Donnie Smile

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Joey had a very early baseball game today, and I didn't have time to post before leaving the house this morning.  Then Donnie took me shopping at my favorite thrift store, Guardian Angel, and for a photo walk around Yates Mill afterward.  I enjoyed that.  He does such a great job of keeping my spirits up.  I was feeling fine earlier, but now I'm not feeling too great.  I've got a headache and a small temp.  Donnie is of course taking great care of me.  For my daily, I'll share the smile that makes my day every day...

Madi's softball season concluded last night, and the coach gave out trophies at home plate.  Here is Madi with her mom and dad and a teammate.  I saw a photo op and sprang into action:-)

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Keeping Score

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My surgery went well yesterday. Donnie took excellent care of me afterward like always.

We made it to Johnny's evening baseball game last night. As pictured in my daily, Donnie kept score. Normally I would have helped out in the dugout, but this time I sat in the score box with Donnie and enjoyed the higher view. Not a great shot technically speaking. But of course I think all shots of Donnie are great. Mostly posting so you can see a shot from the iPhone 5. I don't plan to post iPhone 5 pics often, but on occasion.

Here is what Picasa formats out the exif on this photo to look like.  The ISO 50 was a bit of a surprise to me.

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Johnny has his first baseball tournament game tonight.  It is single elimination.  Joey's team has another week of games and the tournament starts on 10/30.

Peek-A-Boo

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It's school track out time again for the kids, and that usually means a trip to Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park in Scotland Neck, NC to see the birds.  In October, in addition to the normal things that they have, they also have a corn maze.  Fun stuff!  We managed to traverse all 15 stations while watching cotton being picked (by machine) in the field next to us.  Gotta love rural NC on a fall day!

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One of the other highlights of our trip was running into one of the park staff 'walking' this baby Sarus Crane. He said he takes him for a 3 mile walk each day.   Believe it or not, but this guy is going to be as tall as me!  And have a 6' wing span!

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Gotta love these kids when they pose so nicely like this!

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And like this...

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I'm having surgery this morning.  Continued reconstruction after my initial breast cancer surgery.  I'm sure all will go good and I'll be back online later today.

We've Got the Whole World in Our Hands (or on Our Head)

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The kids and I went to the SECU Daily Planet yesterday or Nature Research Center.  The name of this museum confuses me a bit.  This was Madi's first time and our second time going and we really enjoyed ourselves as you can see from the collage.  I  just love that big globe.  Although I could have gone across the street to get more of it in, then there would have been many more cars in the way.  The shot is obviously not one of my best, but I thought it was the best of what I took yesterday.  I envision it stripped from the background with a star field behind it:-)

The kids enjoyed the 3 story globe movie and going into the specimen lab where they got to hold skins from many forest animals like deer and raccoon.

Below is a shot of the kids hanging out at my kitchen table on laptops (ThinkPads).  No, they are not saving the free world; they are playing Club Penguin.

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I found this Slimy Salamander in my garage after the rainstorm Monday night.  I knew NC had salamanders but it is the first time I've seen one in the wild in my yard.  We set him free after I took his picture.

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We're out the door to Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park today.

Library of Congress

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After touring the US Capitol last Friday, we used the tunnel to get to the Library of Congress. If you thought the architecture of the Capitol was eye catching, you're in for a real treat with the Library of Congress.  What an impressive building in both design and skilled artistry.  Using Photomatix, Color Efex Pro, and Microsoft ICE, I processed the best of the shots that I took.

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This is a 2 shot vertical pano.

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Boasting a Gutenberg Bible.  One of 3 fully intact vellum copies left today.

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And from the front steps after our tour.  Handsome guys!

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National Museum of the Marine Corps

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Donnie and I noticed a fascinating looking building on our way into the Washington, DC area on I95 last week.  The sign said it was the National Museum of the Marine Corps.  We said to ourselves that we might stop there on our way home, and yesterday heading back to North Carolina we did.

What a great place!  If you are in the area, do take 3 or more hours to stop in and enjoy the museum.  I honestly did not realize that importance of the Marine Corps throughout history and especially in WWII.  We were honored to meet WWII Veteran Frank Matthews who was at Iwo Jima and gave personal accounts of the experience.  It was also fun to try on a real/heavy backpack, get yelled out by drill sergeants, and to practice with a laser rifle.  As you can see kids young and older had a great time:-)

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Of historic note was the display with the famous flag from Iwo Jima, a piece of cement from the Pentagon from 911, and a World Trade Center I beam from 911.

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Girl in the Walkway

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This shot was taken in Crystal City last night near the Metro station on our way to dinner. It appealed to both Donnie and I. I'll share a few more DC pics over the next couple of days. Traveling home today.