Vacation Shots

The first three shots are from a walk in central NC near where I live and the rest are from the NC coast about 150 miles from me. 



The ferns above are looking much better than they usually do in August.



The deer was playing peekaboo with me.



It has been a much better summer than we usually have in terms of not being too hot.



I was afraid it would be stormy while I was at the beach but it turned out better than expected.



There were some showers but it would stop at crucial moments like walking time.



And sunset time . . .



for lighted paths across the sound . . .



and moon rise with a lighted path across the ocean . . . 



I managed to have plenty of times for photography both while walking and sitting on the balcony.



There was even a blue sky on the sound side for breakfast at a Topsail restaurant.



There was less blue on the ocean side for walking but I love clouds.



I never got a shot of the pelicans dive bombing for food. This one settled way out in the ocean with his back turned.



I like the way the blue strip added an accent to the clouds over the dunes.



The only problem with a week off work is as it draws to an end I realize I should have taken two.



I may take a longer vacation this fall.



I even managed to avoid the news which is a very good thing stress wise although I am unfortunately caught up now.

July 2017 ending

After a stretch of hot and humid days we had a perfect Sunday for a walk.



I took these shots at Lake Lynn in Raleigh, NC.



Not much to say but I like to post at least a couple of times a month so later I can look back on the timing in nature.



We've had so much rain that in some regards this looks more like spring than summer.



With the heat if we hadn't had a lot of rain the vegetation would look a lot droopier.



If anything we've had an over abundance of rain for many years.



I still haven't forgot what a bad drought we had from around 2005 through 2008.



In 2007/2008 the local newspaper would say how many days were left before the reservoir would be used up.



Since the Falls Lake is a 12,410 acre reservoir it's incredible to remember that.



Fortunately it never did dry up and as I said if anything we've had an overabundance of rain for years now.



That's not true for the whole state but it is for where I live in the NC Piedmont but of course with weather it can always turn on a dime.  

Happy Independence Day

In honor of independence day the words for this post are borrowed from the preamble to the U.S. Declaration of Indenpendence.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,

That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes;

and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. 

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism,

it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

I'm also rather fond of the first amendment of the U.S. constitution:  Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Early June 2017

I took the shots in this post on Saturday June 3 and Saturday June 10.



The weather cooperated for me to check on Bill's garden where he's retired in Oxford, NC.



I wasn't sure if his vegetable garden would survive while he and our daughter were in Europe (France, Italy and Greece) for 18 days.



It turned out well with rain at the beginning of the week and and coool weather mid week.



The hot weather was on Saturday and Sunday both weekends so it motivated me to go and turn on his irrigation on the Saturday mornings. 



None of the shots are of Bill's actual vegetable garden. The shot above is rolled bales I shot before I got to his house and the tomatoes above that shot are of tomatoes growing in one of his compost cages. I'm not sure if he even knows about them. I pick him up tomorrow to take him home so I'll find out then. 



The shot above is Bill's meadow and the shot below are trumpet vines growing on an old tobacco barn that's in his meadow.



He has a lot of wildflowers. I'm glad that he and Avory were able to go on this trip. Bill's 8 years older than I am so he has retired before I'll be able to. I'm grateful that our friendship has survived our divorce many years ago.



I was able to meet Avory during a student exchange she did during high school in Germany (around 2002). We took a train from Germany to France so I'm glad she was able to have a trip like this one with her Dad. I spent a summer in Europe in 1974 too when my father was on a sabbatical. Bill has lived in Japan but never been to Europe and I've enjoyed their trip vicariously through instagram.