RAINDROPS KEEP FALLING

Manufactured raindrops!

Purple

A while ago Seb planted these tiny purple flowers by the front porch.  Not entirely sure the pinwheel is purple... but close enough for my liking!

PURPLE

PRIMARY COLORS

A dice game to play at the Lake on a rainy day.

Primary Colours

Fridge magnets holding up an old picture of some guy I know with his little brother...

Prickly

This is the "detangler" which works miracles through Charlotte's knotted hair.  I love the prickly shadow it casts in the late afternoon sun.

PRICKLY

I think this is called a Barberry. It resides in our front yard in the corner and no one touches it because of its painfully sharp thorns.

Precious

A medley of precious pieces handed down through our families. Included are my father in law's crushed baby rattle, my great-grandmother's ashtray and right in the middle a (very unpolished) precious little angel sitting on a swing.

PRECIOUS

Precious metal - platinum. My father-in-law gave this to my mother-in-law and she left it for Carly.

Powerful

This is the first day that I actually almost forgot to take a picture.  I am a little bleary eyed.  So I realize that I am grasping at straws here with this pathetic attempt at conveying powerful.  But this is a message to all our family and friends who visit us ... we finally went out and bought a new powerful shower head.  It's the best.

POWERFUL

Portrait

Seb!!!

PORTRAIT

Michael

POINT/POINTED

Point/Pointed

This morning we walked to Big Ben and cheered on the Olympic marathon runners.  Then we jumped on the tube with our daughters and brought them here.  A very special place.  This is the steeple to St.Brides Church where we got married eight years ago.  This trip has also been extremely special.  I have a feeling people will have to drag me kicking and screaming back onto the plane tomorrow morning.  I have been reading articles about the olympics all morning and they have literally had me crying my eyes out.  #proudtobebritish

PLEASURE

Just arrived home from the lake and my garden is overflowing with basil and tom thumb tomatoes. Being able to pull something fresh from my garden gives me pleasure.

Pleasure

We had the pleasure of seeing some of our dearest and oldest friends today.  Our families have spent insane amounts of time together throughout the years and when we see each other after a whole year it feels like barely a day has passed.  One of the younger members of the group had the pleasure of showing us his slip'n'slide today.  You wouldn't know it from the face he is pulling, but it did give him a lot of pleasure.

PLAYFUL

Jumping off the boathouse.

Playful

Happy Birthday darling Annabelle. I think she enjoyed the  playful theme today.

PLASTICS

I dropped my sunglasses under the boat dock and we had to get a mask and snorkel to find them in the 7feet of water. On my way for Croakies tomorrow.

Plastics

We had a day out in the English countryside today.  Isn't it beautiful?  You can see a combine harvester in the distance and happy cows in fields. And even some sunshine.   In the foreground are the plastic rails that surround the horse training gallops.  Sadly my pictures of the horses didn't work out.
I've been on a real photo kick while over in the UK and I actually submitted one of my pics to the newspaper.  It actually got published today!!!

Happy Anniversary to my wonderful parents xoxo

PLANTS

From my rock wall on the new property.

Plants

You might have been under the impression that pubs only take their beer seriously.  Think this one is also a tad interested in plants....

PIPES

I have to tell you why I have THE WORST PICTURE ON EARTH today. This morning, on our way to a bike ride, I saw a shop that said 'pipes sold here'. So I went in and gave her the spiel to take a picture. She took me in the locked back room and had to leave the register unmanned. All the pipes in the back were water pipes! I asked for an old - fashioned tobacco pipe and this plastic one was all they had. I couldn't do anything interesting at all so this is what i got. I figured I would try something else later. But I left the camera in the truck on the bike ride, ended up along a river of a water treatment plant and was inundated with pipes but no camera or cell phone. Thought I would get it back at the house but as soon as I arrived home, Matt's friend needed to go to a walk-in clinic after breaking his toe on the boathouse. He's fine but my picture is not. Tomorrow is another day. :)

Pipes

Found these pipes in one of the exhibition rooms at the Natural History Museum.  In the background were beautiful stained glass windows but you can barely see them in the picture.

Patriotic

I thought I was being really patriotic by getting little Union Jack flags for Charlotte and I to wave.  Then Seb arrived and brought patriotism to a whole new level.  Here is Charlotte decked out in all her stars and stripes (with aforementioned flag).

PATRIOTIC

PASTELS

Pastels

We were so lucky to watch gymnastics today but SO sorry to narrowly miss gold medals for both Americans and Team GB.  Either way, it was an awesome experience at the Millenium Done The O2 Arena The Greenwich Arena.  This was a pastel structure at the entrance of the stadium.

PASTA

Pasta with Alfredo Sauce and some marinated, grilled London Broil.

Pasta

A household favourite (well at least for the children in the house).

Passion

I took some lovely photos today but they had nothing to do with passion.  This photo isn't great but it at least shows how these wonderful Olympics are stirring the passion of a nation.  Love the pic of William and Kate hugging like mad when the Chris Hoy got his cycling gold!

PASSION

Carly's passion and what used to be mine.

Panning shot - motion

This is the hardest technique I have ever tried with photography.  I read a little bit about it (get the moving object in focus and the background blurred was the general idea).  I tried for about five minutes with a VERY good subject (thank you Mum for running back and forth at least ten times).  This is as good as it got but I do want to practice more with the technique when I next have some time!

PANNING SHOT - MOTION

This is at Calf's Pen, where the kids can jump off the cliffs. This is Matt jumping from the highest spot in the white bathing suit. The water is very deep and there are several ledges of different heights to choose from. When the kids were little, they needed me to help them up the side so my only way down was to jump. I admit that I am happy they are old enough to do this on their own and I can take pictures from the boat.

PAMPERED

A very posh hotel on the Lake. If you stay there, I think you get very pampered. But to me, anywhere on the Lake is pampered.
http://www.thesagamore.com/

Pampered

Here are some pampered little mice that we saw at The Mouse House.  Seriously... fresh fruit, clean water, toys, fluffy sawdust.  What a life!

Packaging

In between shouting VERY LOUDLY and waving our British flags for Jemma Lowe (Her parents can't spell Gemma) at the Olympic swimming heats... my family had their snacks.  Mum had the "healthier" option.  Charlotte had the "unhealthy" option and Dad had the "this is really naughty" option.  #GOTEAMGB!!

PACKAGING

While trying to recreate the delicious Summertime cupcakes from Red Velvet Cupcakery in Washington, I bought this. It helped that they spell their name the same as me!
Comparison? Not even close and that's why there is only one gone. One was enough.

Overcast

At the start of the year when I saw the theme list I laughed out loud.  Of course I would get "overcast" while in England.   How simply perfect.  Except for one little thing... today was about the only chance of sunshine  for the rest of the week.  It did get more overcast by late afternoon but my camera was no longer with me.  I love these very fluffy clouds.

OVERCAST

Overcast at the Lake.

ORNAMENT/ORNAMENTAL

At the Indian Teepee Shop, they have a Christmas room in the back.

Ornament/Ornamental

Some big old ornamental clock that I just happened to stumble upon today.  As seen through the Olympic flags in parliament square.

ORDINARY

Nothing says Ordinary like a vanilla cone.

Ordinary

There was nothing ordinary about my day at all.  It is GOOD to be in London.  British flags flying everywhere.  Feeling so proud.  Passed by this pub sign on our walk home from cheering (trying to) the cyclists outside Buckingham Palace.  A most ordinary lunch.

ORBS

Gazing balls at the Bayport Flower House.

Orbs

So it's the middle of summer, the official start of the Olympics and here I am at 8am taking pictures of christmas ornaments in my pyjamas??!!!  Madness.  Anyway, these were the only orbs I could think of without having to leave the house.  On a major packing mission.

Orange

I had to run a lot of pre-trip errands today.  Charlotte came with me and was so good she got a treat.  This is always her treat of choice.

ORANGE

From a little farm stand near the house.

I wanted to add a second picture that I did not take today. While on our trip to Washington, we saw this woman who's hair was as orange as the flower. When we saw her, we all said, "Orange for the blog!" I couldn't resist posting it to show you.