Shrooms

wish I had moved those blades of grass!

Where exactly do they come from? Mushrooms have taken over my backyard and I am sure there is something about rain that makes them appear. Surely I learned this in school at some point. For whatever reason they are everywhere. Most look exactly alike, the come up as these little bulb like growth and then pop out into this white flat thing with the remnants of the bulb left on top, really weird almost like someone peppered them. Then out of nowhere all alone is one that has a red bottom. How exactly do I know the bottom is red? I was crawling around the yard again, getting the toes of my shoes all muddy, remember it had been raining when these things popped up. Now if I had been all together I would have paid better attention to the details around my mushrooms and cleared the stray blades of grass away to get a better photo but rushing through so the dog could come back out I did not do my best work but here for your wonder are my shrooms.

look at the detail that goes into one of these things only to shrivel up a few days later.

Fun Surprise

Sometimes in life you have fun little surprises. One day while crawling around the yard trying to find bees and other things of interest to photograph I discovered this whole crop of wild strawberries. I had no idea they were growing in our yard and most looked to be in pretty good shape, the bugs and the dog had yet to discover them. I challenge you to go out and be surprised in a good way today.

I am Back

I have no real excuse for taking a short sabbatical from here but I have been cleaning and organizing and getting ready for another school year. With that in mind this photo reminds me what is so great about summer, very little to your schedule. If you want to fish all day you can. No teachers to assign you projects, no rush on the chores and there are small crowds at the local creek since temperatures hovered around 100 degrees. Back to business and back to the routine, hopefully I will be better about posting my favorite images here that I really have no where else to post.

Back to Business

Not sure where that last month went but it went without me noticing. I have been busy cleaning out the house. The girl child decided it was time to redo her room that she has been in since she was four so she actually cleaned out her room. Oh if only I had a before and after you would not believe it, just imagine a wall to wall mess of clothes and stuff with a bed hidden in the corner under a mess of clothes. Out of date furniture that was just sitting there, my old bedroom suit from when I was a little girl, that has been a while and you get the picture. In one morning we removed everything from the walls, filled in the holes and cracks in the wall, removed and cleaned all vent cover, shutters and outlet covers. Then we taped off the walls and commenced on painting. Let's just say it is officially the second room in our house that has colored walls. It has been an amazing metamorphisis and more importantly a great motivator for her younger brother who also wants colored walls. It has taken us a week but between the two of us we have managed to clear a path through his room and believe it or not we found the floor was carpeted. The closet is the next hurdle which I will take a before and after shot. That you truly will not believe. A cumulation of three kids living in the same space for 14years. With that said check out the video of my newest teenager helping me in a very rough video, not my specialty, explaining pocket wizards, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syzarj7f0HQ. Amazing what kids will do for a small fee. Off to clean out the closet!

Fish on a Fence

Every day I try to experience something new and different and honestly it is not that easy to do. You know the routine, you get up, you go through your day and you go to bed, day in, day out. I revisited one of my favorite places over the weekend and should have taken new pictures but really wasn't feelin' it so I just drove by Boot Hill. Boot Hill is a long stretch of fence with an old boot sitting upside down on each fence post. When I was telling a friend about it they said well did you see Fish Fence? A simple stroll down the street I had driven down over 10 times throughout the weekend and sure enough there it was, Fish Fence. Believe it or not someone places a fish head on the fence posts, leaving the head there for scavengers in the wild to do their thing until all that is left is the skeleton remains. Glad I didn't stroll by when there was still stinky fish meat left on the bone. Some of the remains were more complete than others but it did fulfill my need to experience something new on Sunday. So I give you Fish Fence.

Taste of Texas

I happened on something today I have never really noticed but had heard about. There are probably 30 or so Longhorn statues running down this hill. Pretty amazing site and when you stand among them you can only imagine what it would be like to be caught in the middle of this stampede. Ouch!

Corn

It seems like corn is a huge asset right now in the agriculture world. I have seen corn growing along the highways in nice straight lines and have never actually seen it up close. Well now I can say I have. With a slightly overcast sky I snapped a quick shot across the road of some crops and am fascinated by the gold color of the crops. Nothing fancy just wanted to share the simplicity of a plant that has been around since the indians taught the pilgrims to use the land respectfully.

Unexpected Beauty

There is beauty all around, you just have to stop and take the time to notice it. In this case it stuck me in my side as I boldly tried to reach over it. A piece of a barbed wire fence, hey this is Texas, barbed wire is everywhere, it keeps our horses from straying too far. Anyway, after feeling pain from the barb, I looked at it more closely and saw this beautiful twisted piece of rusted metal. The rust not only gave it wonderful color but also texture. Enjoy.

Simpler Times

Gas prices may be the reason but whatever it is I am desiring to go back to simpler times when we weren't connected 24/7 to our computers, cell phones, tivo etc. Times when we weren't scheduled every minute of the day. Times when weekends were really for relaxing and catching up with friends and not working Saturday and Sunday. I have noticed more kids riding their bikes, which is refreshing and probably mandated by mom who is tired of paying for gas and driving kids all day long to their friends' houses. My family knows I threaten daily to move to the country so when I drove along the country road yesterday I was amazed that there are still these simple Post Offices in small towns, it was closed but I would assume there is some general store items in there to. If you ever find yourself in Hye, Texas stop by and tell them I sent you.

Forgotten

Have you ever been driving down the highway and noticed the old things long forgotten sitting in a field? Since I was a little girl sitting in the backseat driving back and forth on I-35 watching out the window I have wondered how the old barns become forgotten and left to fall down and why equipment is left in a field only to rust and be overgrown with brush. Today I got off of I-35 and jumped over to a slower paced two lane road and found a few opportunities to capture a moment in time of things forgotten. I drove by more than I photographed but I did stop and shoot out the window along peaceful roads in little towns.

Cherries

I have been playing around with my lighting set up. I had taken this photo and realized that the photo was junk due to a filthy sensor. Yes I could have cloned out the dust spots but why not just clean the sensor and get back to making the photo I intended to make. So I think I like this one better anyway. In reality there isn't much difference but this one doesn't have dust spots. I use to be terrified of cleaning my sensor but with the right equipment and a soft touch it is really easy. Now I need to find someone who likes cherries since I have quite a few sitting in a bowl.

Smells Bad but Looks Good

Funny thing I discovered yesterday on my trek through the creek bed is somethings smell bad but on closer examination the appearance overpowers the smell. Trying to train my structured, not artsy mind to see beyond the obvious. What is it? It is the moss growing under the streaming water moving from the drainage pipe to the creek. Our creek runs underground throughout the neighborhood in drainage pipes and the pipes then feed into the next finger of the surface creek. Many a neighborhood kid has discovered you can travel miles through these pipes and end up on the other side of town. I for one will not venture too far into one, something to do with the sizable rats, raccoons and opossums in our area.

Weird Stuff

I just wanted to share a weird shot with you. No life's lessons or thoughts for the day. This reminds me of a dream scene. Kind of different but it is really growing on me.

Seeing Beauty All Around

Today is officially the first day of summer! I found myself left all alone while everyone else was off enjoying the sunshine. I decided to wonder off myself and I challenged myself to see the world around me differently. To my surprise my first discovery was a tiedye shirt left hanging over the creek with no one in sight. I began to look at nature for its beauty. What I found was the sun creeping through the tree tops, a pair of ducks nesting, mossy ick under streaming water which actually was very pretty when you stopped and really looked at the moss instead of smelling it. As I was walking along a path I heard a rustling in the bushes, thinking it was a bird I glanced into the under brush only to find a beautiful lizard showing off his stuff. So I challenge you to stop and enjoy the world around you, see the ordinary in a different light and it becomes extraordinary.

Big Picture

I had the opportunity to get the big picture today. I have a friend who loves the upper deck for sporting events. For my whole life I have wondered why in the world anyone would want to sit in the upper deck instead of sitting down close to the action. I decided to honor my friend today by sitting in the "upper deck", actually it was a balcony and I sat alone at my friend's funeral. I know, I know, not another funeral but yes that is where I found myself . I sat alone and in amazement at the fact that no one else had the thought to sit in the upper deck seats just like he would have done. What I learned was that it is a totally different view from up high. First thing I noticed is that no one else could see me since they were all looking forward. Secondly I was amazed at how many men there were balding. Thirdly it suddenly hit me at what a cool site it was to see the whole scene in one view. I could see every seat filled and the pattern all of those heads made. I am an up close sort of person but it was a wonderful reminder to stop and take in the big picture. Sometimes it takes the big picture to understand a situation. I also chuckled to myself as the family can always say, it was a full house, there were even people in the balcony! I wondered what the preacher and three speakers whom I know all pretty well, were thinking about that lone person sitting up in the nose bleed seats. Maybe they realized I knew doctor 9X pretty well and knew right where he would have been sitting if he had still been with us.