from the porches

full moon

I can't tell you how beautiful the moon was last night here in North Florida. 

I read recently that if you look at the moon and it seems huge, that when you take a photograph of it, it will be the same size as an itty bitty full moon.

Last night's moon was amazing because it was partially covered by rivlets of clouds.  Truett and I dined with friends last night in High Springs at the Fleetwood Diner; and when we left, I paused and said,  "Would you look at that!"  The moon was gorgeous, partially hidden behind clouds.

When I got home I used my Nikon to photograph the moon; however, that picture wasn't any better than this one.  You had to be there to feel the magic of the full moon.

Even this morning as I drove out my driveway to head to work, the moon was completely bright and full.  I took a photograph; but I don't think it would show any fuller than this one.

I'm stopping here.  I need to appreciate the fullness of the moon, my friends, and my family. 

What else is there?

rainbows

I saw three rainbows today. 

It's too bad it was misting and I was using my little Cannon Power Shot rather than the Nikon.   This first rainbow was very low to the ground, or so it appeared.

You can see the spectrum ending about on the sidewalk by that sign.  We turned right just before it, so that was my last glimpse of rainbow number one.

 As we traveled only five miles down the road, it stopped raining and rainbow number two  appears.

I do not have a photo of rainbow number three.  But I am totally satisfied that one rainbow would have been all I needed to be happy.  Now I feel blessed.

summer storms

I have now successfully completed five (5) days of my last school year (and that number is correct.)  Come Monday, when all the children come to school, I'll not be able to remember what day it is, let alone the number of days left.  So good-bye to counting days.  You will not see another number from me on that subject until May 2010.

I know you're dying to know what's been going on in my little brain, so here goes.

If you squint your eyes, you may see that red rose leaning far to the left of the jasmine hedge.  The rains we've been having have almost knocked it over.

Rains?  You've been having rains?

This photo shows a picture of Wednesday's blue sky and white puffy clouds.

Then, in less than three minutes, the storm clouds rolled in.

And the sky turned an ominous gray.

Then all hell broke loose. 

Truett and I were taking a little drive around town, so the storm was all I found to photograph.

Every afternoon we've had the lightning storms.  They don't last long, but they're enough to make me shriek and plug my ears and to send the dogs flying under the house.

It's finally Friday and I'm ready for a fun or relaxing weekend.  You have the same.

cherry on top

I've been busy sorting through my photographs, only about 6000 of them over the past three years.  It takes hours, but I've learned to delete with the click of a key.  And that feels good.  I'm finally making a dozen folders, dragging appropriate pictures to the folders, copying a few, and deleting. 

We are preparing ourselves for the week long visit with Maddie and Oliver.  Catching up on laundry and grocerying and generally trying to relax before the energy of little ones fills our house.

Late this afternoon, as we were finally heading home, I caught the cherry on the top of my day with my camera.

      

Truett pulled into a Publix parking lot so I could get a picture without power lines and business advertisements blocking the view.  But what I didn't know was that he was photographing the same rainbow with my Canon digital camera.

      

      Now that's what I call a cherry on the the top of my day.

if I had watched

If I had watched the weather over the past several days I would not have been surprised to see the thunderstorms heading our way.

      

Ominous looking sky, isn't it?

    

This line of thunderstorms came on Saturday as we were driving right into Gainesville.

    

And this line of thunderstorms were right over our path to Merry Jennifer's house on Sunday.

    

The cattle egret were flying across the sky.  They look like silver dollars flashing in the sky, but I was not able to get a good picture of them since we were driving.

    

I photo-shopped the same photograph and decided the sky didn't look all that bad.

              

But it really did.  A bolt of lightning flashed and thunder boomed just as the grandchildren leaped out of the car and headed for their front steps.  It scared the begeebies out of them. . .and me too.  So after a wonderful day with Maddie and Oliver on Sunday, when Sam opened the door all he saw were two squawling children.

The storms raged on into the night at Fort White.  I worried about the cows and horses I saw standing in the fields.  I worried about Bubba who is terrified of thunder.  I wouldn't even sit on my front porch and watch the light show for fear the lightning would find me.  I'm such a wimp when it comes to storms. 

So today the highest temperatures were 65 degrees compared to 95 degrees two days ago.  I should have taken a sweater to school.  But most importantly, I should have watched the weather station on TV.