Look Up, Look Down ~ final round

June 24

I put my camera close to the ground and took a picture looking up a rock wall in our front yard that Mr. H and I built. 
Today I got my birthday present! Mr H told me to buy the 100mm macro lens that I've been wanting! The picture on the right is looking down at fungus on a dead piece of bark.

June 25

Aaron, our youngest grandson, stayed with us today. It was so hot we got out the swimming pool.

June 26

These pictures were taken in a garden at one of our libraries. They have the prettiest light poles. The rock is embedded in the concrete floor of a gazebo.

June 27
I went shopping for some fabric and stopped by to see if there were any flowers blooming at the Old Mill. It was beautiful, as usual, and full of flowers even in this heat!

June 28

Looking up at the moon during the blue hour.
Earlier in the month our library had a little project where you could plant seeds. I'm looking down at the very first bloom on my flower.  If I remember correctly it's cosmos.

June 29
I was using the water sprinkler to water my shade garden when the hose burst creating this fountain in my Bradford pear tree.
The bright sun creates some pretty dark shadows on the sidewalk.

June 30

The heat and lack of rain in June has been brutal. My shade gardens are burning up even though I've been watering them. The heat is just relentless!!  The ferns are now brown and the trees are loosing their leaves.

I wanted to end this project with the words "the end." I thought they would be easy to find especially in children's books, but not so!  I looked through many books before I finally found one. You may recognize this little tug boat...its Little Toot. Little Toot was written and illustrated by Hardie Gramatky. It's copyright is 1939. 

And so, June's project ends!

I'm almost a week into my July project!

This time I'll be exploring my different lens!

I'm taking a little break from the computer.

My grandsons are here and we're playing!!

Look Up, Look Down ~ round four

The month has slipped away!!   Where did it go?? I'm going to try to catch up my Look Up, Look Down project. Most were just ordinary days, so I'll keep the dialog short!

June17
Hosta flowers have become one of my favorite flowers! They keep their heads toward the ground, so in order to see their beauty you must get down and look up.

June 18
Today I had my camera on black and white mode.

June 19
My very last daylily!

June 20
Beautiful clouds, but no rain! Some leaves are already turning and falling off the trees. I wonder if there will be any leaves left for the fall season!!

June 21

June 22

Mr. H and I went to a hot air balloon rally. I had such a fun time looking up at all the beautiful balloons. Near by there was a playground that looked like a rock mountain. I'm on top looking down at this little girl climbing up.

June 23

I think these flowers are called Rose of Sharon. I pass these on my daily walk.

One more post and this project will be finished.

Look Up, Look Down ~ round three

I'm still looking up and enjoying what I see!

As far as looking down, I always do that!

June 11

Somehow I managed to do this one backwards! I've been trying to do the Look Up first! Oh well, I don't guess it matters!

My neighbor brought me some fresh green beans from his garden. I froze some of them, but did make a batch for dinner. I must say they were delicious; not as tough as I thought they were going to be!!  Later that evening I stepped outside to this gorgeous sunset!

June 12

I spend the day with my youngest grandson while mommy and daddy worked.  I was working on a black and white assignment and had my camera set in that mode. I really like the way these turned out in the black and white!  He's really begun to ride his tricycle very well!

June 13

Today's photos could be called "the end and the beginning." This very large oak tree on our land has died. We aren't sure why!  There are several old trees within a mile of our place that have also died!  I wish it hadn't been the oak. I wouldn't have minded loosing a sweet gum tree!  When my sister and I visited the Little Rock visitor center this past fall they gave us seeds for the Hyacinth Bean Vine. It is covering their white picket fence with gorgeous flowers and purple bean pods. I finally planted my seeds. I had three and two have grown. As I write this, nine days later, the vines are about 16" long!  Very fast growing!! I can't wait to see if they bloom!

June 14

These lovely flowers belong to my mom. She has them planted in an old black pot!  They're so bright and cheerful!

June 15

Both ends of a tree!  The branches above and a root that is exposed! I love the heart shape.

June 16

Two views of my gazing ball. I was surprised at how different the color of the base was in the views. It's really in between these colors!

This has been a fun summer photo project! 

I'm a little behind posting them, but, I'll try to catch up!

Look Up, Look Down ~ round two

Another edition of LOOK UP, LOOK DOWN!

One of the reason I chose this theme for June is my obsession of looking down. I seem to always be looking at my feet.  I have even walked into a large, and I mean large, banner hanging in front of a grocery store, because I was looking down. Maybe it's a family inherited trait, my dad always looks down...he's looking for lost coins though! I thought with this exercise I would force myself to look up and see the bigger picture. I'm not sure it's working, but it's been fun!!

June 6

There's the moon. Hello moon! I would have missed you this morning if I wasn't looking up. Looking down...yes, I've crossed this path before!

June 7

I try to walk everyday. I walk up the road near our home. Thankfully, since we have no sidewalks out here in the country, it's doesn't have much traffic. The clouds were especially fluffy and pretty today. I would like to be on that jet going somewhere with cooler temperatures and less humidity!!  I found if very hard to capture myself walking. It's still a little blurry, but it's the best I could do!!

June 8

This day deserves a whole post. I visited Pinnacle Mountain State Park (Arkansas) and had the VERY best time. I walked the trails, took over 600 pictures, and saw a doe and two babies!  Incredible day! Looking up at this tree it looked like an umbrella. I think it's in the Schefflera family, but I'm not sure. It was unusual in that there was only one trunk with  leaves at the very top. It was taller than me, I'm actually standing under it! I looked down as I crossed several wooden bridges. Sadly it's been so dry here the little creeks are dried up!! I have to tell this story because it goes with my theme of Looking Up!!  I came pretty close to two snakes at the park. Not close enough to be bitten, but close enough to have my heart jump into my throat!!  One was a water moccasin in the river right below where I was looking down from a small ledge and the other was a black snake in a beautiful wild flower garden. It crossed the path right in front of me!  These are good examples of why I'm trying to see the bigger picture than just what's right below!!!

June 9

Very special day!!!  My birthday!!!!  I'm now only 365 days away from being 60!!  I had a special day with visits from my son and his family and my mom and dad, phone calls from my daughter and her family, they don't live near. Her three boys (oldest is 9 and twins that are 5) sang Happy Birthday to me. My youngest grandson, who's three, picked out my cake and chocolate cookies, he brought me a balloon and picked me some flowers, a petunia and clover!  It's these minor things that made my day perfect... the songs, the calls, the flowers!!

June 10

Looking up the sky was beautiful this morning as we left to attend church. We left with the sun shining, ran into some rain, and then out came the sun again!!  I love to sing just good old-fashioned hymns at church. Don't get me wrong, choruses are fine, but I love hymns. They bring back so many wonderful memories of going to church. Well, maybe they weren't all good!! Some of the churches we attended when I was very young didn't have air conditioning or indoor toilets.  Trips to the outhouse in back could result in getting chiggers or seed ticks. Anyway, back to hymns. We no longer use these old paperback hymnals. This one is called "Favorite Songs and Hymns" copyrighted in 1939 by Stamps Baxter Music. This hymnal fascinates me because the notes were different shapes. I read music by where the note is on the staff, but my mom reads music by the shapes of the notes. I never even tried to figure that out!

Ten days of June have come and gone!!

I am looking around a little more!!

Look Up, Look Down ~ June 1-5

I thought it would be fun to do something different for the month of June. Something that would get me out of my rut and looking for new subjects and perspectives. I decided to each day take a picture "looking up and looking down."  I'm going to try to post five days at a time.

June 1

Since this is the week of Memorial Day I wanted to visit the Little Rock National Cemetery. It's an emotional experience to walk around this beautiful, quiet cemetery and know everyone here has served our country, some even dying for our freedom. The flag was flying half mast today, a symbol that there would be a burial. This particular cemetery no longer has room for any more veterans, but their spouses may be buried with them.

June 2

This day found me sitting on my swing enjoying the cooler morning. I also watered my Petunias since we've had no rain in the last few days. These Petunias were a total surprise. This spring they came up in a pot on my porch. The surprise? I haven't had any Petunia's in my yard!  How they got in this pot, I don't know!!

June 3

I attended my nephew's wedding at Mt. Magazine State Park (Arkansas). After the reception, my sister, Mr. H,  and I went for a hike up Signal Hill. This little plague is at the highest point in Arkansas, 2753 feet above sea level. We were a little disappointed, we thought we'd be able to see out across the mountains. But, you can't, it's a small open area surrounded by trees with a sign, this plaque, and a guest book.

June 4

Yea!! It has rained!! We needed it so badly. We're already 4" behind in rainfall. It was so nice to be outside in the clean, fresh air!!

June 5

I took my small camera with me on my morning walk. Can you tell we see a lot of jets?  It's so dry some leaves are already turning brown and falling off the trees.

I hope you're enjoying a few moments from my days!