Taken with my phone!

I am just beginning to scratch the surface of what can be accomplished with my phone. It is an htc something or other with an 8 mega pixel camera. It was purchased with my upgrade for around 50 dollars, but some people pay 400 plus for it. I am in love with it! I essentially wanted a new phone that had the highest quality camera I could purchase for little or nothing. Yeah for me!

Bee Happy

I am hooking up with I heart Macro today. :) My bones are aching after two days spent weeding my yard in the hot late Summer Sun. As I wait for the naproxen to kick in I am posting this photo and watching the rain begin. I think I need a nap. Bee happy.

Free Birds

I took this on vacation in the Keys a few weeks ago. A silly young woman sitting next to us on a chaise with family and friends continued to eat from a bag of chips as these seagulls flocked. Sure enough one pooped on the her upper left bikini exposed thigh. Better her than us, sitting near by. I love the white/black contrast and vivid blue sky in the background. I am linking with Crazy Days of Summer for the Blue Skies challenge this week. :) http://www.projectalicia.com/
Happy skywatch friday everyone! http://skyley.blogspot.com/

Beautiful Eyes

I Heart Faces challenge is "beautiful eyes" this week. My niece has a very unique shade of hazel. The color changes with what she's wearing, but I think her eyes match her hair almost perfectly. In this photo she is thinking of Daddy.

Balloons for Mimi

Skywatching

I took this photo last night as my daughter's soccer game was ending. Tie score, 0-0. Her Dad did not attend, but gave her a pep talk before we walked out the door about stepping up and being aggressive. After all, she is a senior this year. Honestly it's not in her nature. She was born polite and patient. True story. Her uneffectedness is remarkable, as is her ability to handle life's stress. Anyways, she plays defense and did a good job last night since the opposing team was unable to score as the sun began to set in the western sky. I ran up to the top of the bleachers and turned and snapped a few photographs and the game came to and end.
It is skywatch Friday and I am linking up. http://skyley.blogspot.com/

South Beach Love

Were able to spend about three hours in South Beach, Miami before our flight home last week. It was hot as hell, but really pretty, at least what I was able to see. I would love to go back for a long weekend maybe, sans kids. The buildings were charming and the colors vibrant. The beach is gorgeous. I was bracing for toplessness and shock and awe from my boys, but the only topless sunbather we saw in our short visit was about 7. Lol. From what I read it is definitely not a place for children after dark, and sometimes even before, but our short trip was merely PG. Gabe wondered out loud if one couple in a full body embrace on a towel were having sex?? No!! I replied although I did do a quick double take just to make sure. :0

I am linking with wordless wednesday.http://www.wordlesswednesday.com/newhome/.

The Hairy Eye Ball

I am entering The Pioneer Woman's photo contest theme "Black and White". Everyone should check her picks out, just for inspiration. Note to self: start taking more black and whites. They are gorgeous. www.thepioneerwoman.com.

Palm Love

We are back from our week long trip to the land of palm trees and beautiful azure skies. I can't help but feel a little smothered by suburbia and what is life. Last week we snorkeled, swam, para-sailed, visited Key West and explored a lot of little beaches along the way. Today I will take Donovan to get his braces off, buy new hair clippers and cut Peyt's hair, visit the oncologist with Mom, cook, clean, drive, make appointments for Dr.'s appointments, and then badger kids to get working on their Summer reading and schoolwork. It's all good though. :) Life is good today.

Sunny with Shadows

We are back from a trip to the Florida Keys. Lovely:).

Skywatch Friday

I took this picture as the sun was sinking low off the front tip of High Island off the coast of CT. I love how I can identify each person from their own unique silhouette. Happy skywatching today! Be sure to check out the rest. http://skyley.blogspot.com/

Some Scenes of Summer

Just a mish-mash of photos from front yard frisbee to seaglass hunters. We are looking forward to one more vacation this Summer, before it all ends. These are a few photos I have taken over the past couple weeks. I love the endless opportunities to take pictures that warm weather allows. So for now we will enjoy the moment, and our flip-flops. Happy Day!

Kayaking High Island

Have a lovely weekend.

I am liking the painterly quality of this edit along with a little HDR magic.
I am going with Cone Flowers for this meme. I just can't get enough of photographing these!

Skywatch Friday

We are baking in an oven today. All of us, together. Crazy oppressive heat. I took this photo last Sunday. I love how you can see , my three boys in the background along with my brother in law and niece. We had our second college visit that day with our "rising senior" daughter (that is the lingo), to CT College. There are no scheduled tours on Sundays so we walked the campus on our own and then headed down the road to Rhode Island and an afternoon on the beach. I snapped this photo of her playing with her little cousins sand bucket. A little regression maybe? http://skyley.blogspot.com/ if you would like to check out skies around the globe. Enjoy.

Wordless Wednesday aka My Sunday Best

http://www.wordlesswednesday.com/newhome/.
Taken Sunday.
This was my fav photo of the week of my niece and four children playing in the sand on the beach. I love the composition and the focus on her and how they are all doing their own thing. :)
http://throughaphotographerseyes.blogspot.com/.
Also, linking with A Rural Journal, a new fav of mine. Here is my Sunday Best. :)

Saturday's Flowers

Tiger Lilies! I think my yard is in a different zone from the rest of our town. My Tiger Lilies just came into bloom this week. It's very odd. My next door neighbor's have been in bloom for three weeks now. Funny.

Black and White

One for black and white wednesday at : http://www.thelongroadtochina.com/.

Her black and whites this week are beautiful. Just look.

Cardio and Cone Flowers

Last night I was all set to head off to a Zumba class, which I love. It's cardio for sure, but it just feels like your dancing. It is so much fun, and the time flies. But, my flower beds are out of control with crab grass. I just couldn't justifying driving to go exercise when weeding is such a work out in itself.(But not nearly as fun):( My butt was killing me when I was done for the night, and I still have several hours of potential exercise out there in my very own front yard. So, since I was hanging around the yard I decided to take some photographs of the most photogenic flowers ever: Cone Flowers. It really is hard to take a bad picture of them. The center is so three dimensional it just pops. And then when a bee hops in the composition it is nearly perfect. Thanks Mr. Bee.
Enjoying Wordless Wednesday.
http://www.wordlesswednesday.com/newhome/

Honey Bee on a Wild Island Rose

As the Sun was Setting

I took these photos near sunset on our short but sweet vacation last week. I took so many photos that my editing possibilities are nearly endless. How fun! And, such a creative outlet for me. Thank you picnik.com. I am linking up with The Creative Exchange todayhttp://www.lgordonphotography.com/ . Check it out and be inspired.