Camera Crazy

Talk about a variety show! How about some of those sporting events that you rarely see? Like rowing, or kayaking in whitewater? Have you seen any of the table tennis matches? My goodness do the opponents move fast; plus, how tiny is that table? Water Polo--it's like hockey in the water! Today Matt is seeing water polo matches and I'm most anxious to hear his reaction.

Bev rightly pointed out that I left the "Parade of Nations" out of my list of favorites. What was I thinking? It is always quite moving to see the world come together, and, I especially liked when all the flags were planted in that green part--can't remember what they called that hump. I do know, they did not call it a hump though. Help from the audience?

It seems as if the next two weeks I'll be staying mostly offline except for my blog posts because, darn it, you can't go on any site without results being posted! So, consider yourself warned.

Let's have a little bird chat, shall we? La…

Those of us of a certain age will immediately recognize my title as one of the most anticipated moments of the week for many American families. After watching, and loving, the opening ceremony Friday night, I couldn't help but think of one of Ed Sullivan's most famous lines. He, who brought us the British Invasion, would surely have uttered those words after seeing Danny Boyle's extravaganza! Talk about a variety show!

I pretty much loved every minute! Here are a few highlights for me:
 Rowen Martin's hilarious skit.The unsung heroes--construction workers who built the magnificent stadium--getting a nod The smoke stacks rising from the ground.Mary Poppins floating.The Olympic rings coming together in the sky.Fantastic music, loved the drummers lining the track.The cauldron could not be more beautiful could it?The Queen's outfit. I wonder why she doesn't smile more...Being reminded just how much the British have brought to our cultural world.Artic Monkeys perform…

Mostly I took it easy yesterday, nursing my sore body. I'm not getting any younger, so these things take time! Well maybe not too much time as this morning I do believe I'm doing considerably better.

As Bruce was leaving for his flight yesterday morning he suggested I stay off my bike for the day, however, after giving it some thought, I decided to give it a try, staying close to home for the most part. After as many days as I've been riding, the habit has been formed, leaving me a little lost if I don't get out there.

That was pretty much the extent of my moving around, with the rest of the day spent either at my computer working on my calendar images, reading, or floating in the pool. For the most part I don't spend a lot of time floating, but yesterday I thought it might do me good. Lying (laying?) there, mostly under the shade of the overhanging palms, gazing through the fronds at the blue sky filled with puffy white clouds, I remembered something I told Matt…

I may be the only person who has never heard of DOPE, or maybe not. Every single Sunday someone tells me about something new, and in this instance, a woman told me about DOPE, a personality test that claims everyone is one of four bird types: dove, owl, peacock, or eagle. I'd forgotten all about it until I was handing my sales book over to Bruce to record, and noticed I'd written the acronym down.

Because we all know how fond I am of birds, I checked it out, linking it to my blog. Except at first I did not take it myself, then thought better of it. How could I convince you to take it if I hadn't done so myself?? While in the midst of answering the 40 questions, which really amounts to clicking your mouse 40 times, Angela called and I told her what I was up to. She knew all about it, claiming that I was a peacock. Really?
Well, guess what? She was correct, apparently I am a peacock, or at least 37.5% so. Following, it claims that I am 27.5% dove, 25% eagle, and a lowly 10% …

It is no secret that I'm dying for the London Olympics to start. Although I told Maddie during her visit that I turn on the television once or twice a week, that is all about to change beginning July 27th. Because I "like" the London Olympics on facebook, I got to see this fantastic aerial photograph of the venues, and because I "like" you, I'm sharing:
If I were to guess I'd say that Matt lives in about the middle of the upper part of this photograph. I may have mentioned that he has tickets to nine events for the Olympics and several more for the Paralympics, which is very exciting indeed. Perhaps I've told this story before, and if so, please indulge me as I mention again that because Matt was born on July 5th, I was doing a lot of sitting, feeding, rocking, you know the whole taking care of a newborn thing. While doing so I watched as much of the Olympics as was feasibly possible. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that my beautifu…

Meet Betty:
who is just a whisper shy of 92 years old. Betty likes saying her most-treasured 79th birthday gift is her 13 year old granddaughter, Maddie.
Maddie, who lives near Seattle (named after Madeline L'Engle), is visiting Betty for some weeks this summer, and as Betty no longer drives, Carol, Maddie's Mom asked me if I might be willing to take her daughter out and about for an afternoon.......show her some local sights, that sort of thing. Are you thoroughly confused yet?  It gets easier as we go along.

And, so I did, picking her up at the sensible hour of 1:00 yesterday afternoon. Believe me, you should be glad, because had that not been the case, my post about Ponce Inlet etc. would have been even longer! You absolutely know I didn't take only eight photographs on that trip!

I digress.....

What shall we do? The mall? The movies? The park? My house? Decisions, decisions.  The movies--that's it! What shall we see? Because Betty's home is relatively close to …

...the more they stay the same. In some respects anyway.

Although much has changed physically since my last visit to Ponce Inlet, what attracts my photo taking has remained pretty much the same. Unlike my first visit I am completely healthy and strong. Well, strong is a relative word, but you get my drift. Furthermore, this time I have an arsenal of cameras, a Honda Pilot instead of an adorable blue Mini Cooper, and years of practice. That said, I'm not sure any of the photographs I took yesterday are one iota better than what I took with my handy Panasonic FZ8. Let's see what you think....

Leaving the house with what I thought was adequate time to make it to Ponce Inlet for the sunrise, the skies were that gorgeous shade of inky blue with clouds just becoming visible as I drove along I-4. Around 6AM I began to see the streaks of light amongst the blue meaning sunrise wouldn't be too far behind. Hmmm.....I know, I'll take SR44 to New Smyrna Beach,  which I'm pretty…