Helleborus

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I went out in the yard this AM and snapped some flower shots mostly of helleborus.  I picked the best to post as my daily, and here are two more that I liked too.

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Here's a link to Tony Avent's Plant Delights Nursery, Inc.  He has many varieties to choose from.

Planet Raleigh

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I followed the tutorial here after reviewing John Bennett's Faux Planet Gallery.  This is the first time I've done one of these, and now that I have the idea I think I can look for photo ops to do these with and do them even better.

Here's the original taken on the way into Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh.  Always a nice view!

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Maybe this is an abstract?  Maybe not.  I really wanted to participate, but I'm just having a rough week.

Here's a nice very small 'orchid' in Donnie's grass.  There's so much to see when you really look.  The flower is less than the size of a nickel.

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Art at the Park

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The barn shots I was hoping to get yesterday just didn't work out although Donnie did his best to take me to the right places and give me a chance to shoot.  Nothing looked right to me yesterday.  It clouded up and the light just didn't strike me right.

We ended up at Harris Harris Lake County Park (Shearon Harris) for a short walk.  We enjoyed identifying the trees on the Cypress Tree Trail as well as watching the boats out on the lake.  It was warm and lovely when the sun was out and chilly when the clouds covered up the sun and the wind kicked up.

There were a lot of American Coot's out on the Lake:

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We enjoyed watching some white-breast nuthatches hunt for insects on loblolly pines. They were so high in the tree.  Wish they had some lower.

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There were lots of bluebrds and other birds frolicking around too.  Everyone is getting ready for spring nesting!

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Donnie was really impressed that the park staff was using an electric vehicle to get around:

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There was a lovely reflection on the little ponds around the park, but most of the time the clouds and wind on the water spoiled their picture appeal.  This one is kindof nice, though.  Donnie like that pine limb out over the water leading the eye into the scene.  Maybe he should be taking the pictures:-)

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I'm going to share a shot of the artwork done by kids at some of the programs out there.  It's water bottles with tempra type paint strung together and hanging on a trellis.  The colors and uniqueness appealed to me.  Here's a second shot that I liked:

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Spring Blooms

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I'm sharing a shot today that I took on 3/17/11.  I'm pretty sure it's from the yoshino cherry tree in my front yard.  I think I never posted this shot last year because I so much wanted to wait out the arrival of the swallowtail butterflies on the blooms.  I never got that shot.  They missed each other last year.

I didn't feel well at all yesterday.  My face looked sunburn and hot but I was freezing.  No temp though.  I stopped to take about 15 forsythia (yellow bell) pictures, and I didn't like any of them.  I felt horrible just sitting in the car with the window down trying.  Rather than give you a bad shot, I figured I'd post a seasonally appropriate one that I thought you'd really enjoy.

I'm doing better today...really.  The redness has gone down and I'm not so hot/cold.  I wanted to go for a drive with Donnie yesterday and just wasn't up to it, but I think we'll take a picture drive today.  It's that much warmer and still quite sunny.  There are some barns and fields and things on a road nearby that I want to explore.

On a sad note, some of our Bradford Pears got burned on Monday night when it went down to 25 degrees. Bummer.  It's not as bad as I've seens some years, but some of my photo ops are gone.  The shot below is a Bradford Pear tree shot from 3/10/11 last year.

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Cupcakes to Celebrate the End of Chemo!

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I did complete my fourth and final chemo session yesterday without any real problems.  One extra needle prick yesterday but Donnie was right there with me distracting me.  I felt so bad for another lady that they were having trouble starting the IV on.  She was crying, and she didn't have anyone there with her:-(  The staff was of course doing all they could but still.

In celebration, I made these cupcakes last night.  Yum!  Donnie stayed for dinner which is always a treat, and we had a nice ham meal together.

The thoughtful gift basket below was left by Madi's mom, Christine (Teen).  The little card on the brush reads, "NEW HAIRBRUSH FOR NEW HAIR!!"  I hope I need it soon.  Thank you, Teen!  Lifesavers, chocolate, Clementines, a flashlight to guide my way, a gift card at Kohl's, a card, and a picture of Madi with Santa (not pictured).

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Johnny never made it to school yesterday.  I'm trying to see if he's up to going today or not.  Nothing too serious, but I'm surprised how much punch this virus is carrying.  Here he's asleep in the recliner surrounded by stuffed animals and blankets that Joey tried to make him feel better with.  Poor guy.

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The two shots below really grabbed my heart.  I came upstairs to see how they were doing and ran to get my camera.  Johnny was cold, and it started out with him being cuddled under the blanket and then Donnie giving him a lesson in how to use the touch pad on his Chromebook.  He's trying to leave Windows behind and close but not quite able to do it.  Those retired guys that don't pp pictures can mostly get away with being on the Cloud.  Johnny likes tech stuff, and Donnie was doing a great job helping him feel better while I was cooking.

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Let's see what today has in store...

Share the Shamrock Spirit!

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I have several leprechaun shots that I've been working on.  I went back and forth on sharing this one or the flower shot below which I took at Home Depot on Saturday but have since pp'ed to give it some punch.  I dunno.  I figure one Leprechaun shot a week between now and the 17th works:-)

This is another window cling (not gel). The background is another gazing globe with a gaussian blur put on it.

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The Lorax was great except that Johnny got 'sick' in the parking deck on the way into the movie.  Sometimes it is not fun being a mom, but we were able to watch the movie and enjoy it.  Baseball tryouts were postponed...again.  Tuesday and Wednesday are the new days.  We'll see.

Off to my 4th and final chemo today.

Have Faith

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This is another shot from The Garden Hut.  These adorable little chicks were nesting near the cash register and caught my eye.  I have done a small crop and used Picasa Soft Focus to increase the dof.  I did a B&W conversion in PSE 7 and matted the print on a 16X20 black layer.

Here's one other print from The Garden Hut which I don't plan to post as a daily but spent some time working on:

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With baseball evaluations cancelled yesterday, the boys and I ended up at The Home Depot for their Kids Workshop where they built the #88 car of Dale Earnhardt, Jr.  We also went to the library to read to the therapy dogs.  Johnny's reading is super improved from 6 months ago.  It's exciting to see!

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Video

If I told you all the other things we did yesterday on top of these things you'd get dizzy.  First Saturdays often include trips to the bakery, thrift stores, regular shopping, and end up the day with a movie so mom can sit down for a few minutes.  Yesterday it was Raiders of the Lost Ark.  Can you believe that was 1981?  Time flies!  Joey now understands his Nintendo DS game a bit better:-)

We're off to see The Lorax at the IMAX theater at Marbles Kids Museum.  The kids are SOOOOOOO excited:-)