A Welcome Break from Chores!

Thanks to my Skywatch friends who visited my blog & left comments last week. I looked back into files to get this weeks shot. After the cold, windy weather this week I considered a beach shot to help remember the warmth, but we will look at that another time (maybe during a snow storm). I remember an evening in August when I pulled myself away from my computer to attend to household chores. The first chore was loading the dishwasher. Approaching the sink I could not help notice the neighbor's trees & how the ruffled silhouettes were backed by the beautiful colors of the sunset. I grabbed the camera & ran. Now, I really do not like using a tripod, but I know how important it is in low light situations. Since I did not have time to mess setting up the thing I did next best. My car roof made a wonderful steady (& expensive) tripod. Not too many of this series turned out well, but I do like this one. Enjoy. To the sky from everywhere or to share your's click here.

Penn State Mont Alto

Thanks so much to all of your nice comments last week. It is such fun to "travel" through your eyes to visit all the places I may never see otherwise. This past Sunday I traveled to Penn State Mont Alto. My daughter is a student at that campus, just beginning the long journey to a nursing degree. She had told me there were some really colorful trees in the area - unfortunately the wind got there before I did, so I caught partial trees, but no worries they were still very nice. If by chance you are a college football fan you will recognize the Nittany Lion as Penn State's mascot. At the Mont Alto campus he is surrounded by a beautiful garden, including benches for weary students & Mom photographers to take a break. The other shot is the chapel located on campus. It too, is surrounded by a lovely garden with benches & a good number of trees to provide shade on sunny days. This college campus is small, appeared very clean, & was so peaceful during my visit. I would be interested in returning on a week day to watch the hustle & bustle of students hurrying everywhere. To share your world or enjoy other join us by clicking here. GO PENN STATE! (sorry, couldn't resist!)

Happy Birthday, Trinity

We celebrated Trinity's 8th birthday last evening at my house. "Hannah Montana" was the theme & was carried thru in her gifts. Seemed like this small house was bursting at the seams! All the babies were here. I really wanted a shot with all 3 shown & looking at me. Of course, that didn't happen! I was lucky enough to get 2, but not the 3rd. Next Saturday we celebrate Nolan's 2nd birthday & I get a second chance. Anyhow, we ate pizza, cake, & ice cream. She got lots of gifts. What fun being 8! Here is a snap of Trinity on her special day.

A Beautiful Ending to a Beautiful Day

Last Saturday, as I was waiting for the tractor pull to begin, nature displayed a fantastic show. The sunset was absolutely gorgeous. Blues, pinks, & purples deepening & darkening until it finally was dark. WOW. I loved it, even made it worth sitting in the cold. The images are not the best. Darn power lines! Can live with um, can't live without em. Please enjoy. If you'd like to share your sky or view others click here.

"MY WORLD TUESDAY"

I am sharing more of our busy weekend on the first My World Tuesday. My corner of the world is located in south central PA. A beautiful mountainous area. Please enjoy some more images from the fall folk festival celebrated over last week end. I am sharing more of the TRACTORS as mentioned yesterday, a shot of Mady in the petting zoo, & a one of the spectacular light show put on by the steam engines. Enjoy.

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Big Weekend

Each year Fulton County celebrates the arrival of fall with the Fulton Fall Folk Festival. It begins on a Thursday, continues Friday, Saturday, & wraps up on Sunday. Our tiny county bursts at the seams with crafters, fleamarketers, food, & TRACTORS (Lots of them!). Saturday morning begins with a parade with county bands, a few floats, & TRACTORS. This parade lasts about 2 hours. The street is packed with people. Locals find a spot & mark it the evening before to get a good seat. Andy assists the local fire police with traffic control so I enjoyed this event with Mady & Trinity - we let their mom & Dad attend too. We then took a tour of the fairgrounds, just one of the food, craft, & flea spots. It's also where the TRACTORS are shown. Later that evening two of my sons, Trinity & I attended the TRACTOR pull. A friend of Caleb's pulls & is pretty good at it. He got a first place in his class. Pretty interesting, the steam engines put on a beautiful show with sparks flying (grounds lights off to highlight the sparks). This was the only day I took part in any of the events. It began at 10:00 with the parade & ended at 11:30 last evening with a couple more TRACTORS to go. Very tiring, especially for a homebody like me. Also was quite cold. Of course my camera went along & I got to take some shots with Andy's new DSLR. I plan to share a variety of images this week. Today will start with a steam engine shot from the parade, Mady & Trinity bundled up till the sun warmed us a little, & the loot they gathered during the parade.

Eternal Light Peace Memorial

This is another shot from our Gettysburg trip. Shown is the flame on top the Eternal Light Peace Memorial. This memorial overlooks the July 1 battlefield & was dedicated July 3, 1938, at the 75th anniversary of the Gettysburg Battle, to "Peace Eternal in a Nation United" by former Union & Confederate soldiers. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt served as speaker & pushed the button to light the gas flame. PA State Police estimate 250,000 attended & another 100,000 were stuck on highways in an effort to be present.

A post for another day will show more of this monument, but for today please simply enjoy the eternal flame backed by a beautiful sky.

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Fall Flower Shots

I was able to capture some beautiful flower images during our Gettysburg trip. Since I haven't gotten any other shots post processed as of yet I thought I'd share a couple of those. Along the battlefield someone has planted a field of wildflowers. How lovely! Even Andy, who never takes flower shots, took a few good ones. Two of the images are from that field. The blackeyed Susan resides by the visitors center & museum.

Gettysburg

We made our return trip to Gettysburg today. This trip was alot about image capturing. The history shown in the monuments drew me & alothough history is not one of my favorite things, I want to take some time & learn more about what I have seen. This was my first real trip to Gettysburg, at least since my son, Caleb was in 6th grade. (He is 27 years old now). We have driven thru several times, but nothing in depth. I took around 250 shots, most pretty good. Thus far I have run many thru Picasa to step up contrast, crop, & sharpen. The problem with this many images is what to show first! Perhaps I should start with the Pennsylvania monument, it was my favorite mostly of the lady warrior on top & names of PA soldiers who fought & died to obtain freedom for all Americans.

Fall

I took a quick walk yesterday with my camera. This particular image is from the field across the road from my house. This evening I had some free time so I played around in Elements - there is so much to learn! Shown is the result. Andy & I are off for Columbus Day tomarrow & planning a trip to Gettysburg to take some shots. So should have lots to share. I must get to some fall colors before they disappear!

SkyWatch Friday

Hi folks

Hopefully I did this correctly this time. I tried last week & just could not figure it out! Took this shot about a month ago while I was watching for the sunset & a big cloud covered the sun. Pretty nice, restful colors I think. Click the link below to post your sky shot.

http://skyley.blogspot.com/

Sunday Drive

Last Sunday we took an afternoon ride to the top of a local mountain to photograph the valley visable from up there. This area is known to have rattlesnakes, but the air is chilly now so we felt safe. I followed Andy & Sierra in to the woods, taking my time, shooting a couple flowers & some bees enjoying the flowers. I started to follow Andy & was looking down toward the ground & there laid a rattlesnake! He & Sierra were on one side of it & I on the other! I had both of my cameras & it occurred to me to shoot, but I freak (& freeze)with ANY snake. So Andy did the shooting without a camera & we got out of there! We did catch a few nice scenery shots as we descended. Shown here is the entrance of the road, leading to the mountain top. I just love it in the fall when one can travel through "tunnels of gold". If I am not mistaken this shot was taken through the windshield. The other is a brick building beside an old house in town. I have taken a number of shots here from different angles. For this one I added some burlap texture from PS Elements. Oh yeah, the reason this place ends up in so many of my shots is because it is beside our favorite ice cream stand. That ice cream cone really tasted good after our adventure! Andy tells me I have joined the rank of photographers who have risk their life for a shot.

Another Sunset

Another sunset I captured last week.