not necessarily relevant, but great images non the less

Last year, after my first stint at Epcot’s Food & Wine Festival, I splurged and bought my aspiring photographer husband a camera.  I figured he would look a little more aspiring if he wasn’t using a disposable camera (really I’m not that bad – it wasn’t a disposable, but it might as well had been for him.)  After much research and lots of note taking I got him a Nikon D90 for an early Christmas present.

Ok, truth be told, the camera wasn’t just for him (although I still let him think that it was.)  Rinse is getting some great use out of it as seen here:

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And my scrapbooking (ok, the scrapbook I aspire to create someday when I have enough time to create it) has gotten some great shots too.

Haha!  My master-plan has worked [she says as she taps her finger tips together while smiling.]  However there is a by-product that has come with this camera.  Random shots that Damyn thinks are interesting that don’t contain anyone we know, or soap.  What is he thinking?!?!  And I have to admit, I even like some of them.  As in these taken on our recent trip to the beach:

So occasionally, you’ll see some randomness in images pop up here.  Now you can’t say I didn’t warn you!

a weekend away from soap – part ii – Jekyll Island

Hello island.  Where have you been all my life???  What a great place to visit.  Unfortunately we were just island/beach hopping on our way home but we were so happy to find this gem and plan on going back for a more appropriate amount of time (1.5 hours just wasn’t enough.)

Our favorite beach was Driftwood Beach.  What an amazing view of dead trees.  I know that sounds funny, but they were smooth and twisty both on the tops and the bottoms.  It looks like a giant just plucked them out of the ground like a weed and left them on the shore to die.


Teagan loved it there.  Lots of climbing and peeking.  Exploring to be done everywhere.  It was like no other beach I’ve seen.

And the best was Crab Hunting.  Yes, I said crab hunting.  T quickly made friends with a boy who was a maybe a year or two older and his harem of little girls.  The girls (and T) would spot the crabs (who were crawling all over the trees and rocks) and the boy would swoop in and catch them in his bare hands.  Oh, to be young again.

And then of course, I had to join in the fun but purely by accident.  As we were saying good-bye to T’s new friends, I looked down as the sand moved under my foot.  The boy didn’t believe me when I said he might want to bring his bucket for this one (last image)!

a weekend away from soap – St. Augustine, FL

Even the best of us needs to take a break, and that’s just what we did for Labor Day Weekend.  We cruised south to St. Augustine, FL then worked our way back home hitting some great beaches along the way.

There is just something about a kid playing at the beach that I just can’t seem to get enough of…

 

I guess it’s the innocence, exploration, creativity and just good ‘ole fun in a humungous sandbox.  By the way, the structure that he was building in the last picture wasn’t a sandcastle.  Oh no, that would be too traditional.  It was Asia.  Complete with Mount Everest and a Yeti.

Oh, and the “King of the Hill” image was actually Teagan scaling a sand dune.  Luckily he was too young to read the “Keep of the Dunes” sign.

The Rabbit cont.

I first introduced you to our visitor a few weeks ago here.

Well, the plot has since thickened.  We figured out that the rabbit is actually our neighbors’ bunny and goes by the name Snowball (very fitting we think.)  We were told by our neighbor (the father) that we could keep her if we wanted to (hmmm… been researching bunny habitats.)  Snowball is also a sweet junkie.  Since she has eaten all of the peaches that are expired in our yard she has returned to her own yard to eat the expired apples.

Since we found out her name was Snowball we also found out that she can do backflips (just been told, never witnessed it), is litter box trained and that her name isn’t Snowball.  It is actually Crystal or Hippity Hop.  We have also not confirmed that she can be relocated.  I never trust the info given by fathers!

Smurfs could be living here

The “National Geographic” that is our new home continues.  After a 2 mile nature walk in the woods we found what appears to be a Smurf-a-minium in our backyard.  It is the biggest mushroom I have ever seen.  I can only imagine what could be living in it (smurfs, fairies, trolls…)

My mom suggested we transplant it so we can keep an eye on it and build our fairy garden around it.  My son asked “so can I kick it?”  For now it remains where it was, unharmed.

As for the blue construction hat - also a find on the nature walk.

There’s a Snake in Your Boots

Well maybe not in your boots… more like on our porch.  And maybe not a snake, but more like a snake skin.  But Still!

And that bad boy measured in at a whopping 75 inches long!  If it were a child it could ride on all of the roller coasters around!

Better seeing the skin than the snake and better seeing it outside than inside.  And I’m hoping the rabbit we saw a couple of days ago is soooo big that there isn’t a snake that could eat it.

Hasenpfeffer

Here at our new house we are experiencing all sorts of nature.  Here is what showed up next to our porch a couple of days ago.

D was so excited.  He called me to come downstairs “quickly but quietly”.  This bunny was HUGE.  I’m thinking it was the Easter Bunny checking his route.

I can see why D said quietly.  Look at those ears!

The New Digs ~ Our Home

I had mentioned before that we moved both our workshop and our home.  I figure I should give a few details because our new surroundings have become rather entertaining.

We moved from Woodstock, GA (which has become quite Suburban) to Monroe, GA (which is quite rural – they do have a Walmart, McDonalds & Chick-Fil-A though).  For those with a map handy, Monroe is right outside Athens (home of UGA – Go Dawgs [I guess that’s what they say]).

Our previous house was in a subdivision and had approximately .75 acres (1/4 of it was down a steep slope – a great sledding hill if it ever snowed enough).  Our new house is on 8.5+ acres which are pretty much fully wooded with a river bordering the back of the property.

This “city” girl (Suburb of Chicago to Suburb of Atlanta to Rural outskirts of Atlanta) has already come across a whole lot of country in the short month we’ve been living here.