Zinnia poster

I really liked how this looked with the poster filter added to it but wish I'd shot it without the yellow moss flower.  If I have time later this week, I might give it another try.  I need to remember to buy lots more of these beauties...love the pink color and they are so easy to grow and don't seem to mind my forgetfulness in watering them daily.
Life is getting strange at work...my hours are changing to 9:30 in the morning so its really late getting off.  I'm not sure I'll make it till Dec. 23...ugh....

Early Christmas Gift from the Grands

The kids gave me an early Christmas gift.  Kristen and Greg made this flower holder and a dragon fly out of nuts and bolts and an old thread spool.  I'll get a shot of the fly later, not enough time this morning.  I hung this right beside the back door to remind me to add flowers to it as the seasons moves on.  I really like the idea behind this and think it would make easy, great gifts. 

The kids and I had a blast...but I'm worn completely out.  I washed clothes and linens all afternoon and cleaned house.  Now, its back to work. 

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Shades of White

Just something I've had in my mind for awhile.  I wanted a taller church but this is the only one I have.  I'm visualizing this with some Queen Anne's Lace but keep forgetting to stop and pick any on my way home from work.  Suppose to rain today....we need some!  But, I'm not holding my breath.  It was suppose to rain yesterday and all it did was sprinkle.

The grands will all be here tomorrow and stay till a week from Sunday.  Amanda is so excited, she emails me every day to let me know how many days left...LOL...love her to pieces!  I'm going to love having them, even though it will wear me completely out and I didn't take 2 weeks vacation this year....only the week they are here.  I will be regretting this decision come Monday after they go home.


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Mother Nature's part in my garden's

 

Just some snaps of Mother's Nature's handiwork.  The single petunia and vine are growing out of the cracks in my foundation.  The big bunch of petunia's are growing in my front flower bed. Last year, I had a pot of petunia's sitting on this spot and I'm guessing a piece or two broke off and rooted themselves.  Early this Spring, when I was weeding beds, I noticed the start of a petunia plant, so I left it to grow.  The vinca vine has been growing out of this crack for the past 3 years.


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Snaps around the yard

A few snaps around the yard for July. In the first one you can see that Brent used what he had on hand for his bean poles...LOL
I love my Hibiscus just wish it would come back next year but I guess I'll just have to buy another one.

White Coneflower

Just revisiting some images I snapped when the flowers were in their prime.  I miss them.........



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My Cozy Corner

Just a shot of my new little table and chairs and the Diamond frost.  Love this new furniture. 
I'm having trouble with my laptop when I use my Photoshop.....can't use the numeral pad or my little b...the captial B works but not the little b.  Might be cause my laptop is so full there isn't any room left for the PS to run....need to do some major housecleaning.  I think I'll buy a new huge external drive and move all my pictures to it.

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The Pale Pink Hibiscus

Just thought I would post the pale pink hibiscus bush.  It's not nearly as big or as pretty as the hot pink one and I don't like it nearly as well but it was given to me so it gets to continue growing... 
BTW...I finally figured out a way to take shots early in the morning without my lens fogging over.  Or, should I say, some guys on the Alpha group gave me some suggestions...LOL....I warm my camera up a bit with my hair dryer and then wrap it in a warm towel before I carry it outside.  Worked like a charm...no condensation. It took about a minute to warm the towel up in the dryer and a minute to warm the camera up with the hair dryer. I was getting frustrated because I would see something I wanted to get a shot up but when I'd bring my camera outside, it would fog over and I couldn't use it for at least 30 minutes until it warmed up. 

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Paula Deen Zucchini Bread Recipe

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup water
2 cups grated zucchini
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar.  In a separate bowl, combine oil, eggs, water, zucchini and lemon juice. (Believe it or not, I forgot to add the lemon juice but I couldn't tell that!).  Mix wet ingredients into dry, add nuts and fold in.  Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed with nonstick spray, for 1 hour, or until a tester comes out cleans.  Alternately, bake in 5 mini loaf pans for about 45 minutes. My mini loaf pan is the size of a cookie sheet with 8 mini loaves and it filled them all to the brim with a bit left over in the bowl.  I baked for 45 minutes and they were perfect.

This is not for the fat-free, calorie conscience.....LOL..

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Pretty in Pink

Just a couple snaps of my perennial Hibiscus.  This one was given to me by a lady on my route and I love the deep, deep  pink color. I have had to pour the water to it this year since its fairly new to my yard but next year it will be able to handle the weather on its own.  Or, so I hope...LOL....the plant is about 5 foot tall and 3 foot around and it has tons of buds on it but only a few have bloomed out so far.  They only last a couple days but are replaced by a new bloom each time.  I also have a smaller plant with paler pink blooms but I don't like it as well.  It doesn't get enough sunlight where it is planted and I need to dig it up and transplant it but I keep forgetting until its too late to dig. 

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Zucchini bread

Since the weather was so hot and dry this weekend, we didn't have to mow.  I did do a ton of watering but we were finally blessed with an inch of rain early this morning.  The flowers loved it!  So....we spent most of the weekend in the house and I cooked and baked.  Stewed a chicken and made homemade noodles and then made 8 on these mini zucchini loaves today...used a Paula Deen recipe and it is yummy!

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Couple Shots from the weekend...

Remember when

Brent and I went to a car show this afternoon and this was on one of the cars.

I remember when it was a special treat to go to a drive-in restaurant to eat. 

Visit to the Farmers Market

Blennerhassett Hotel Parkersburg, WV

I love fresh fruits and vegtables so we went to the farmers market this morning to stock up on some goodies. The green beans and cucumbers are just about ready in our garden. We have been eating summer squash for a couple of weeks now and the tomatoes are starting to turn (can't wait). Since I could eat nothing but vegtables for a meal it will be good eating for the rest of the summer.

Wagon Wheel

Just a shot of my flower wagon wheel.  Like the contrast between the dark wheel and the brick.

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Mr Frog # 2

I followed a tutorial on the coffee shop blog to process this image again. She has an action that you can download but today she had a tutorial on each step in the action and how to do it.

I really like the vintage look that it gave to this image.

Bright Pink Zinnia

One of my bright, pink Zinnia's down by the road.  Used a texture I found in my stash but don't know where I got it.  The frame and mat is a action by Mark but I don't know how to use it as good as he does. 


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Mr Frog

Took this shot Saturday and was going to post yesterday but was a little under the weather so didn't do much but lay around. Feeling some better today.
This frog has been sitting  out back by the pond for years. He's almost the same color as the rocks.

The Shasta Daisy Clumps

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The clumps of Shasta Daisy and Coneflower.  I've tried for years to get the Shasta Daisy to grow like this and its finally paying off.  These clumps have now been growing on their own for the past 3 years.  Love them!


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Flower box 2011

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The front of the house where I used to have the old windows.  Jerri Ann bought this scroll for me for Christmas, or my birthday, or mothers' day....can't remember...LOL.  Anyway, I still need something to go along with it cause its a bit lost on the big wall but can't find what I need or want, so its there as is. These flowers are doing so good in this location.  My geraniums in other spots aren't doing as well.  I need a bit more height in the middle and probably should have planted some spikes or something else like that. I hope I'm not boring you with all these flower images but its the best I can do right now.  It takes 30 minutes for my camera to 'defog' once I take it outside and then I've forgotten what I wanted to take a shot of. LOL..

Off to the sweat box!

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