2 years ago today

the obsession began in earnest :) I got my DSLR exactly 2 years ago today, almost to the very minute of this posting. I picked it up at circuit city, came back home and took it out of the box, and then headed straight to our favorite park for the sunset. It happened to be, in my opinion, one of the top 10 most gorgeous sunsets of all time. A lot has gone on since then, I have come a long way from shooting everything in manual and at ISO 1600! I am still enjoying it, still somewhat obsessed, and looking forward to seeing (and photographing) many more beautiful sunsets.

I have taken over 35,000 pictures since that day. They weren't all keepers, but they were all teaching me something.

Moonrise

Rainbow Stripes

Childhood Memories

I did one of those questionnaires on facebook the other day, and one of the questions was "What was your favorite childhood toy?". Mine were undoubtedly my breyer horses :) I still have them in my curio cabinet, so I brought them out for a photo shoot.

This is a Royal Lipizzaner Stallion. He was given to me by a (then) young couple at our church who sort of "adopted" me, before they had children of their own. They would take me home with them for the day, took me to the circus, to the fair, and on one occasion took me to see the Lipizzans. It was near my birthday, so they gave me this one to commemorate the event :)


Of course, no collection is complete without a Clydesdale, all ready for the show ring...
This one is Kelso, a thoroughbred racehorse, #4 out of the top thoroughbred champions of the 20th century.
This one is the very first breyer horse I ever got, for my 7th birthday. Palomino American Quarter Horse :)
One of my favorites, galloping Stallion...

this is the most special of all. This was my Granny's, "Old Gray Nag" and I always played with it when I went to visit her, either in Indiana or then when she moved to Tennessee. My cousin Tony and I always fought over it when we were there. He would beg for it, and I would beg for it, and she would secretly promise it to both of us. One year, after I was grown and was visiting, she brought it to me and told me to take it home with me. Tony, if you see this... NEENER NEENER!! ;oP

Oh my Achin' head

Started feeling a little scratchy throat Saturday night, by last night it was full blown. Hoping all this otc stuff works and I don't have another sinus infection. Ugh.

Purty as a speckled pup

Daytona

Took a little road-trip today down to Daytona. My Granny was having some surgery this morning (having a pacemaker put in) so I went down to visit for a while. She did great and will hopefully go home tomorrow. As I was leaving late this afternoon, I took some pictures of the hospital she's in. It's Halifax Medical Center, and the building dates back to 1928. It has quite a history and they've preserved it well. They are currently adding on in a big way, but you can tell they are making a big effort to stay true to the original design.




Of course, being that I went alone, I looked for photographic opportunities on the way home. I stopped off for gas and saw the sign for Bulow Plantation. Sounded good, so I headed the 3 miles down the road to check it out. I drove down the long, winding, wash-boarded by heavy rains dirt road...to find the gates already locked. Oh well, there will always be another day! :)

Resolved

I have never been one for new year's resolutions, but I have made one of a sort this year. I am resolved to visit this place (neighborhood gym) at minimum 3 days a week. I have been doing good so far, and I feel good just having made the effort to start going. I had started losing weight before the holidays, and during had gained about 4 lbs back. With the combination of cardio and weight training, I have hope the rest will drop off fairly quickly! No pain, no gain, isn't that what they say? ;oP I finally decided I needed to become a gym rat, because I like food too much to starve!!
On the way home from my workout this morning, I saw a large bird on the side of the road in my neighborhood. He was larger than I was used to seeing in that area, too large for a robin or a mocker. I slowed to get a closer look and saw it was a hawk! When I slowed, that alarmed him a bit and he flew up to a small pine right by the side of the road. :)


After my wildlife shoot, I had to run to the store. I'm having a "Tastefully Simple" party tonight, and I had to go pick up the keg...
LOL, those that know me are laughing, and those that don't, I'm a good Baptist teetotaler, this is for the beer bread :)

Welcome to sunny FL

Welcome to sunny FL
Originally uploaded by Sharon Pire

That might not be cold to some of you, but that's mighty cold for THIS FL girl!! Not complaining though...I love it!!

Scenes from St Augustine

Went to St Augustine to meet a couple of photographer friends today. It was a perfect day, nice and cool and very un-crowded for a tourist area.


FC, I had no idea you had a restaurant! ;oP




It was a good day with Jay from London and Jill from Ontario :)

It's that time again...

Time for Upward Basketball and Cheerleading! My husband coached for the first time last year and absolutely loves it. We have a great time watching, too. The little ball players and cute little cheerleaders are just adorable :)

Guess What???

Chicken Butt ;oP

Life is a Highway

View from the Back of a Motorcycle

We went for a long ride this afternoon on the new motorcycle. We were much better prepared than we were Wednesday night when we went ~ at 10pm!! We had our long-johns, our wool socks, our neck warmers, gloves...we were set. But...when the sun started to set...it got COLD!!! Wasn't too bad on me, I love the cold, but Rory hates being cold and he was in front so he got the full force of the wind. Needless to say, he thought I had lost my mind completely when he heard the camera snapping away beside his ear! LOL





We stopped to eat, and when we got home I was ready to be warm again!

Sunset

I was outside belatedly taking down Christmas lights and wreaths, and the sunset was so beautiful I had to stop and get the camera ;)




And I got the lights down, hopefully before anyone sent my picture in to Jeff Foxworthy! ;o)

Biker Chick :)

My new leather jacket :) Went for a short ride a few minutes ago, car said it was 37 degrees when we got home. The leather is VERY warm. The parts of me NOT covered by leather...were NOT. LOL, it's a snot-cicle kinda night for bike riding!

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made