a year in pictures: June 2009

Monday, June 29, 2009

149/365

Back to work today. I hadn't seen the girls in eleven days. I missed them. Lilly really wanted to go to the park today. I, of course, said yes. We spent more time in the trees and fields then we did on the playground.

Chloe checked out the clover. She is difficult to photograph. If I get her to look at me she is usually squinting, blinking, or crying to be picked up. Unless of course my camera is at a level she can reach. Then I get a nice bright happy face...

Lilly climbed a tree today. She kept telling me she was a big girl because she could do this. Climbing the tree got her about three feet off the ground. She climbs higher at Rolly Pollies but the tree was a big deal to her.

148/365

Saturday evening we had dinner at Christy and Ian's. They recently finished their patio/backyard. Ian is working on becoming the grill master. The food was yummy and the company was great. It was a nice way to end our vacation. Sunday I spent the whole day in my sewing room. I finished Oliver's quilt top in one day. There were photos taken but I do not want Oliver's Mommy and Daddy to see it until it is completely finished. I will post pictures after I give it to them.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

147/365

Last night's sunset was all shades of purples and pink. I did not alter this photo ( I still haven't had time to figure out Photoshop CS4). It was taken with the camera in aperture priority with a polarized filter.

146/365

Thursday morning was gloomy so we decided to take a ride to Deleware. In all of our visits to Ocean City we have never driven to Fenwick, Dewey or Rehobeth. Our next vacation will be in one of these places, away from the boardwalk. We stopped at a public beach on Fenwick Island.

I had the tripod in the trunk so I decided to try to get a few shots of us together. Not as easy as it sounds! I will have to keep practicing.

I did get to play photographer to a family on the beach. Dad walked over and asked if I would mind taking some shots of their family since I seemed to know what I was doing. Ha! If only he knew that I am still so much a fumbling amateur. It was fun. The parents were receptive and the kids were not camera shy. I hope they liked the photos.

145/365

There seemed to be more people surfing at the beach this year. I enjoyed photographing them.

144/365

Some girls wait tables, some work in stores, some guard the beach. This young lady's summer job involves sitting in a lemon all day, but she is at the beach.

143/365

Patrick still ran, even on vacation. I rented a bike and rode with him, seven and one half miles.

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The duck seemed very happy to have the pool all to himself early Wednesday morning.

141/365

When the beach is crowded we sit pool side in lounge chairs watching the kids enjoy the lazy river style pool and slides. There is of course a wait staff (Patrick calls them Ipanema girls) to fetch drinks and food, it is vacation after all.

140/365

Have I mentioned that I love the beach. I do not swim in the ocean. I am not one to lay out in the sun. In the mornings and evenings when the beach is not crowded I could walk at the water's edge for hours watching the waves, feeling the spray, the rest of the world muffled by the sounds of the ocean.

139/365

Our first night in Ocean City we walked over to the bay side and had dinner at Fish Tales. The food is OK and the atmosphere is very relaxed. The margaritas were yummy.

After we ate we moved into these swings, had a drink and watched the people. I am still thinking about buying one of these for the backyard. I just need the wait staff to bring me drinks.

138/365

We are back from four wonderful days at the beach. If I ever won the lottery the first thing I would do is to buy a house at the beach large enough for my family to visit when they could. There is just something about the crashing waves that calms me.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

137/365

We are on vacation this week so of course that means we have at least on big project around the house to tackle. This week we focused on fixing the patio. In spring 2008 many of the slates were broken when we had to drive a backhoe onto the way back yard. We bought the replacement stones last summer but didn't get to put them in because of my hospitalization. Yesterday was the day.

The patio started out looking like this. Most of the stones on the right are broken.

Patrick, Kate and I pulled the broken ones out. Then I used the rototiller to loosen the ground so we could set the new ones back in place. Matt came over and helped us set the new pieces of slate. With four of us working on it we finished in one day. YEAH!

Not only did we replace the broken pieces in the patio but also in the walkway to the back door and we added a walkway between the two.

The area with grass between the slate is old and the area with just dirt is everything we just did. Now we can go to the beach.

136/365

Kate has spent time this week watching the golf tournament on television and playing Wii golf. So yesterday we pulled out Patrick's much neglected golf clubs and wiffle balls. I think she likes it!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

135/365

Baby Oliver is getting big enough for Christy to rest her coffee mug on.

134/365

We have pea pods in the garden!

133/365

My friend, Connie, inspired me to take some pictures of my hydrangea. It is one of my favorite flowers. The one in my front yard has blooms in all different stages on it right now. Each one is beautiful, from the tiny buds to ....

the huge blossoms.

132/365

I have not had my camera out much the past few weeks because of all the rain. I did manage a few shots last night. Kate looks so happy in this one I just had to post it. (slow shutter speed made her look a bit blurred)

Patrick and Katelyn

Friday, June 19, 2009

131/365

I had Thursday off for a procedure at the hospital. I thankfully did not have to stay the night. After I slept off the anesthesia I worked on the shower invitations. All of the stamping and assembly is finished.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

130/365

Oh how wonderful it is to be loved by a cat...

Both of my neighbors have cats. One is a calico who pretty much keeps to herself but spends a great deal of time in our yard. The other, a gray and white cat called Dudley, is the sweetest cat I have ever met. He will follow you around like a puppy. One of them decided I needed a gift today. I have to give the cat credit, he or she didn't round up a mouse or a chipmunk or a bird, nope, I got an 18 inch snake.

129/365

The little flowers on this tree are apparently so tasty that the squirrels will hang upside down to eat them. It is very entertaining to watch.

Monday, June 15, 2009

128/365

These are the fabric choices thus far for Oliver's quilt. I know your wondering... What is she thinking but you will just have to trust me. I may add a dark blue but so far this is it and I intend to start cutting this week.

127/365

The Annapolis Quilt Guild held its show this past weekend.I spent about 4 hours looking at the beautiful quilts and drooling over all the fabrics the vendors had to sell. I only took photos of the quilts I was drawn too and when I sat back and looked the were all very simple patterns, almost all on white backgrounds with many colors. Here are a few of those photographs. Room to frame the shot was lacking and they were shown in a high school cafeteria under fluorescent lighting but I was mainly clicking to have a the pictures to put in my idea file. I only bought one thing while I was there... I bought the pattern for Oliver's baby quilt. I am not sharing until after Ian and Christy have seen the finished quilt

I tried and tried to get the coloring to come out correctly on this one but without decent lighting it wasn't going to happen. They were such beautiful warm colors. I kept coming back to look at this one over and over again. It wasn't even in the show. It was a wall sized quilt hanging in a vendors display.

126/365

I have to apologize for the lack of posts lately. I am taking pictures I just haven't had as much computer time as usual.

I introduced Lilly to Candyland last week. It was a big hit. We played four times the first day.

a year in pictures