a last post for 2008, hope to see you in the new . . .

I am thinking I'll take a break from blogging for the rest of the year, hope to see you in the new year. Cheers!

That's My World Tuesday: My City's water supply

The main water supply for my City (Raleigh, NC) is the Falls Lake Reservoir which covers roughly 12,500 acres of water and is surrounded by 25,500 acres of public land. The shot in this post was taken at Blue Jay County Park one of the many recreational areas around the lake. To visit participants from other parts of the world please drop by the home of That's My World Tuesday.

Monochrome Monday: A girl on her bike (shot on a warm September Day in 2008)

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Skywatch Friday: The Birds Must have a Green light

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Wordless Wednesday: Little Cabin in the woods

Note- These were taken three months ago when everything was still green at the Paul Green Cabin in the NC Botanical Garden.

Another view so you can see the cabin -

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That's My World Tuesday: Local Produce

For this week, I thought I would feature local produce, although we are entering the winter months and I'm using photographs from the spring and summer. The photographs below were taken in April at the NC State Farmer's Market (top two in the collage) and at North Hills which is a shopping center near me (bottom two in the collage).

The North Carolina State Farmer's Market is in Raleigh where I live and operates year round, seven days a week, with indoor booths for crafts, local wine, cheese, seafood, plants, and fresh produce. The small market at North Hills Shopping center only operates from April to October on Saturday with tents in a central area for fresh produce and plants. There are a number of other small markets with locally grown produce in the triangle area.

The chart above shows what's in season during the year in North Carolina. The eastern part of the state has a longer growing season for many crops than the western part of the state. It's nice having the State Farmer's market in my town as farmers drive to that large market from different parts of the state.

The last shot is a day's harvest in July from my back yard garden. It doesn't get any fresher or more local than walking out into your home garden for vegetables. I'll have to wait until the summer months to be doing that again.

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Monochrome Monday: Birds in a tree

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SkyWatch Friday: Cockadoodledoo

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Wordless Wednesday: Being Chased by a Turkey Duck

For those of you who celebrate it, I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving. To find other participants please visit the home of Wordless Wednesday. This is for the Tuesday and Wednesday editions of WW.

That's My World Tuesday: Across North Carolina

I thought I'd show the distinct parts of my state (North Carolina, U.S.A.) for this post. We have the Appalachian mountains in the western part of the state (including the Smoky Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains). I live in the piedmont which is in the middle of the state. To the east is the Coastal Plains and the Outer banks. One of the advantages to where I live is that it's an easy drive to the beach in one direction and to the mountains in the other direction.

I thought I'd show shots from each side of my state, and back home, in different seasons. The top left shot above is my neighborhood this spring. Then off to the beach this summer for the top right shot at Atlantic Beach, NC (those are my sisters in the beach chairs). The bottom left shot was taken near Blowing Rock, NC in the mountains. The bottom right shot was taken in my driveway 8 years ago when my daughter was clearing out the snow. Some winters we barely get any snow but that winter we had more than usual.

Above are two maps of North Carolina. The top map shows the different elevations in parts of the state. The red arrow is pointing to where I live. The second map shows the mountain to sea trail. Although it's not completed yet, eventually the adventurous hiker will be able to back pack from the mountains to the outer banks on a trail which will cover over 700 miles. UPDATE NOTE - As of 2011 the site for this trail now says the completed trail will cover 1,000 miles.

The shot above is of my globe with a red arrow pointing to where I live (Raleigh), on the lower right hand side.

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Monochrome Monday: Country Road

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Skywatch Friday: Can you spot the birds trying to blend with the tree against the sky?

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Wordless Wednesday: Bitten off more than they could chew

You can click inside to enlarge the shot, and look to your right if my title doesn't make sense. To find other WW posts, please visit the home of Wordless Wednesday.

That's My World Tuesday

I live in the North Carolina piedmont near the center of the state in an area known as the triangle. The triangle originally referred to the three major research universities which are located in this area, and later also included the Research Triangle Park (RTP) after it was started in 1959. For this post I'll show specific examples of how each of the towns comprising the triangle are part of my world.

North Carolina State University (NCSU) is located in Raleigh where I live. The top left shot was taken at NCSU’s Raulston Arboretum. The company I work for is headquartered in Durham which also is the town where Duke University is located. The top right shot was taken at Duke Gardens. The University of North Carolina (UNC) is located in Chapel Hill where I go for melanoma follow up appointments. The bottom left shot is of a courtyard in the center of UNC Hospitals. The bottom right shot was taken near the RTP exit when I was driving to Durham to pick up some work.

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Monochrome Monday: Cows Up against a fence

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SkyWatch Friday: What a difference a week makes

The shot above is the same tree against the sky that I used for last week's skywatch. I find it amazing how big of a difference a week makes. If anyone wants to compare, here's a link to last week's photo of the same tree against the sky. To find other skies around the world please visit the home of SkyWatch Friday.

Wordless Wednesday: Born on Veterans Day

If anyone is here for that's My World Tuesday, you can scroll down to the next post to find it. This is for the Tuesday and Wednesday editions of Wordless Wednesday.


NOTE - After I already did the collage above, I was reading and realized the monument I titled World War II memorial is actually a memorial for NC veterans who served in World War I, II and the Korean War. To find other WW posts please visit the home of Wordless Wednesday.

That's My World: The Capital of North Carolina

My hometown (Raleigh) is the capital of North Carolina so I thought I'd show you the State Capitol and the State Legislature buildings. The General Assembly met in the Capitol Building until 1963. They now meet in the new legislature building shown in the bottom right shot. The other shots are of the NC State Capitol which was built between 1833 and 1840. Offices of the Governor and Secretary of State remain in this building. The original Raleigh State House was built on the same site in 1796 but it burnt down in 1831 during efforts to fireproof the wooden roof. Workmen were going to use melted zinc to cover the roof of the old State House to make it fireproof. The way the story goes is they melted the zinc in big pots, left to eat lunch, the pots tipped over and caught the building on fire and it burned to the ground. Ah the irony.

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Monochrome Monday: Wild Turkey

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Blazing colors of fall

I have decided to post images which can be enlarged for a while instead of the full screen ones I've been doing. Click inside the photo above if you want to see an enlargement. If anyone has a preference please let me know if you prefer to oversize images that I've been doing, or these smaller ones which can be enlarged.

SkyWatch Friday: Dona Nobis Pacem

Since North Carolina has FINALLY gone blue in a presidential election, I thought I'd show you our Carolina blue sky serving as a backdrop to my dogwood tree. To visit other Skywatch participants, please go to the home of Skywatch Friday. This will be a mixed post of sorts and my mostly wordless blog will have words.
The presidential election was so close in NC that we didn't find out until this morning's paper that it is being called for Barack Obama, who will get our electoral votes. He didn't need them, but it means a lot to me that my state voted for him.

I thought I'd put my peace globe in with my skywat ch post this week, although my post for blogblast for peace is on my other blog, Carver's Sight or is that Site. To find other peace globes you can visit the home of Blogblast for Peace at Mimi Writes. To see an enlargement of my peace globe you can click inside it. Dona Nobis Pacem, Peace Please!

Wordless Wednesday: Election Day - Everything is happening at the Polls

This is my Tuesday/Wednesday post for Wordless Wednesday. Good to see a crowd out for the U.S. election on a rainy Tuesday. To find other wordless Wednesday Participants, please visit Wordless Wednesday.