This last photo’s is of me – taking this photo ^_^

ISO 100, 105mm, f/25, 1/40 sec

Day 159 – Star Burst: Today was one of those days when I almost didn’t take a picture to match the photo prompt for the day. I quickly ran outside and captured this one as the sun was setting over my neighbor’s home across the street.

ISO 400, 50mm, f/4.0, 1/25 sec

Day 163 – Relax: Over the course of two days, I made 7 batches of apricot jam. One of my favorite ways to relax in the summer is with a tall glass of homemade iced coffee and a good book. What is your favorite way to relax?

ISO 400, 50mm, f/4.0, 1/3200 sec

Day 165 – Stars and Stripes: Last week on Flag Day, I made sure we put up our American flag. With this photo, I wanted to do something a little different, so I captured just a portion of the flag. The breeze was blowing quite briskly on this day, so I had to act quick to get what I had in mind.

Question for you: What photos have you taken over the last week?

Source:  www.pixabay.com

1920s photo by Ruth Alexander Nichols.

Photographer: Stuart Gibson
Athlete: Ryan Hipwood

Photographer: Dominic Zimmermann
Athlete: David Bertschinger

Photographer: Alessio Barbanti
Athlete: Taddy Blazusiak

Photographer: Eric Berger
Athlete: Dan Treadway

Finalists 2010 Top 50 – Red Bull Illume.

Toadstools are rock formations that look like mushrooms, with a hard top balanced on a softer columnal body eroded by the force of wind and sand. Almost right away, from the entrance to the toadstool area you can already see some toadstools to the right of the mesa in the photo below.

I hiked on for another half a mile to see the famous Red Toadstool, seen below. It is often displayed on brochures and posters.

As you can tell from the photos, it was around noon time then. To see more toadstools would have meant hiking another one or two miles. The temperature was climbing past 105 F (40 C), and I was not carrying any water, so I turned around and went back to the car where my wife was waiting with a cool bottle of water.

Most of my garden is planted and prepared.

More of my garden.

There are a few more plants that have been added, but I’ll show pictures of that later.

On Friday, I went out geocaching and hiking with a friend.  We had a LOT of fun and quite an adventure!  He discovered the clever hide across the street from me (video of that coming soon), found the cache I couldn’t find in the cemetery across from me (yay!), and then we ended up going to a local park.  It’s a BIG local park with a small castle and everything.

First we found this crazy looking tree in the cemetery.

Then we went to Buttermilk Falls.

Exploring Squire’s Castle.

A fun interior shot of Squire’s Castle.

Windows in Squire’s Castle.

Enjoying the view inside Squire’s Castle.

Then we took a while up the path after another cache. This is the path behind Squire’s Castle. It was challenging and I want to walk the whole thing.

Steps lead to somewhere…

Saturday was the weekly craft show at Geneva-on-the-Lake behind the Firehouse Winery.  Aslynn came along and set up with me!  It was, as always, a lot of fun!

Our setup!

I’m not kidding. We have fun. Aslynn made the mask and horns are they are separate pieces. Very light weight, too!

If you were there, you might remember seeing this. Her top hat. Which she will make customs of!

And of course, if Aslynn had anything for me to happily wear, it would be her kitty ears. :p

Father’s Day weekend was spent sitting in the sun and chilin’ with my dad. Other than all of this, I’ve been hard at work creating lots of new things for the Winefest this weekend at The Firehouse Winery!  Come on out, enjoy some wine, and show your support for local crafters!  I’ll be posting a blog within the next day or so to give you all a preview of what I have in store for the weekend! Anyway, thanks for reading! Hope you enjoy all the pictures! I’ve been a happy clicker.

An artist’s view of the lake last weekend.

This is how I change the oil in the car. You know, I watch.

Generations Copyright 2013 Lorelei Walsh Park

Recently I attended the wedding of my neice.  I managed to catch this shot later in the evening and thought it very relaxed and fitting that grandmother and granddaughter should share a special moment in time together on such a beautiful day.  Enjoy, cherish your special moments with the generations before you and keep making art!

“Give me your tired, your poor…

your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

Smiles. All smiles.

Oh my goodness, I am laughing here! Good Lord this is a fun story and where the heck is it coming from… but I don’t care, I like it. It’s nearly 2am and I don’t wanna quit, but I need to, that’s why I switched back over here…to break my thoughts off of it. Not sure if it’s working or not. The hazards of fiction. Crazy crazy that I’m writing fiction. I was always so sure I would only write true stuff. Apparently godspirit had other ideas…or maybe I agreed to the contract this way…who knows…I just hope I find out some of these answers when I die. Well, the goats are all asleep, one would hope….and it’s time for this country writer artist goat gal to go to sleep. Night night sweet ones, night night. 1:46am = 11 = MASTER number.

Jeesh, my boy is back to telling me I should reread my words every paragraph or so. Good grief, let me write my own way! If you don’t like what you read, then fine, you can try to convert me, but since you haven’t even read it, you don’t know if my writing is good or bad, the way it stands….without rereading every damn paragraph before going to the next. I swear…if I did that, I’d never get anything written. Never! I’d be so busy fixin and changing and thinking…..no…..I write. In the morning I read what I’ve written. END OF STORY. If it ain’t broken don’t fix it and you don’t even know if it’s broken! Oooh, good morning people. Well, aside from that, it’s been productive so far. Got the story proofread and sent to the mama and her child to read and got the Hoegger blog photos retaken, lol, lost em somehow and that is now sent off. I’m relaxed about it now…just send em when she needs em.

I will be getting medicine with the money from the sale of Butters, so I still need to earn enough to get the boy that machine he needs. $600, yikes. But I have to get it for him….It’s just one of the things he was told was on the way….for so long he waited only to be disappointed. Well, I’m gonna list some of my things…already shown here and there…..on the Etsy shop II opened but never filled. Wish me luck. I just wish it was easier to get photos off the phone and onto the laptop. Oh well. Jeesh. Turns out the photos weren’t the longest part of the process…listing them was…is. I’ve been at it all day and I only have 11 items listed. So much left. Guess I had more items than I thought. While taking photos, I found unfinished projects and one I even unraveled cuz it just wasn’t far enough along. It’s been a really good day to stay inside and do this since it’s 95 degrees. Yup…long process and I’m not done. Yup…5 oclock and I haven’t even fed yet. Wonder if I’ll ever get that store opened? And 6 1/2% they wanna take for allowing credit cards, plus the Etsy fee. Yikes. I so suck at this stuff. Ahhh gee. Well….I just went out there and even with this heat, there were still goat puddles but no puddle photos cuz not in time. Nope…today since I was late…they just wanted food. Ahhh the chaos of feeding time. The joys. Lol. Ok well…signing off here now at YeeHaw Ranch. 5600 words or so, so far on new story. Waiting on the childs opinion. Yay. Ps. I’m listing the goat fiber painting on Etsy so I’ll show you guys the finished product. Lol maybe today. Maybe tomorrow.

The Popper. When it gets hot, like it does almost every summer day in Nuevo, the pops snap crackle and pop.

And they get some distance! I got beaned in the leg one day and it stung.