Tuesday, April 9, 2013

A little bit of spring and a look back

I'm getting more excited every day for spring to come. Today I noticed that my crocus are coming up!



My sedums, tulips, and daffodils are also making their debut.




I have one issue though...the rabbits found the bushes in my front flower bed. This is what happens when you don't cover your shrubs. Looks like I will be redoing our flower bed next month.


 

I have been going through my hard drive trying to get rid of some of my electronic clutter. I came across a shoot that I did with my step-brother's girl friend Sam. We do lots of shoots when I'm home which I use to practice ideas I have. This time I wanted to use the old house by my dad's as our backdrop. I wanted a very somber feel to this and that's why all the images are in black and white and her expression reflects the surroundings.




 
 


Love the reflection


 
 
 
 
 
 
Love the wall paper and the curtains that are still hanging.
 
 
 

The next time I go home I'm going to take more detailed shots of the house itself as it's not going to be standing much longer.

 
I hope everyone had a great day!

Monday, April 8, 2013

Day trip


I am going to apologize up front for all the pictures in this post. Mom and I took a drive to Milwaukee on Sunday to see the Mitchell Domes. ID never been there and since I don't have much to photograph around here with my new camera, Mom thought the domes would be the perfect place to play around with it.

There are three different domes - a desert dome, a tropical dome, and a show dome, the only one that changes. They have five seasonal displays every year.

The first dome we went to was the desert. As you can imagine, there wasn't much for color, but there were many shapes and types of plants.







The next dome we went to was the tropical dome. I could have stayed in there for hours. All it was missing was zen music playing in the background. This dome even had a waterfall.




 
I am a very lucky girl . My mom and I walked around each dome together, looking at the flowers and commenting on the plants and then she would find a bench and read while I walked the whole thing again.
 


The show dome theme was Blue Bayou . I really didn't see the theme in the flowers but couldn't miss it in the statues that were positioned throughout.  The whole dome smelled like flowers. I wish I could have bottled it up and brought it home!








This little owl was sitting at the beginning of the walk. This one is for you. Mom :)

After the domes we had lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen.  I had a Chicken Caesar sandwich which was amazing.

After lunch we walked over to a store my mom loves called Charming Charlie.  It was a rainbow of colors. They had shoes, accessories, clothing, and it was all color blocked. I didn't find anything to buy but I would certainly go back again.

We made a quick stop at Trader Joe's and then started back home.  I was reading my mom directions when I realized she had one more place to take me.  We were driving through the country and it was beautiful. Through the trees I could see a very large church on top of a hill.


 I kept telling my mom to look, that I couldn't believe how big the church was and, as we kept driving, the church got closer and closer. I joked and said "You're not making me go to church today are you?" She just laughed and said, "No."   Once we finally got to the turn off, it said Holy Hill Basilica and National Shrine. She was taking me to the church! They do have service, but we were just there to walk around.







It was the most beautiful church!  There was a service going on while we were walking around, and the music and singing we could hear was angelic.

I had such an amazing day with my mom.  I hope we have many more trips like this.

Thanks for spending the day with me, Mom :)  I love you.


Thursday, April 4, 2013

Evening walk

Tonight we went for a walk in a park near our home. Here are some of my favorites from tonight.





 





 
Hope everyone has a great night :)

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Happy early Easter

Today we celebrated Easter at my dad's house. This is the new dress I got yesterday :)  I just love it!


  I always love a home-cooked meal and my dad never disappoints. We had wonderful meal of a roast, pasta salad, baked beans and grape salad.  Everything was delicious!

It was so nice to see family.  Uncle Bob and cousin Gretchen came from Wausau, and Gretchen brought her baby Graham.  He is soooo sweet.



 


Gretchen, Me, Graham, and Grandma Ginnie

My great aunt and uncle came, as well.



 




After dinner we took a drive to Flemings Rapids. There was a light fog  over the water I was hoping to capture.  I managed to get a shot of two geese as they flew away.


 There was just a little bit of fog.  I think this picture shows how calm it was.
 Well, it's time to go relax and enjoy the rest of the evening.  Tomorrow we head back home and we'll be stopping to see more of my family.
Good night, everyone!