Gail's iPhone

Although I have a fancy new camera, I take plenty of photographs with my iPhone. While Jonathan was home for Christmas last year,  he turned me on to Instagram, which is very fun, and those photos can be seen on statigram/gailpeck most of which are silly stuff that I come across from day to day. At one time, as I mentioned in the last few months flickr was where I posted online photos, again, nothing that I intend to sell.

Earlier this morning Nancy sent me a message asking that I send her some phone photos so she could choose something for her wallpaper. Okay, I can do that. After watering the flowers I roamed around the yard looking for anything that might appeal to her. Once inside I started looking at them and discovered I had some photos already on the phone and was pretty surprised that some of them were pretty good. Or, at least they looked so on the phone screen!

Because today is a holiday for Americans, let's just get real simple and look at photos today, shall we? This one is the water feature outside the Seasons 52 entrance. According to Bruce, the ones he will have in California are even cooler.

While looking for flowers at Lowes,  I took this, which as I recall is an aster flower.

You know how crazy I am about those caladiums!

The colors and textures are super great!

Periwinkles, or vincas, are a summer stalwart in Florida, standing up to the incessant heat and rain. Some folks aren't crazy about them because they seed themselves but I say, the more the merrier! These white ones did just that.

I love white flowers because they really pop in the landscape. Then for something silly, there's this:

For those who've never had a swimming pool in their backyard, it is the drain hose rolled super tight. Which reminds me, recently a catalogue came from Grandin Road with lots of garden related products, one of which was simply unbelievable to me. Talk about taking design mania to the next level! I give you a dressed, as it were, garden hose. This one is for folks who have more money than they rightly know what to do with!

Purslane is another one of the summer bloomers, a member of the succulent family, it can take the heat and blooms prolifically.

Pretty, aren't they?

Picasa is my go-to editing and storage sight/program, well, actually I don't really know what to call it. At any rate, sometimes it will recognize my phone, other times no. I wish it worked all of the time. Thinking of Google, the other day I considered the history of the big techies businesses, such as AOL, Yahoo, Microsoft, and thought to myself, Self--what if Google succumbs to the same place in internet history???? Will my blog be gone? What about five years of work? Scary.

The Fourth of July is already special in our nation's history, and too, in our own family history. This morning we did a little Face-Time chat with Matthew as he opened his birthday package. No, he wasn't born on July 4, but pretty darn close. Although we arrived at the hospital around 10PM on the fourth, he did not make his entrance into our world until 1:30 in the morning, missing being a Bicentennial baby by 90 minutes. I was able to share the story with Tom as he had joined us waving a British flag. He stole a bit of my thunder as I'd sent Matthew eight small flags to wave as he cheers on the US team at the Olympics, one for each event he'll be attending. As you may know, Tom has been working for several years on the transportation plans for the Olympics, a pretty big endeavor as they are predicted to be very well attended. Americans may be surprised to learn that there are NO parking facilities at any of the venues; all spectators will have to rely on public transport. Because they have done every bit of pre-planning possible, his team is anxious to get the Games underway. As am I--cannot wait!

Matt and Tom were to be leaving for the airport directly after our chat, they are coming to America, arriving in Philadelphia an hour or so before nightfall with hopeful plans to share in their fireworks display. A wedding in Lancaster, PA is next on their agenda. I'm hoping they don't melt as the temperature in London has been anything but warm.

So, Happy Birthday America, and soon, a great big Happy Birthday to my first born son!