Floral Art, Gardening and Photography... You'll find an occasional photog assignment and inspiration to get you creating in any medium! What do you do?
Etsy can be a true inspiration for art, ideas, and motivation. I created this treasury today thinking about holiday giving for my daughter. Chanukah is in a few days... and Christmas is in a few weeks. The initial pendant below by RitzyMisfit is a sure winner with a girl for the holidays. They are light weight and unique. I love the beautiful lockets created by Starsb117. Today she has this pretty heart version available on the bottom left. And, I was excited to find this shop by jewelrybynatsuko today. Let me know what you think.
I did ask as I checked into my camp site if there were birds at Blue Spring State Park, which is located outside of Daytona about 30 miles. The employee said no not really they were migrating... but a woman stepped into the conversation and said, that yes there were birds there.
I took the two hour river cruise on the St. John's River through the park service for $22 and took 187 photographs on the cruise of mostly birds. If I didn't get a good shot, we found another of the same bird further down the river, so I could try again. (Not on purpose, but that gives you an idea how many birds there were.) It was stunning.
My favorite was the Anhinga. Their open wings had markings, which resembled the Spanish moss and made the birds blend in. I use this photograph above on the right to illustrate my point. Hopefully it also shows the large size of the bird.
Here are a few other birds we spotted on our trip. Below is a black crowned night heron. The image is titled "Asleep."
Here are three white ibis. My son studied these when he was in kindergarten. Funny where life leads you. I had no idea what they were then, not too long ago.
We learned from our wonderful tour guide that the Audobon society began with a women's group who opposed the hunting of birds for the feathers for women's hats. Upon further reading, this group was led by Boston's Harriet Hemenway, who called her friends in the Boston Blue Book, high society and invited them to join the group. Interesting.
And, as you can imagine. Although, I didn't think about it. There were a few alligators in the park as well.
This park's spring is home to 271 manatees because it is 72ยบ year round. I admit, I didn't study the manatees as much as I studied the birds. But it's okay to leave something for the next visit.
Here is a three minute video of the park cruise to entice you to take the trip!
As a heads up... I stayed at a campsite #14 in my tent and it was very noisy at the park. There is a train close by; the first night I counted four loud passings. And, in between a rooster crowed her way through the night. She must not understand the wee hour wake up, which would have been okay in light of the early hour awakenings. But the view of the birds before the park opened was worth the sleepless night, and I was so tired the other nights, I slept through all the noise. And, many different birds woke me up at daylight, so I could make it to the river. What a really wonderful place.
All of these images are copyrighted by Hazel Berger. Please do not use without permission. I apologize to the tour guide. I did not mean to capture so much of his voice. Next time I will know to ask permission.
Oh so pretty! Such a beautiful place four hours from Atlanta. Here are some photographs. We drove the 11 mile loop in Cades Cove in a couple hours, but I could have taken 11 hours... for sure. I can't wait to camp there and photograph with more time.
Wake up.
Get dressed.
Pull a diet coke from the fridge.
Watch the sun rise from behind the camera lens.
Drive to town looking for photographs for sunset.
Grocery shop.
Prepare orange french toast.
Wake up the children.
Blog it.
Eat.
Shower.
So, for me anyway, part of having children is really having fun with them. Do you laugh hysterically at some of your kids' antics? It's required. I found this tonight while I was cooking. It wasn't funny... the funny part is wondering if I contributed to the mess?
My oldest and I text funny things at least once a day. Share something special with one of your kids today. It will add a smile to your day and make everything (all that hard earned money?) worthwhile.
I was able to unwind this and toss the pieces without a hitch. I showed them, but wasn't looking for a culprit.
1. If you could have any wild animal(not domesticated) as a pet and this animal would never live behind bars and it would be safe for both you and the animal, what animal would you choose.
That's hard to decide because I wouldn't want to make a wild animal a pet. But I choose a horse. I am so wanting a horse farm presently. But I see it says not domesticated... so a small elephant because Jungle Book was one of my favorite stories as a child.
2. What occupation would you choose if you could do it all over again. You cannot answer that you would not change anything. And, how would you go about achieving your goal. You are twenty again.
I would start shooting photographs right there and then, not wait 20 years to become a photographer! 3. What advice would you give your child in today's world just before he or she leaves home for good.
I don't think the kids will leave home for "good." We are texting, so that will be a choice and also video chatting will be good then. But one of my mantras is to try everything at least once. So, I would suggest falling back on those things tried and unliked and to try other things for diversity in life.
4. If you had all of the time in the world and had access to all libraries of the world, what topic would you spend your life researching and why.
I would spend my time researching Monet's art because it really fascinated me in France. I would like to visit all the museums that hold his work and read all the commentary on his work. But I would especially like to visit his gardens.
Thank you Carole of Art Plus for selected me for tag. I would like to tag four artists from Etsy. But will do the research shortly.
My questions:
1. When, where and how did you sell your first piece of art?
Plum Chunky Knit Hat wi... 
SALE 3 Pc Shabby Distre... 
Ballet Pointe Shoes Fin... 
Dress Slip Layered Blue... 
Cherry Blossom Wrap 
1in CIRCLE GLASS PENDAN... 
Ritzy Misfit Wax Seal P... 
IRIS-Fabric/Crystal-Ear... 
Netbook Mini Laptop Sle... 
NEW Open Edition ACEO P... 
Purple Agate Swarovski ... 
Pink Flower Pouch Zippe... 
Rustic Hammered Heart L... 
Poppy bouquet on silver... 
Crayola Colors - lightw... 
OOAK Tweedy purple hand... 
