first look, I thought it was a failure. Then I played with it a bit and thought that maybe it might be good enough to post. Again, it was all I had unless I wanted to post something older. Just goes to show you that sometimes we aren't are own best critics I guess. Anyway, thank you to those that visited my POTD and commented. That picture is now way up on my most popular list. You guys continue to be a huge inspiration to me to strive to do even better. There is a lot of great talent in our group, and everyday I enjoy looking at your pictures very much. <br /> <br /> HAGD,<br /> Maryann
  • 09/25/09 - I was working at my computer yesterday when I noticed that there was a lot of condensation on the outside of my water bottle. One thing lead to another, and I came up with this shot. There's a flashlight behind the bottle that has a lot of little tiny light bulbs in it. The water droplets took on the pattern of the bulbs. I turned it b&w, cropped it, and fixed a bad spot on the water bottle that was distracting. It's different...certainly in my daily gallery next to yesterday's vivid Halloween color shot! Work was just horrible yesterday. I hope I get to spend more time with my kids and my camera today. <br /> <br /> Thank you all for the feedback on yesterday's glass shot. You're a great inspiration to me to keep pushing to come up with something even more creative and pretty. <br /> <br /> Happy Friday!<br /> Maryann<br /> <br /> While I wasn't fully awake this morning, I put the caption under the keywords. Thankfully, I discovered my error and was able to copy the text instead of having to rewrite it.
  • 09/24/09 - Octopus<br /> Well, not really. It's really just a bunch of Halloween colors. But, the bubbles toward the outer edge of the picture kindof remind me of an octopus.<br /> <br /> The rain finally stopped, and we even saw the sun yesterday:-) Reading some off the flooding story yesterday, though, was just heart wrenching. <br /> <br /> I was out taking a few outside pictures yesterday and nabbed a neat spider web, but I just feel like I needed some bold color today instead. <br /> <br /> RE yesterday's POTD: The wax myrtle grows naturally in NC, but is often planted as a landscape plant around public buildings. With all those berries, it's a great self starter carried from yard to yard by birds. I have one in the front yard, and I didn't plant it!<br /> <br /> Late Note: If you aren't familiar with the glass shots I often post to the dailies, let me explain. This is glass beads (orange, green, and purple) in a small salad size bowl that has a star pattern at the bottom with some bubbles toward the outer edge. I shoot in macro mode from under the bowl looking up. There's a light source pointing down on the beads. In this case, it was an incandescent light bulb. Sometimes I go out and use natural sunlight, but it's been raining. Sometimes I use sugar or glass chips or other things for the color. Some of the glass is cut, frosted, textured, whatever looks neat.<br /> Have a great day...<br /> Maryann
  • 09/23/09 - Rain Drops Keep Falling....<br /> I was walking into my building at work yesterday inbetween rain showers when I spotted this wax myrtle covered in pretty soft blue colored berries. Of course I had my camera with me, so to the curiosity of those walking past me, I stopped to take about 20 pictures. This is the first one. I don't usually say this, but best viewed in the largest size. It's a neat mix of in and out of focus with some neat water droplets. It was not my goal to post two berry shots back to back, but since you guys enjoyed yesterday's berries so much... <br /> <br /> I have worked for Big Blue since college. Some days from home. Some days in RTP. It's an hour commute from my house each way, so I work from home whenever I can. <br /> <br /> I'm sad to say, but my summer long hummers seem to have migrated. I'll leave the feeders up for a few more weeks for anyone stopping by on their way.<br /> <br /> Boy did central NC get a lot of rain yesterday. I know it was the Atlanta area the day before. Just down the road from me they got 6". That's a lot of rain! More, but less, is possible today. It's certainly still cloudy and wet out there this morning.<br /> <br /> Thanks for the feedback and comments on yesterday's berry shot. If you only knew how much I fretted over which picture to post yesterday. <br /> <br /> Bill Jordan was teasing me yesterday about how many pictures on my HD and how many do you all miss. Well, I looked at the main picture folder on my network drive, and there are 42,908 in 79.8GB. Yes, Bill, you're only getting to see a few of the pictures I've taken. BUT, I'm sure that's the case for most everyone in the daily community. My daily projects since 2007 are here:<br /> <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/maryanngnc">http://picasaweb.google.com/maryanngnc</a><br /> I reached the 40GB 1000 album limit over there. That's where most of the kid stuff goes. ANYWAY!<br /> <br /> Have a good day and try to stay dry wherever you are,<br /> Maryann
  • 09/22/09 - This is a Beauty Berry bush growing in my yard. It's just outside my main bathroom window, and I've been watching the berries in the sunlight for weeks. It's cheery, and it's raining again this morning in NC, so I wanted to post something to counteract the clouds. The robins and other birds will come and eat these berries when the time is right. I love these natural food sources in the yard.<br /> <br /> Thanks for letting me slip in another early Halloween shot yesterday;-) And, thanks for letting a picture that was important to me be important to you too. <br /> <br /> The boys and I put up a few more things inside the house last night. I put my little pumpkin LED lights on my mantle last night, and I took out a bucket of small Halloween toys for the boys. We had fun!<br /> <br /> HAGD,<br /> Maryann
  • 09/21/09 - Frank-en-stein! Frank-en-stein! <br /> The boys were so excited while I was trying to take their picture in this one that they wouldn't stop shouting his name. This picture is posted today out of tradition. I went back and looked last night, and this is Frank's 5-year birthday at our house. He was the first inflatable that we bought, and that was back in 2004 (the same year Johnny was born). Every year he goes up, usually sooner rather than later, and every year I get pictures. Just to be sentimental, I went and put together an album with a picture from each year. That's here:<br /> <a href="http://fotomom.smugmug.com/Children/Frank/9700736_gfby7#655591120_FjqMN">http://fotomom.smugmug.com/Children/Frank/9700736_gfby7#655591120_FjqMN</a><br /> <br /> I also dug out their Halloween shirts and my fiber optic scarecrows for the desk in the kitchen. We cut-out pumpkin face masks last night and watched a Halloween cartoon with just the lights from the scarecrows. Yesterday was a good day:-)<br /> <br /> I was pleasantly surprised that you guys enjoyed the yellow flower so much. Thank you as always for stopping by to look at my daily picture. <br /> <br /> HAGD,<br /> Maryann

  • Lisa Padgett

    on May 31, 2018

    This should be entered in some exhibit, etc. It's so cool

  • Ilene Samowitz

    on March 31, 2014

    Wonderful image!

  • Tatiana (travelways)

    on March 31, 2014

    FANTASTIC!!!

  • LauraMacky

    on March 31, 2014

    This is really great!

  • MorganFractals

    on March 30, 2014

    I missed this previously...the BW was a clever choice...FANTASTIC

  • Lgood

    on March 30, 2014

    Fascinating!

  • Snowtop

    on March 30, 2014

    Mezmerizing

  • Eyeshots

    on August 31, 2013

    Wonderful photo - thanks for sharing the details!

  • Donna McCommon

    on August 30, 2013

    This is very creative and love it in bw.

  • Rodrigo Porto

    on August 30, 2013

    one of the best pics ever. great job ;)

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