Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Corner Privacy Retreat

I took photos of our neighbor's patio one afternoon when I was chasing my son in the yard.  Their corner privacy retreat   made a  very solid and beautiful shadow patterns.
Do you see the baby bunny under the shade?
 A Photo a Day # 251-253
-My challenge to update this blog daily-

Friday, August 24, 2012

Photography as Stress Reliever

I was kind of  lost and stressed out not having my kids at home on the first day of school so I grabbed my camera and went to my garden.  I clicked.. and clicked.. and clicked.. and clicked some more, till my stress died down a bit.  So glad to have a camera because photography is one of my stress reliever.  
Hosta
Cleome
Forever Living
Impatiens
Aeonium  Echeveria  succulent plant
Shells that remind me of my place back home
Trumpet Vine Seeds
Pumpkin Blossom, never had any luck of this  veggies.  It just blooms and blooms but no fruit at all.
Over grown cherry tomatoes
Morning Dews
If you were a number, what will it be?
Just reminds me of the hours I have to wait to get my kids from school
A Photo a Day # 237-250
-My challenge to update this blog daily-

Grand Canyon of the East

Image source
You probably have heard of many tourist attractions in New York, but may have never heard of this one and it is every bit as thrilling if not more so than the man-made wonders found in New York. I don’t think it would be fair of me to just gush about the park and not show you what I saw so I have gathered some photos to share with you.  

Doesn’t this look like a place that could be located just outside the Garden of Eden with its vibrant colors and cascading waterfalls?  The name is clearly printed on the photo, so now you know we are touring Letchwork State Park. Thank you, Terry Cervi for sharing your beautiful photography.

Next time you think of New York, stop and think about the life and beauty that exists outside the hustle and bustle of city life.

We are about to take a hike along the rugged hillside to get a better view of the beautiful scenery. I hope you brought comfortable shoes and your camera. Are they in your back pack? If so we can wait a minute while you change.

Look at the many shades of leaves on the trees. The pink, golden, yellow, orange, red and even the green hues are just glorious! I hope you have lots of batteries for your camera and lots of time to explore. The park spans 14,350 acres and contains three large waterfalls and several small ones along the Genesee River. One of those falls, Inspiration Falls, is considered the highest waterfall located in New York State as well as within the entire Northeastern United States. It has earned its title with a drop of 350 feet or 107 meters.

This beautiful park is located 35 miles or 56 kilometers southwest of Rochester and 60 miles southwest of Buffalo.  We owe gratitude to William Pryor Letchworth, an industrialist, for donating his 1,000 acre estate to New York in 1906, to William Webster who he hired to design the grounds in 1859 and to Dr. George F. Kunz who supported the library and memorial tirelessly. William Webster landscaped and worked on the now famous Glen Iris Inn.

Letchworth’s property forms the center of this magnificent park. Two and three lane roads from four different cities are maintained to lead you directly into the park and also afford you with an excellent scenic view of the wondrous sight. The cities are:

  1. Mount Morris
  2. Perry
  3. Castile
  4. Portageville

Letchworth is named one of the top 100 campgrounds in the U.S. and boasts many activities including:
  • Hiking (naturally)
  • Biking
  • Fishing
  • Hunting (in season only) for deer and wild turkey
  • Snowmobiling
  • Cross-country skiing
  • Whitewater rafting
  • Kayaking
  • Snow tubing
  • Riding on horse-drawn sleighs
  • Hot air ballooning
  • Dining
  • Swimming (two large swimming pools)
  • Camping
  • Sightseeing in the museum containing pioneer artifacts
  • Browsing one of the finest libraries ever created.  The memorial built to Mary Jemison “The White Indian of the Genesee”

Thanks for going on the tour with me. I’m inspired and hope you are too.

Thanks to this informative article written by Ms. Judy  SheldonWalker

Virgin is Birhen

I redesigned my garden once again.  The rat made a house where the statue of virgin Mary was so I tore it down and relocated it.  for those  who aren't Filipinos, Virgin is BIRHEN in tagalog.

A Photo a Day # 198-200
-My challenge to update this blog daily-

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Own It by Oprah Winfrey

"Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. 
The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire. 
This is your moment. Own it."
-Oprah Winfrey-

A Photo a Day # 227
-My challenge to update this blog daily-

A Visit To The Eiffel Tower

Travelling is one of the most pleasurable hobbies there is. We lived in Paris for sometime a few years ago. I have to admit that the romance was taken out of it while living there. I suppose this is not new, considering many people have talked about this aspect of living in a traditionally ‘tourist’ city like Paris.

It was great when we moved away to London, then eventually to Cork in Ireland for nearly 7 years. Finally, we could travel to Paris like real tourists and enjoy the sites with the awe and excitement they did. Earlier this year – in April – we visited Paris again. By now we had returned to England for years, and lived in the city of Bristol. We rented a little house with a garden – yes, in the middle of Paris – and settled down to enjoy the sites.

One of the places the kids wanted to see was the Eiffel tower. They wanted to go all the way to the top. My husband and I had been to the very top of the tower 15 years ago. We visited it in October at the end of the tourist season and had no kids to take with us at the time.

Now we were returning at the start of the tourist season (yes, the season starts early in Paris) with 3 kids in tow. We had no idea of what awaited us.  We turned up at the tower before 8.30 AM, thinking there would be no one else there, and that we’d get to the top in a breeze. The sign said it would take 2 hours to wait in line for the elevator. It turned out to be 3 hours. By the time we got into the packed elevator, my back was hurting so badly, I could hardly stand (and I don’t normally have back pain. I have all kinds of other pains apart from lower back pain). The lift was so full, I couldn't stretch my back, sit (there was nowhere to sit) or even squat.

When my husband and I went to the Eiffel tower on our own, we’d climbed the stairs to the middle ramp, then we spent a leisurely 45 minutes or so, looking out at our surroundings before climbing the stairs down again.

This time the kids wanted to go to the very top of the tower, so once our lift stopped at the middle ramp, we had to wait for another half an hour or so (in a queue) to get the second one to the very top. By this time my back was so excruciatingly painful, I was thankful for the railings that ran alongside the queue. I held onto these for dear life and pulled myself forward.

By the time we got to the top of the Eiffel tower is was well past lunch time. We were tired and so were the kids. I was suffering so badly, all I did up there was take a few pictures of the views and sat down to wait for my family. Thankfully, there were a few seats up there.

For all that work, we stayed at the top of the tower for not more than 15 minutes. It was freezing cold and I was in a lot of pain. We took the elevator back down to the middle platform, had lunch in the restaurant there, looked at some of the views, watched a film in the cinema, then climbed the stairs back down. I have to admit that taking the stairs back down was the most enjoyable part of the whole experience.

The morale of this story: 1. If you’re visiting the Eiffel tower, do so out of tourist season. 2. Take the stairs to the middle platform because the queue is a lot shorter and it takes half the time of the elevator queue. 3. If you want to get to the top of the tower, take the second elevator from the middle platform to the top. This one is quicker and takes less time. 4. It’s probably better to go later in the day rather than earlier in the morning. In tourist season the Eiffel tower is open until midnight. The last entry is about 11.30 PM.

 All photos are taken and owned by the author of this post.   
 A view of Paris from the top of the tower
The little garden of the house we rented in Paris (taken from the bedroom window)
Another view of Paris from the top of the tower
A ticket we bought in order to visit the tower
Have you been to the Eiffel tower? How long did you have to wait to get to the top?

Anne, the author of this post, writes about blogging and writing at ‘A Bloggers Books ’.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Hibiscus and Butterfly

My hibiscus plants outside our fence are in full bloom. Butterflies love 'em.
A Photo a Day # 228-232
-My challenge to update this blog daily-

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Red Rose

My red rose is now blooming. I love its vibrant color although of all my roses, this is the one without a sweet scent unlike the yellow and pink ones.

A Photo a Day # 148-149
-My challenge to update this blog daily-

Shooting Up

 We did not have water for  few hours  last  weekend because one of the water pipes  by the school was leaking or should I say shooting waters up (lol).  Good thing, they were able to fix the problem.  

A Photo a Day # 189-190
-My challenge to update this blog daily-

Friday, August 17, 2012

Goodnight Sign

This huge heart with a goodnight sign is displayed at the exit gate when you are leaving the Kennywood park.
A Photo a Day # 181
-My challenge to update this blog daily-

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Contentment

"We may pass violets looking for roses.
We may pass contentment looking for victory."
-Bern Williams-
A Photo a Day # 197
-My challenge to update this blog daily-

Photo Addict

If you are a constant visitor of my blogs, you would know by now that I am a photo addict.  I love  posting articles with images that I personally took.  I can express my feelings more when I am  publishing something with photos in it.   I am  not a professional photographer but taking photos is one of my passion.  I would love to  have a proper  training on photography  so I could take  great photos like those professionals who  take commercial stock photos that you could find at Pixoto.com.  My goodness, looking at the photos available at the said site makes me  want to be a better photographer because they are just gorgeous to look at.  I know that taking  great photos  does not  only consist of having the  best lens or camera but rather  a proper technique and skills on how to do it.   I would love to share one of the photos from that site but  I am  worried of  copyright  issues so I am just sharing below one of my amateur shots that I took from my camera.  

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Orange Trumpet Vines

Our neighbor's trumpet vine is orange and mine is yellow. I think, I like the orange moire.
 
 
A Photo a Day # 223-226
-My challenge to update this blog daily-

Friday, August 10, 2012

Onion Blossom

"Energy never dies, it just changes form."
-Poison Ivy-
"Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature."
-Gerard De Nerval-
A Photo a Day # 222
-My challenge to update this blog daily-

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Flags

"My major aim in writing is to set out flags and issue wake-up calls."
-James Broughton-

Photos were taken in Chester, West Virginia's Veteran Memorial Park.
A Photo a Day # 216-221
-My challenge to update this blog daily-

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