Photohunt: Thankful

The photohunt theme this week is thankful. I am very thankful for my daughter who was born on March 2, 1985.I took the first shot of my daughter when she was a few months old. I took the next shot in 2007 when she was 22, packed up for law school, and ready to hit the road.
I want to thank SabineM for inviting me to participate in Snap2Days with her. It was fun doing Snap2 with Sabine and I'm happy to count her among my friends. I think one of the coolest things about blogging is how you can make friends with people you probably wouldn't have otherwise met. Snap2 is on an indefinite break so we won't have a photohunt post there this week.

Please visit TNChick the host of Photohunters to find other participants.

Spring Fever

I have a bad case of spring fever. It's still quite cold at night but by mid day has been warming up. The down side is although early spring flowers are beginning to bloom, they are getting freezer burned at night by the cold.
I shot the flower above which is one of the blooms on my neighbors camelia bushes and by the next day it had black spots from the hard freeze at night. If it wasn't for the damage to the early flowers, this is my favorite type of weather. I love to wake up to a bracing cold morning and then have the sun start working it's warming magic during the day.
I'm taking advantage of spring fever to finally start on the fall clean up in my garden. Better late than never. I have to be careful not to overdo it as gardening can create more physical issues if I do too much of the heavier, strenuous type of work.
I have my six month check up with my pain specialist next Tuesday and on Thursday of next week, I have my annual full body PET/CT scan. I also have an oncology checkup right after the scan. I guess if I hurt myself with spring fever, I'll have the advantage of getting help from the pain doc in short order. I'm being facetious. It's not really like there is any magic bullet to deal with any of it.
One thing I have learned to do is wait until after I'm doing something strenuous to take my pain medications. I don't want to mask issues and do too much because I just took a pain pill. If I wait until after gardening to take my pain meds, I do less and am less likely to hurt myself.I will be glad to have next week over with. I'm trying not to get too antsy. I don't expect any problems. I expect that I will officially be four years out from my stage III melanoma diagnosis without recurrence when I get my scan results. Perhaps my feeling antsy is just spring fever and it's coincidental that I'm coming up on the doc stuff.

Weekend Snapshot: Birds and humans buzzing with activity

The birds are becoming increasingly active and easy to photograph. It's quite cold at night but warmer days seemed to get bird and human alike out to enjoy the weekend.
I took the photographs of the woodpecker at my house on Friday (first two shots). The shots below were taken Saturday during a walk around Shelly Lake.There are more and more seagulls stopping over at the Lake. This time of year they are outnumbering the ducks and geese but that changes by summertime.It always amazes me how they can fold up those wide wings against their smaller bodies.The seagulls on the bridge let me photograph them until I got too close and then I was afraid they would run into the people.There is a field on one side of the lake that is often used for soccer games in the spring and summer. Saturday, another type of game was being played and I couldn't figure out what it was.
You can click inside to enlarge the photographs and I'll also include some close ups below.If anyone knows what the game in the last three shots is, I would appreciate your leaving me a comment with the answer.To find other weekend snapshots, please visit the home of Weekend Snapshot.

Photohunters: Warm

The photohunters theme this week is warm. The shot above was taken on a warm day at Atlantic Beach, NC last summer. The parallel lives photohunter post I am one half of is at Snap2Days.

Please visit the home of Photohunters to find other participants.

Birds and Such

You may have to click inside and enlarge the photograph above to see the bird very well. I was struck by the fact that the blossom above the little bird was larger than the bird was. When the bird took off its wings almost looked like extensions of the branches to me. The shot below is of a hawk who circles over my neighbor's chicken coop. Several of my neighbors have chickens for fresh eggs. Chickens are allowed in the city limits as long as you don't have a rooster.
The little bird below looks like it's playing with its shadow. It stared at its shadow a long time.
This time of year it becomes easier to photograph the birds as they are out and about but I wish I was better at it.When I shot the bird above, I was trying to get another bird that was on the ice which I had removed from the bird bath. The ice bird flew off as I took the picture.
I was trying to photograph a bird on the branch of the tree on the left, in the picture above but I wasn't fast enough. The bird on the branch below looks like it's sliding off. Good thing it can fly.I guess I'll end with a little spring time blooming in the winter. Many of the daffodils that bloomed too early are already zapped by the cold but a few have revived.
We have hard freezes through the mid to later part of April but it's fun to see the early flowers, even if short lived.

Weekend Snapshot: Sprung Too Soon

I took a lot of pictures this weekend because our warm week has ended with many early flowers. It was cooler this weekend but still above freezing. That is ending tonight with rain changing over to snow in the forecast.I don't think the snow tonight (if it happens) will amount to much but Monday night will be a hard freeze so many of the early flowers will get zapped then.
What worries me more than the spring flowers on the ground are the trees which have started to blossom, as they usually can't handle a hard freeze.
It is fun, in spite of the cold returning, to get a preview of spring. I'm sure there will be plenty of flowers that don't get ahead of themselves which will bloom later too.To view other weekend snapshots, please visit the home of Weekend Snapshot.

Photohunters: Nautical

The photohunter theme this week is nautical. I can't resist starting with a photograph of Bill which was taken around 1969 on a ship when he was in the navy.I didn't take the first shot. Considering the fact that in 1969 I was only 12, I doubt that we would have ended up marrying each other if he'd know me when I was a goofy girl.
I took the second shot of the sailboat in the ocean this past summer and I have no idea who was sailing it. As a part of my history, I will mention that Bill and I first got to know each other when we went sailing together. We were next door neighbors and realized we both like to sail.The shot above is a star finder chart from Dutton's Nautical Navigation. The shot below are some useful items when sailing (compass, waterway map, waterproof jacket, tool to help with tight knots).I also have a parallel lives photohunt post with SabineM on Snap2Days.

To find other photohunters please visit PhotoHunt

If you don't like the weather, wait a day

The central part of North Carolina, where I live, is one of those places where seasons often get mixed up. The photographs in this post cover seven days in no particular order. We went from frigid, cold weather to spring like weather in a matter of days.
Yesterday it was a pleasure to spot my first crocuses (first photo) but the problem is that flowers will start blooming too early and get zapped when winter returns. My daffodils are starting to emerge but will hopefully go slowly enough not to get zapped by the return of winter which is due in a few days. My neighbor's daffodils are already blooming and I fear will get frozen soon.
I know the birds are happy not to have to wait for me to give them fresh water. In general the warm weather is a blessing for the birds as long as they don't start nesting too early.I worry about the plants and birds when they get confused by spring time signals when winter is still going to be around for some time to come.
I am enjoying the mild days for now. Yesterday I started the slow clean up of my garden which I never did in the fall.
It is fun to get out and putter in my garden and watch the birds and flowers alike gearing up for the new season.
It's also nice to watch seasons unfold without the drought we dealt with for a year hanging over our head. We are pretty much caught up in terms of water.
I still love to see the clouds and their promise of rain. I hope I never take it for granted again. I'm definitely continuing with most of the water conservation I started during out 2007/2008 drought.

Weekend Snapshot: Beautiful weekend for walking

It was a beautiful weekend for walking. I don't know the people, or their dog above, but I liked the shot.For more weekend snapshots, please visit the home of weekend snapshot.