SkyWatch Friday: Sepckled Sky

I was so entranced by the sky when I looked out my window that I immediately started shooting. I wish I could have shot it from a wide open field or coastline rather than an area surrounded by trees because I didn't get the full affect but it was pretty amazing how every bit of sky was covered in these cotton ball clouds.


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ABC Wednesday: K is for Kite

The first kite I will show you is flying at the beach high in the air. This is the kind of kite which is released by letting out string which is wrapped on a hand held handle.

When I was on vacation at Atlantic Beach, NC the kite above is the only one of its kind I saw. However, I saw quite a few different kitesurfers along the beach.

Although kitesurfing has been around for a while, the first time I noticed them in NC at this beach was three or maybe four years ago.

I was surprised by how many kitesurfers I saw at the NC beach this year.

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That's My World Tuesday: Cranes reflections and style mixes

Whenever I'm downtown in my city (Raleigh, NC) I find myself photographing some of the same things.

Not sure why but cranes are one of the things I always photograph.

I liked to photograph reflections in buildings and I always like to photograph the Briggs Hardware building (the red one).

It was fun getting the reflection of the Briggs Hardware building in the glass of the modern building.

I also like to photograph the Briggs Hardware building in wide shots to get the more modern Wachovia building in the frame for contrast.

The lighting isn't that great in the shot below but I thought I'd go for a mix of buildings in this post. The tall blue one below is the RBC plaza.

I guess I could get a better shot of the buildings below once the trees drop their leaves in the winter but I kind of like the soft look of the leaves. I took these shots at the end of this August.

I posted about the classic car show downtown for a my world post a few weeks ago. I took these building shots at the same time I was photographing the cars.

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The Weekend in Black and White: Into the light

I took a lot of shots further back in the tunnel but it was so dark that it was like a pin hole of light at the end. Therefore, I went with this one although I would have preferred to get more of the dark to light feel than this shot has.

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SkyWatch Friday: Bands Playing in the Sky

It struck me how the sky was divided by bands of white across the blue. There were more than I could fit in one shot easily but I thought this one at least gives an idea of what was going on.


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Note to myself about Today's Flowers

Sometimes I use my labels to look back on my photographs. Until mid February of 2014, I posted Today's Flowers on my other blog. I can click here for old Today's Flowers posts to see what the flowers were doing in various seasons.

ABC Wednesday: J is for Jay

The photograph below is of a blue JAY eating its fill on my deck wall last winter.

Several years ago, we went to an environmental educational event at blue JAY point.

If you are interested in learning more about Blue Jay Point County Park, you can join them at their website by clicking here. The park includes a playground and since it was winter some of the children were jumping up and down to stay warm.

We took the Blue Jay Point trail down to falls lake and I thought the seagulls looked like tiny jewels glistening on the sandbar.

There are a number of trails at Blue Jay Point County Park but the one I'm including is named Blue Jay Point trail.

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That's My World Tuesday: Recent Walks

For this post, I am going to include shots from recent walks on the Shelley Lake trail (Raleigh, NC) and the trails along the creeks that feed into the lake (Bent Creek and Sawmill trails).

My world has been heating up to unseasonably hot later in the day but the mornings have been pleasant.

There is still a lot of green but some signs of changes in the trees. I am beginning to be ready for full blown fall, mostly because I'm so sick of the heat.

I am still able to enjoy the beauty that surrounds me and can look forward to more and more changes.

I thought it was interesting how many leaves were in the creek at certain parts. I think that may be partly because we haven't had much rain lately so what is falling there is stagnant.

I enjoy the obstacle courses on the natural dirt paths because sometimes I feel like I am getting so decrepit that it's nice to know I can maneuver when I need too.

The Canada goose below almost looked like it was skiing across the lake.

The duck was sauntering along at a leisurely pace.

Hard to believe in a few more months all these leaves will have changed colors and fallen on the ground.

I love to see rocks form as a natural wall against creeks.

The roots of trees like the one below are amazing with their tenacious grasp, refusing to let go even when their tree is dead.

I guess I'll stop back at the lake with a corner reflection that caught my eye.

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The Weekend in Black and White: Light shining through

There is something magical to me about the light coming through the trees on woodland walking trails.



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Skywatch Friday: Cyclist in the sky

Looking at the lower right side of the photograph you should be able to barely make out the person riding a bike down the hill. It almost looked like he was riding in the sky.

For skies around the world, visit the home of SkyWatch Friday.

ABC Wednesday: I is for Ice

Ice storms can be very beautiful although it's irritating when they damage trees and power lines.

The inferior quality of the first two photographs in this post can be blamed on my first cheap digital camera.

Any inferiority in the rest of the photographs has to be blamed on the photographer since they were taken after I got a better digital camera.

In the winter I try to provide the birds with fresh water. I end up with ice blocks on my deck from the frozen water I empty out.

The birds let me know when they are ready for more water because their bird baths are iced over. Sometimes the ice forms in interesting ways.

I don't think I'd ever seen an upright icicle until I spotted this one last winter.

The creek which feeds into Shelley Lake had ice in early January.

The lake also had ice over most of it although much of it was thin ice so not suitable for ice skating.

The neighborhood children did get to go sledding last winter when ice formed on top of the snow.

For other takes on the letter I please visit the home of ABC Wednesday.