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believe it or not, this kitty.....

bites and scratches these little girls for no apparent reason, stalking them from the shadows, and....
he picks fights with this nice doggie...

These were all unedited - save the crop tool which is my favorite, "must-have" of any editing device. And yes, I do live in the mountains, but no, I don't have any landscape shots of those beautiful Virginia hills! I guess I have an assignment....

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I decided on the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H20. In the end, it came out on tops with me as far as price ($257.00 including shipping), 10x optical zoom, 10.1 megapixels, and rapid burst for multiple frames at the same focus. Its also a lot smaller than I had expected, and much lighter and more portable than my old Olympus. It didn't come with a camera card (which I thought was bizarre), and allows 2 pictures without one - so I did a lot of clicking and deleting last night. Andy went out and picked up a 4GB card at WalMart for about $36 last night, but - get this - when I was at CVS putting together a super deal, they had 1GB cards on clearance for $6.75!! So, don'tcha know that I marched right back into th'WalMark and got his money back! If I decide to use the video (the camera records in Hi-Def!!), then I'll need a larger card, but for right now - and usually - I'm more interested in photography. Now if the daggone weather would clear up I'd be able to get out somewhere and really do some shooting. These pictures above were taken in the back yard this afternoon under "mostly cloudy skies"....

I gots kids too, but I'm still learning the focus - and th'kids won't be still. So I gotta work on that.

Thank you for sharing your recommendations - I researched them each very, very thoroughly and feel that I made the best choice....you'll be able to judge for yourself soon!

80's fashion / mall rats

Lookiee what I found as a page marker in an old book.....

That's April 1986, folks - and that is the authentic John Cougar Mellencamp look of the mid -1980's with me featuring a Levi's denim jacket adorned with an FM99 WNOR pin - completing the look we have a vintage red ruby brooch at the throat of my flannel shirt. And Loretta is flaunting new wave earrings and a pastel shirt also in the height of fashion....photo taken at the kiosk on the second floor of Waterside in downtown Norfolk or at Military Circle Mall, I guess. Wherever we could con our parents into dropping us off.....

Please don't ever let our kids get ahold of this picture!

Camera

Thanks to everyone's suggestions, I've ordered a camera. Should be here first of the week, and I can hardly wait. I have to go through one more weekend racking up 35mm prints to develop. I haven't done that in so long I have no idea how much they even cost anymore!

So - before I tell you which one I got, I'll tell you which ones I considered. And lemme tell you, I spent literally hours comparing features, reading reviews, polling friends and looking at sample photos on online galleries. In the end, it was a race between the Panasonic Lumix DMX-T4 (and 5), Kodak EasyShare 1015, Sony CyberShot DSC H2O, FujiFilm Finepix 8100 and Cannon SD 400.

I wanted to get maximum pixels AND maximum zoom, with reviews that praised picture quality, no lag between shots and image stabilization. Remember, too, I wanted under $300. What I eventually chose came out under $275 including shipping and a 4 GB memory stick. I bought the camera directly from the manufacturer and the card from Amazon. The card was almost $20 less on Amazon, thanks to a sale they had. Should get here around the same time, but if not, I think the camera has a smaller card that comes with it. Either way, I'll have both ready by next weekend, when I intend to drag 'em all out and make up for lost photo ops.

And you know what, I'm going to wait until it comes in the mail to tell you which one I got!

Missed photo op

Seriously, I need some suggestions for a new camera. I'm missing some blissful photo ops because I've effectively killed two cameras in two months. And ran out of batteries for the SLR. Don't tell Andy. He'll kill ME. Any suggestions on digital cameras? Important features: a short lapse time between shots (to keep up with the girls), excellent image quality, and good zoom capabilities. All this for under $300. Soon.

Last weekend, in our WV Weekend tradition, we went here:
http://www.hangingrocktower.org/images/BooneAerial.htm
that I found out about on:
http://www.hangingrocktower.org/index.html
and yes, of course, the views were amazing....

But the wildflowers! We were literally wading through wild geraniums and side stepping Jack-in-the-Pulpits (Or is it Jacks-in-the-Pulpit. No. I'm pretty sure I just saw one Jack. And didja know that if you see a Jack, the plant is a Jenny?!), and wild columbine, Fire Pinks (which are actually bright - I mean, shockingly bright - red), may apples, trillium (not blooming yet), and what I think is Viper's Bugloss - an ugly name for an amethyst-colored spiky, quasi-shrub.

It was a "grueling" not-quite-one-mile-up hike for the mama with a Giant Baby on her back, a four and a half year old girl whose legs often-ly "needed a rest," but alas, thank goodness for Daddyo who played the encourager and peacemaker for a mama whose patience filled this space: {} and who took over the Baby Backpack 3/4 of the way up (to be fair, I carried her the whole way back!). Of course, once we made it to the top, it was so worth the walk. No raptors, but we did get eyeball to beak with several turkey vultures.... Even Han was asking when we were coming back to spend the night. (Can we do that there??)Andy made my ankles weak by resting his elbows ON and arms OVER the Hanging Rock and inviting Hannah Berry to join him - which she did - for a minute, anyways. BUT NO PICTURE! Grumble, grumble.....

I counted three peach trees in kissin' distance of the fort - just loaded. We stopped at the Cheese Store in Gap Mills for provisions before our journey, but fresh peaches at 3800' would be an exquisite treat. I can't wait to go back. With a camera, of course.

West Virginia Weekend

Last weekend was Memorial Day weekend, and we spent parts of the 3 days across the border in WV. Lessee, on Friday, we decided to go to the Kroger in Fairlea - just for something different - and we stopped in Lewisburg on the way home to let the girls play in the water fountain downtown.

I haven't laughed so hard in I don't know how long. Abba wasn't too interested after a fountain spray surprised her, but we couldn't get Hannah out of the water. I don't think her feet touched the ground for more than a minute or two the whole time we were there! Now, to be sure, she was fueled by sugar free gummy bears.

And speaking of sugar free gummy bears, my advice to you is, "don't." Because when we got home that night we surprised them with a camp-out in the back yard. Andy set up the tent and we piled in with our sleeping bags, books and lanterns. As soon as the sun set, Hannah felt some rumblings (frogs?) that had her sleeping in her own bed. Abba followed around midnight. Beware the sorbitol....!

Anyways, on Saturday we were back in West (BG) Virginia to visit Lost Caverns. Which we found (gotcha) to be a perfect adventure for our little family. Of course the girls were mostly interested in the gift shop and the wishing well filled with shiny dimes and pennies, but they didn't complain too much about the long walk (slick in places), the chilly temperatures or mama pointing out endless formations. I got a kick out of this sign....if you're not sure just what it is, be sure to catch the clue painted on the bottom left hand side [insert snide comment about West Virginians here]. I won't bore you with cavern pictures - which, to a point, all look the same in this region - but it seemed like there were an awful lot of rock slides and stalagmites that used to be stalactites. Just an observation, that's all.....because we'll definitely explore this place again.

Finally, on Sunday - or was it Monday? We chucked on over to White Sulphur Springs to enjoy the Dandelion Festival Parade. I think I didn't used to be a parade girl, and maybe one day I'll go back to not so much liking watching folks go by, but ya know, I really enjoy it! First of all, its legitimate people-watching, there's candy being thrown to you (or AT you as was the case by a rowdy bunch of Dandelion princesses), and there are loud, loud noises from Hogs, Internationals and a variety of rescue vehicles. We had a blast:

(those Hogs were a little too loud for the Sugar Baby, who found safety in a perch on Daddy-o's leg...)

Maybe its because of my Littles, but I think it is such great entertainment! Love it!

funny website

Some of these pictures really made me laugh.....some of them I didn't "get".......some were downright bizarre, and others might need to be censored, but nonetheless, check out:

http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/