Fall Festival

Fall is finally here in north Texas. That means cooler weather and of course pumpkin patches! Today, I was able to go out to the annual Fall Festival celebration at the Cumberland Presbyterian Children's Home. It's always a fun event with food, music, face painting, a petting zoo, raffles and a hay ride with a pumpkin patch, among the other festivities. I was looking forward to getting out and today the weather was gorgeous for the event. The sun was shining brightly, as you can see from my pumpkin picture. This year's patch was especially fun as they had the Lumpy, Bumpy, Knucklehead pumpkins! I made a mess of my sno-cone, petted various animals, raced Hot Wheels, got some great bargains on Spanish children's books and craft supplies, checked out a Fire Truck, classic cars, and a John Deere and of course took a few pictures. Happy Fall Y'all!

A soccer kick

I never played soccer on a team. I grew up watching my brothers play but it was never my sport to learn how to play. I am a sports fan, I love not just watching sports but learning about them, the strategies, etc. Soccer came back on my radar a couple of years ago with this wonderful player. Since I started watching her and the team in 2008, I've remembered and learned more about the sport again. So, why this shot? Soccer is a chaotic game, with the constant movement but there's something so graceful about some of the motions players make. During one game, I was talking about kicking with someone and I realized how much I love getting good shots of a good solid kick. I think a good soccer kick, showing balance and strength is beautiful. Yes, that's the sports fan in me talking!

Flowers and bees

I headed out this afternoon to get a few flower shots as the flowers are coming alive again for fall. The flowers were blooming, I found a lot of pinks and purples as well as the colors of fall starting to show on the leaves of various plants and trees. I did not come across any butterflies or dragonflies on my flowers, as often is the case, but I did come across quite a few bees. It's always a fun challenge to capture the flying insects, bees especially are not ones to stay still for a photo op. Thankfully, there were enough of them for me to settle in a general location and capture the flowers I wanted as well as catching a bee, in the act, of pollination that is.

Speedy Train

I wondered what kind of image I would get if I took this picture of a train as it approached the intersection. I saw it coming and so I set up for it, knowing there would be blur and hoping it would be an interesting picture, with the lights and the car at the intersection as well. For something different, I like it, seems like you can feel the speeding train rushing by.

Smashing Almonds

What do I do when I'm not at work, at a game, working out, scrapbooking, crocheting or taking pictures? Well, I garden of course! This past year and a half I have really cut back on time in the garden and yard and thus have little to show, but one exception is my large quantity of apples and almonds. This is the first year the almond tree has produced fully and there are quite a few steps to getting at the almond itself. Let me say that now I understand why almonds cost so much, the work involved is more than expected. I love it though and it's worth it for me to get to watch them grow and gather them, then remove the fruit and find the seed pod and finally, go at them with a hammer. Here's how you do it, hammer + concrete = almond!

Rainbow

OK, so it's a different kind of rainbow, the inside variety. Allie's tank catches the morning sun and casts rainbows on the carpet around the house. This morning was a really good one and I thought I'd try to capture it. The colors actually came out well against the beige carpet.

Mirror Image

I was working inside this afternoon when I saw movement out my window. On the bushes down by the pond were several large butterflies gathering pollen. I headed downstairs, grabbed the camera and went outside to take a look. I only got a few shots before they were off to check out other plants. I got down on the ground looking up to get this shot before this not quite symmetrical butterfly flitted off into the wind. He seems to have a few war wounds and if you've seen other shots against this flower, you'll notice the large wing span. I wish he had stayed around a bit longer but was glad to have had the opportunity to see him up close before he left.