Surprise!

...as in, these beautiful Surprise Lilies that decorated my mother's front yard this past weekend. 

Hope your week is full of sweet surprises!

“Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.” 

~ Samuel Johnson

Beginning to Bloom

Just in the nick of time, too!

I'm not the only one who's happy about it, either!

The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day He created spring. 

~ Bern Williams

Boy, do I feel stupid... and other updates

Last night I slipped my camera's SD card into the CD slot.

Oh, no!

My wise son said, "Google it. You can't be the first one who has done that."

He was right. 

Thanks to all of those who went before me. 

I folded a business card, taped one end, and went fishing.

Whew!

My zoom lens is home from the hospital.

It's not quite its old self, I'm afraid.

But it's doing the job

and for that I'm grateful.

I haven't been around to visit blogs lately.

I had a BlogHer book review due and barely finished it under the wire.

It was on Daring Greatly, by Brene Brown.

I loved it, but there is a LOT in that book.

All I'll say is, you should read it.

You can read my official review here.

Now I'm off to my 35th high school reunion. Whoo-hoo!!

I wrote more about that here.

So those are my excuses. Just in case you missed me.

I'll be back around to visit you Monday! 

Hope you have a great weekend!

(Just random photos from a walk right after the rain last week!)

A Typical Morning Walk

We finally had some rain around here, but these photos are from the day before the rains came, when the corner pond had just enough water for Max's therapeutic swim. 

Just a typical morning walk with my puppies, when I have to search hard for something different and interesting to photograph in the same places, every day...

I snapped several shots of this tumbleweed. 

That's just what I do on morning walks, take photo after photo of the same thing...

I'm very fond of these feet. 

Oh, the places we've been together...

Max never passes up a chance to go swimming. 

It's a great way to take the weight off of his old, achy muscles - and also to cool down in the triple digits we were having.

Belle is happy to wait on the sidelines with me while Max swims. 

She prefers wallowing in the dirt on the walk back home. 

This heart-shaped leaf waited for me on the dry pond bed. 

A little country love. 

What the dry creek bed must have looked like to the porcupine last week.

This peeling bark just caught my eye.

It's pretty in its own way, isn't it?

Baby acorns. 

A sure sign autumn is right around the corner.

I'm not sure what these tiny purple-tinted flowers are called, but they're one of my favorites, just because they show up when everything else fades away, giving the Hollow a bit of color.

I'm spinning a lot of plates right now... writing my children's book, editing two photo shoots, learning PSE, searching for an anchor job, a book review... those are just a few I'm trying to keep from crashing to the ground. 

But I'm never (okay, I'm rarely) too busy for my morning walk. 

Where else would I find the oomph that keeps them all spinning?

Hope you're having a week full of oomph!

I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read and all the friends I want to see. 

~ John Burroughs

New Love

Would you believe

my friends and family pitched in and bought me

a big, beautiful Mac computer?

I'm still in shock.

You can read about it here.

Mac and I are still in the 'getting acquainted' phase of our relationship... the past week has been crazy busy... but it was love at first sight.  I can't wait to play with some photos I took of a friend and her family last week, and get back to work on my book.

I hope you forgive me for neglecting you.

In the meantime, here are a few shots from a recent afternoon walk...

I loved the contrast of this yellow flower against the dead wood.

Tiny flowers.

Tossed by the wind.

Sunlight's touch, instant art.

Sunlight illuminating the petals.

The bugs are back!

Framed by purple.

Finally staying still long enough to say hello.

Which way did it go?


I hunt flowers and dragonflies.

They hunt lizards.

To each our own.

Fresh from the Garden...

...Just not my garden - which is the countryside surrounding me here in the Hollow. 

A sweet friend handed this gorgeous bouquet to me this weekend.

Despite a beautiful, mini-thunderstorm this afternoon, we're still deep in a drought and the surrounding countryside is puckered up like it sucked on a lemon. 

Wildflowers make a valiant effort, but wither in the convection-oven dry heat.

I think I've said this before, 

but we need rain!

In the meantime, I'll gaze at these while they last and dream of color.

Deepwater in Color

I spent a weekend back in my childhood neighborhood

where shaded streets meander ever outward from a garden of schools planted in an open field,

like petals on a flower expand outward from the pistil.

On Sunday I laced up my running shoes and hit a path that circles through the field, connecting the campuses.

All around me color popped from the green grass, 

flowers I once took for granted because I saw them spring after spring after spring. 

Except primroses - they inspired my wedding colors.

I never took them for granted.

 Still so lovely...

My parents' backyard also exploded with color

from wisteria 

from a yesterday, today and tomorrow bush

and from tiny pink blossoms, nestled in the grass.

This fig tree has guarded the back fence for as long as I can remember, 

an offspring of one in my great- grandmother's garden.

I found tons to capture in my camera, just by stepping out into the yard. 

Not all of the color was from nature, but it was interesting, nonetheless, like this laundry tree in an adjoining yard...