JUST ANOTHER SATURDAY???

Due to various reasons, we'd gotten off schedule with the adventures! Life is interfering with the fun, if you can imagine such a thing. There have been birthdays to celebrate, sick family members to visit in the hospital, emergency chores to attend to at home, promises to fulfill, meetings to attend, and you get the picture. Or in this case, the picture was NOT gotten.

An adventure was long overdue. Saturday we headed west of Fort Worth to Springtown, Texas population about 3,000. It was the weekend of their annual Wild West Festival in the downtown square. Didn't take long to see all the sights, hear all the sounds, and visit all the booths. Harry bought a slingshot and I bought some soup/dip mixes. That was the extent of our Wild West celebration.

We aimed the SUV toward Jacksboro, Texas seat of Jack County to take a photo of the courthouse. We also made a scheduled stop at the Fort Richardson State Park which is the ruins of a post Civil War Army facility. It opened about 1867 and closed by 1880. The large building in the background is the hospital.



A visit to the Commissary provided these moss covered stones. The lush verdancy spoke to my lens!

I have no idea what these flowers are called, but they truly look like miniature pineapples.

Next stop was Possum Kingdom Lake. Coming around a bend in the road provided the following photograph. Some were taken through the dirty windshield. Others were through the open window of the truck.

The group of bucks numbered about four. These were the only bucks we saw. The rest of the deer were does and fawns. We saw upwards of 40 deer in all. It was a great photographic experience.

The most points on a single buck which we were able to count was eleven.

The fawns are beginning to lose their spots.

This little deer posed nicely for the camera.

This doe was amazing. She was curious enough to walk past the front of the truck, stop and look at us as we looked out the open window.

She crept closer to the window than we ever thought possible. We could see her eyelashes and whiskers.

Another beautiful doe takes her turn at posing for her portrait.

Can you tell I had a marvelous time? It truly was an adventure, thanks in no small way to a very accommodating sidekick!

Until the next time...

THIS IS A GREAT COMMERCIAL

DISABLE THE SONGS IN THE SIDEBAR PLAYLIST BEFORE STARTING THE VIDEO. TO DISABLE, CLICK ON THE PAUSE BUTTON AT THE TOP LEFT OF THE PLAYER.

I think this commercial is one of the best I've seen in ages. It is for Danier Leather. Not only is the content sophisticated and entertaining, the song is wonderful. After Googling around a bit I found it is by an artist named Sherie Marshall and the song was created specifically for the ad campaign. Too bad it isn't available for sale!

Regardless, the commercial has been making the rounds via email lately despite the fact it is almost 2 years old.

Enjoy!

Until another day....

Gena

INTRODUCING...

... one of my newest fish. It was relatively easy taking his picture. The albino cichlids are too small and fast to photograph at the moment. Maybe when they are a bit bigger.

Here are some of his stats -
Scientific Name: Pseudotropheus sp. “Acei” (Msuli)
Common Name: Yellow Tail Acei
Color/Markings: yellow tail with bluish-purple cast to his body

Until another post....

KINDA FISHY IF YOU ASK ME!!

Took a trip to The Fish Gallery in Dallas, located at 6955 Greenville Ave # 100 Dallas, TX 75231 at phone number (214) 750-7002. (I promised I'd mention them and put a link on my blog if they allowed me to take pictures while I was there this morning. They did, so now I am).

The 2 pictures below were not taken by me. They are, however, pictures of the newest additions to my aquarium.

Beginning below are pictures I took of fish on display and for sale. Most of the pics were without use of a flash. The largest problem I had was the glare from the store lighting.

You will also note I've started adding watermarks to the photos so no one can borrow them as their own. Not that I have theft-worthy pictures, but after reading the story about the American family who posted a Christmas photo on their blog which ended up being used as a billboard in some foreign country, I thought I'd take precautions. This is a true story by the way. The country was a country like Croatia or Poland... maybe Serbia or Lithuania. ADDENDUM 9-6-09: ABOVE IS THE LINK TO THE ORIGINAL BLOG FROM WHICH THE PHOTO WAS TAKEN. THE COUNTRY WAS CZECH REPUBLIC.

For the most part I wasn't paying attention to the kind of fish. I was going for colorful. Some fish almost seemed to pose!!

Until another post...

SUDDEN PLANS

I am going to the fish store to get another fish (or 2) to add to my aquarium because it is a good time to do so. I won't be feeding the existing fish for another 24 hours due to a filter change within the last couple of days. When I add new fish I leave the tank alone for 24 hours so this will be perfect timing: add fish and wait 24 hours; already waiting 24 more hours until I can resume feeding the existing tank.


Hopefully the store won't mind that I am taking my camera with the intention of taking pictures of their gorgeous fish and aquarium setups. I'll post pics to the blog later with a link to the store.


Until later.........

TOTALLY RANDOM WEEKEND

This guy (or gal) was on the ceiling of my porch last night. I grabbed the camera. This was the best I could do since he was on a surface many feet above my head. I used the telephoto zoom lens.



Ended up driving to Oklahoma. It was so long since I'd been out of the state of Texas that tears of joy came to my eyes as I crossed the state line. I was thrilled. Not that I hate Texas; crossing into Oklahoma felt like a true getaway! Took a drive through the Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge again (on the Texas side of Lake Texoma). Here are the Great Egrets which are very common and high in number.

A Great Blue Heron. We saw quite a few of these large birds. The wingspan is approximately 6 feet.

Some of the flora.

Practicing stop action as the waves crashed against rocks.

Here is yet another Gena "accident" shot. I saw the shot of the lake framed between the trees with the rocks in the foreground and thought "terrific". Just as I snapped the picture a sailboat entered the frame. How was I to know this was going to be one of my favorite shots of the entire adventure!

Rusty silos at a cotton gin (still in operation).

From the truck as we drove to Dallas Farmer's Market. Apparently something about RUST appeals to my senses because I find it of great interest in photographs.

Until the next post.....

NEW CHAPTER .....OR NEW BOOK????

I can't decide. In many ways it is some of both... chapter and book. For both of us!

I cried.

For many reasons.

I cried with worry that I'd forgotten to tell or teach so many things he'd need to know about being on his own. I cried because I'd have given anything to be the one embarking on a collegiate adventure. I cried because I will miss him. I cried because I love him.

Mostly I cried because this was not what I had on my mind in that first instant I laid eyes on ... and fell in love with .... him 18+ years ago. I wasn't ready for this day to be here. It was much too soon.

We still had more Little League practices and games. We still had more homework to do. More science projects to complete. More scraped knees to bandage. More rehearsals to get to. More miles to put on the "taxi". More tears to dry after a break-up. More confidence to bolster after a bombed test.

And then there were no more. Today was the day.... no longer a little boy living at home with his mommy.

Did I mention I am proud of him? My college freshman!!

Now I need to "un-nest"... to purge. I agree it is the opposite of nesting before a new baby arrives, as my sister pointed out.

I want to get rid of all the tattered furniture that was never replaced because the boys were too rough and tumble for new. I don't need 4 extra beds. I don't need 5 night stands. I don't need all the chests of drawers. I don't need all the plastic drinking glasses that were collected from ballgames, school events, outings at fast-food chains, and 7-11. I don't need multiple clothes baskets in the laundry room for sorting which clean clothes go to which room. I can get rid of the faded beach towels, the grease-stained rags, the cans of touch-up paint "in case one of the boys nicks the wall", etc.

Yes, it is time to de-clutter.

Until the dust settles....

IMPROMPTU ESCAPE

It had been a while since we'd hit the open road and headed to an unknown destination. Last Saturday afforded the opportunity for adding a county courthouse to the ever-growing file of Texas courthouses. This is the courthouse in Hillsboro, Texas - seat of Hill County. [Note: there are 250+ counties in Texas. At last count I had photos of 51 courthouses. That is only 20%! I don't imagine it will be any time soon that I get all 254 of them.]



Another 19th century architectural showcase.



Playing with foreground blur in a photo.

Then it was on to Lake Whitney. This is what we saw under the brush in the McGown area operated by the Corps of Engineers. Quite a few deer were visible despite the noon hour and the high temperatures.

This is the lake with the lowest water level due to drought in all of Texas at the present time. Lake Whitney is 12 feet low as of this writing. The yellow "pipes" are actually floating devices to indicate the safe swimming area when the lake level is much higher. The white things on the beach are buoys with 8 - 12 foot chains fastened to the dry beach. However, this is a beautiful lake. White rocks line the sandy shores. The water is clear and you can see the sandy bottom before the water becomes deep. Clear, blue lakes are not very prevalent in North Texas. The lake closest to Dallas is a murky green-brown at best with no underwater visibility.

This catfish was no doubt a tasty meal. Interesting how the skeleton is intact.

The beautiful sandy beach.

These stumps were not used to the drying rays of the sun. They are typically under many feet of water.

Many wild critters seem fascinated with these protrusions from the sand. Tracks of deer, raccoons, and coyotes wove in and out of the bleached wood.

Abbott, Texas.... birthplace of Willie Nelson. The small-town greeting on the prominently placed marquee conveys to the astute visitor the diminutive size of the town.

This grocery store proudly mentions Willie's name.

This is more for my boys than anything. This defunct department store in Corsicana, Texas displays their surname. (No relation to the previous owners is known).

Until the next adventure.....

NIGHT-TIME QUIRKINESS

A couple of weeks ago my side-kick and I headed to the light rail station and boarded the train northbound to Downtown Plano. We intentionally departed around sunset so I could capture photos of the area at night. I used full "M"anual and no flash. The most fun part of photography [to me] is experimenting with the settings and the various combinations.

Downtown Plano, Texas is a lively place at night. You can hear laughter coming from open air patios as patrons listen to music and share meals. The downtown area has been revitalized as a result of the rail station. A repeat visit is definitely on the agenda!

Until a little later when I post photos from my weekend travels....