The last of the summer flowers and sailing!

Wow – FALL arrived quickly! Cooler temps, days are noticeably darker in the morning and evening.

As I was out walking, I noticed there are still a few summer flowers blooming, but soon they will be gone, replaced by Fall flowers.

In the stores… Halloween stuff will soon be on SALE, because they’ve already brought Christmas stuff out.

Ah, it all happens so quickly, we need to SLOW down and ENJOY the new season.

Have a great weekend! Time to cozy up with a good book.

Creative Gardening!

Some people are so creative. I love this type writer placed in the garden.

When I took the picture, I was hoping a bird might fly by, sit on type writer and I could get an even better photo. However, I didn’t get so lucky.

Have fun walking, there is always something new to discover.

Enjoy the weekend!

Photography – Sometimes we get it RIGHT!

A beautiful sunset in Michigan. The only thing missing are the sound of the waves…

Later clouds were coming in.

Another great photo, but the IPhone always has that “green dot,” so hard to get rid of it.

We’re moving into August. Soon it will be Fall.

ENJOY the weekend!

Amazing bees… Have you seen them up close?

I’m always thrilled when out walking with some amazing nature finds. I was looking at these beautiful flowers when a bee came buzzing by. Time to eat!

As I looked at this one, I was able to get a close up picture. A beautiful creature.

Walking further, I found a few other bees. So, honored them with a photo of themselves too.

When we slow down, it’s fun to observe nature.

Here’s to enjoying summer!!

Photograph – Lightning up close…

Last night we had a thunder storm. The sky was so interesting with constant lightning. I was able to capture a few photos, careful not to stay out too long and get struck by lightning. The sky was AMAZING.

Today, back to sunny skies.

Have a nice weekend!

Mother’s Day… still time!

I was at the store yesterday and it was amazing. Costco smelled like a florist. They had so many roses, these are just a few, imagine rows and rows of them, ALL colors.

I smiled when I saw two lucky pennies next to each other. Soon, we won’t have pennies anymore. So finding these felt special. Some Mother’s Day LUCK, “In God We Trust!”

We know Mother’s Day is in May, but it seems to sneak up on us. Suddenly, it’s “Hey, did you do something for your mother yet?” These roses were a big reminder.

So, don’t delay. There is still time to do something special for our Mom’s!

Happy Mother’s Day!

This was interesting, sky art…

I was walking and happened to look up and saw these lines in the sky. For some reason, I immediately thought of Tic Tac Toe, we just need another two lines to set up the board.

Continuing along, I looked up again and saw a sheep.

How often do you look up at the sky? I admit, I don’t do it that often. I should, it’s fun!

Happy Pi Day!

Snow ART — Blink and you’ll miss it!

The other day it was snowing. My daughter and I went walking and as we were talking, she suddenly said, “Look, Mickey Mouse.” We looked more closely and laughed, “YES, it sure looked like Mickey!!”

She was on a roll. As we walked, she kept noticing more snow art, it was so amusing. You can see from above, the left photo, if we blinked, we would not have seen Mickey, same with the other funny figures. We saw the figures at a distance, I zoomed in on them.

We “did” take the liberty of adding to some of the art, ie the snail, we added an antenna, the fish skeleton, we added the bones, that balloon, we added the string… but the balloon, you can see from left photo using our imagination, it was there… the added string, made it believable to “non-snow art-believers.”

Finally, for the GRAND FINALE, before we started to shovel snow… we saw this SMILEY FACE.

Ok… with this one… the EYES were THERE… my daughter added the mouth, but COVER the mouth and you can see how the EYES were talking to us in a “catch me if you dare,” kind of look.

What a fun walk. So, what snow art have you seen lately?

2025 New Year — 10 Year Blog Anniversary!

Well, I’ve done it! I’ve hit 10 years of Blogging.

When I told my daughters, it’s been ten years and I’ve decided to change my little bird photo. They said in unison, “Go Mama, rebranding your Blog.”

I didn’t think of it that way, but they’re right. Big corporations are constantly rebranding. I still sniffle that Aunt Jemima is gone, replaced with Pearl Milling Company brand name. Sometimes we miss the old brand. New is not always better.

Rebranding my Blog meant the hunt was on for a NEW animal photo / background color. As I went through my photos, I plugged them in to see how they looked. There were runners-up!

Each one special in a different way. I do like that sheep on the top right. Doesn’t he speak to diversity and uniqueness? The owl was amusing, as well as the other sheep.

After careful consideration, days of this or that, I decided on the eagle. Yes, he’s the WINNER.

So, here’s to 2025, embracing change and focusing on new challenges.

Cheers!

Italy – Beauty in the garden!

While in Florence, I walked through the Sister’s garden after breakfast every day. While it wasn’t a huge garden, it was a nice size. I was amazed at all the fruits / vegetables / flowers they had.

I loved the shape of this olive tree. Turning the corner, I saw this huge tree with pomegranates. I eat them, but I’ve never seen how they grow.

I had no idea what this was… ANYONE? The Canadians I met didn’t know either.

They had an over abundance of red peppers. They start out green, then turn red.

Their roses had the most fragrant smell.

A shamrock…

Rosemary, time to cook!

Finally, a pigeon. My grandmother used to feed the pigeons that came to her window every morning. So, I smiled when I saw this one, all alone

I enjoyed the peaceful garden walks every morning with a quick stop in the Chapel. The Nuns were putting fresh roses from the garden in the vase for the alter. It was nice to see them.