Sunflower Studio

HOPPY SPRING

Well, it is officially Spring now and the frogs are out and about.  I took pictures of two of them this week.  We have a little stand of trees behind our house and then behind that is the library {how convenient?!} and it has a nice sized pond next to it.  So, in addition to hearing the froggies and bugs talking each night, we get to see them now and again.  The big giant toad on the right was on the patio on Sunday night.  He's huge!  I can't remember what the size of those patio tiles are - maybe 5x5?  I think he was about 3.5 to 4 inches square.  Big ole frog and look how bumpy he is.

The other frog was on the vertical wood surround at the garage door.  He was stuck on there pretty flat...waiting for a bug to fly by the lights that are mounted above.  I would say that he's more of a tree frog since he had those flat sticky looking ends on his toes.  {Are they called toes on a frog? hmmm}

Anyway, I like the wildlife.  We have a bunch of deer, a fox, a few groundhogs, squirrels, tons of birds...all of that stuff is fine with me.  I don't even mind the frogs.  I am iffy on some of the other insect type things though.  Remember my spider?!  As an update on that, I've sent my photo to three or four different people who are supposed to know about bugs.  The latest one said that it's probably a Wolf spider {don't look if you're squeamish!}.  O-kaaaay...but he also mentioned never seeing a triangular marking like our spider had.  WHAT?!  HO-WEE-KWAP...I'm still not convinced that it's not a maneater!

AHHHHHHHHH....WHAT-IS-THIS?!!!!

This critter was on the patio wall this morning.  This is the same wall where I usually sit while I watch the doggie do her "business" each day....many times a day!  Do you think it's poisonous?  I mean, those capstones are about three inches deep and that thing is at least half that!  IT'S GIGANTIC...GINORMOUS... HUMONGOUS....AHHHHHHHHHH!  RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!  I mean, really, I think it might be a form of tarantula!

VIRGINIA BEACH VACATION

Last week the little boy and I took a trip down to Virginia Beach to visit my sister.  I hadn't been down there in years and years and a lot has changed.  There's so much to see and do...I'd definitely recommend it!

We visited the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center and saw an IMAX movie.  You gotta love those movies and this one was in  3D so it was like those whales were coming right outta the screen on top of you.  WOW!  I'm all about the IMAX movies - I mean, we grew up seeing "To Fly" at the Air & Space Museum in DC whenever we wanted to but 3D is a whole 'nother thing.  I took some goofy pictures of us that I'll share here.

We also took a little drive up to the Norfolk Naval Base and were lucky enough to see some aircraft carriers up close.  I don't know why but I'm completely enthralled with them.  They're just humongous, floating contraptions and they carry planes...again, WOW!  This one is the brand new, not-even-finished-yet USS George H. W. Bush.  I remember seeing the dedication ceremony a while back on TV so it was cool to see it up close.  My sister also lives close to the Naval base called Oceana.  So jets are constantly cruising over her condo.  I thought it was awesome but I'm sure the noise can get old if you hear it all the time.  Although, they were selling stickers at 7-11 that said, "I Love Jet Noise"...how funny is that!?

A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY...

After a half day of mentioning and begging and "guilting", I finally talked my DH and DS into heading out to see President-Elect Obama as his Whistle-Stop tour rolled through Edgewood, Maryland which is near our town.  I mean, really, how often do you get this close to the President of the United States?!  Even though the little boy is only eight I think it's something that he can talk about for the rest of his life.  This is such an amazing historical event all the way around! 

So, we took off from the house at 2pm - the train was supposed to come through at 2:30.  I really thought that we could just sit near the tracks somewhere and see the train go by.  Thankfully, as we drove around looking for a good spot, I checked the GPS and realized that they would be on a track a little further east of us.  We took off for that area and ended up having to park about a 1/2 mile from the station.  It was sooooo cold and we definitely were NOT dressed properly.  As we came the the track area - and this is really just a commuter train stop so I don't even think there's an actual station - we realized that you had to go through metal detectors.  We decided to stay on the outside of the barricades - about 100 yards from the tracks. 

As you can see, my pix aren't the greatest and I was wishing that I had my glasses on.  I did see hands waving but couldn't really make out the faces.  I zoomed in as much as I could on the computer so I could share the photo here.  Anyway, it's still exciting...no matter who you voted for...it's the American way and Democracy at it's finest.  I wouldn't want to live anywhere else!

This is the photo as I took it....

This is zoomed in on the computer....

And here's an AP photo from the internet.  It's taken right at the train - in front of the barricades - but it shows that the two men are on the right side of the back platform - right where they are in my photo too.  Kinda neat!

FALL IN MARYLAND

These are for my friends (especially you, Rose Kerry!) who live in those warmer climates and don't get to experience the changing of the leaves.  I know that my neighbors think I'm nuts.  I've been running around with camera in hand this week to capture the Fall colors.  (Pulling the car over and jumping out...even letting Kyle take a few shots from his side of the car!)  I can't help it!  I'm completely enthralled with how amazingly colorful real nature can be.   I especially love it when I can find a grouping of trees that have so many different colors in one area...the larger photo is from right at the entrance to our neighborhood.  How lucky can we be?!  And then there's those trees that look like they've just burst into flame.  WOW!  You've definitely got to enjoy it while you can...one big rain and some wind and it'll all be gone in a flash.  Happy Fall!