shadows on the beach

please click on photo to see subtle shadows up close



if you click on this photo, you can see the lifeguard's rowboat with the name robert moses on it. we went to the beach yesterday around 5 o'clock. I was surprised it wasn't more crowded. as I lay down resting on our beach blanket I couldn't help notice the symphony of noise around me. there were crying babies, people yelling and people laughing. somehow the waves crashing on the beach seemed to drown out all the noise to a comfortable level.

today is shadow shot sunday. if you'd like to see more shadows, please go here and visit the great hey harriet blog thanks to tracy.

lilies with hydrangeas

please click on photo to see lilies and hydrangeas up close



I've never seen these planted together before. and here I thought I had such a good imagination, making up a pen name that no one has ever thought of! I should also mention the delicate lavender flowers are part of a hosta plant. do you have a favorite flower?

sky at JFK

please click on photo to see more cloud detail



thanks to my son ian for getting this shot monday as I drove into jfk airport to pick up the hubster. getting there, the traffic was unbearable. yet after seeing the huge sky against the wide open spaces, it was definitely worth it.

to see more lovely skies, please go here thanks to klaus and his skywatch team sandy, ivar, wren, fishing guy, and louise.

summer squash

please click on photo to see more detail



are these leaves ginormous or what? if you look closely you can see the very weight of them are causing some of their stems to bend at forty-five degree angles. this is the first summer I have given up trying to grow vegetables. I grew tired of my "crops" rarely yielding more than two or three of anything. thankfully I am still semi successfully growing herbs and flowers since I so do love to play in the dirt. remember the cucumbers I showed you last summer? this squash is from the same garden. so, have you ever grown a summer garden?

zen at the beach

please click on photo to see third seagull flying



zen, according to wikipedia, is often simply called the path of enlightenment. I would say these two birds are definitely on that path, wouldn't you? today is abc wednesday and today's letter is Z.

please go here to see other Z representations, thanks to mrs. nesbitt.

a message

desperate to assuage our grief, we left our house sunday at 5 PM for a walk on the beach. this is what we found. my husband's beloved brother Paul died suddenly two and a half years ago. he loved cats. when Sylvia passed away saturday night we all felt she was with him. tell me, what are the odds?

RIP Sylvia

please click on photo to see pretty girl up close



once a feral young kitty found in our window well with her mewing kittens, it was at least a year before she would let us get close enough to pet her. what we didn't know then, was that Sylvia adopted us. over the next 9 years she found her way into our hearts by filling them with many happy memories, memories we have been sharing since we found her lifeless on the street last night. Sylvia seemed to take great pride in watching over her dominion, our home. I am sure she was waiting for us last night just like she always did. this picture shows her sitting on one of her favorite lookouts, this one facing our side door and kitchen wimdow so she could keep watch as we entered and exited. we are missing her terribly right now.

so who wouldn't want a Nikon D80?

please click on photo to see this cutie up close


support the lance armstrong foundation, while buying a raffle ticket and you may be the recipient of a brand new nikon d80 camera compliments of the generous pioneer woman and her friend elden. please go here asap and buy a raffle ticket since the drawing will be this monday. in other words, time is running out! you must however, enter the contest through pioneer woman's site here where you will also be able to read the heart wrenching but truly incredible story of a woman fighting for her life as she battles cancer. I am not sure I know anyone who hasn't been affected by cancer one way or another so I thought if even half of my readers decide to buy a ticket, that would amount to a sizable donation for an important cause to us all. and if we're lucky, maybe one of us will win. and even if we don't win we'll still win, right?
I almost forgot to mention, pioneer woman donated an added bonus with the camera called adobe photoshop CS4.

skywatch in plainview, new york

please click on photo to see more puffy cloud details



as I walked to my car in a parking lot in plainview, I couldn't help but notice the huge expanse of clouds in the sky before me. the view was such that I needn't look up to see the massive puffs of white cloud as they floated by. the one pictured here on the right reminded me of one I had seen at the exquisite "about new york" blog a few weeks ago. perhaps they are cousins? what does this cloud look like to you?

to see more lovely skies, please go here thanks to klaus and his skywatch team sandy, ivar, wren, fishing guy, and louise.