From the Biltmore Gardens

So I took a week long road trip, camera in hand for much of the way (admitting that much of the way included lengthy hours in a car between sights).  Indiana to Florida (through Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia), then back to Indiana through Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky again.

On the second to last day of the trip, we went to the Biltmore.  If you've never been, know that it is grandiose and impressive and worth the trip.  I was there for a whole day, including the basic home tour, lunch, the gardens, the shops and the winery.  I didn't see the museum, or any special tours, or all of the grounds, and I still felt like I rushed through it.

I'm just now uploading my photos, and they remind me of how beautiful the gardens were.  There is something so calming about taking a camera into a flower garden (or a conservatory).  Tonight I noticed so much more detail in the photos, and I'm in awe of the astounding creativity of God.  There are easily over 100 photos, and it's hard to decide which to post, so I apologize if it seems I've posted too many.  They are just too beautiful!

(pause)

Hello, December!

I imagine that I will not reach any blogging records this month. Some months are like that. This blog is mostly about my creative endeavors and sometimes a little more than that...but this month, I am a worker bee, and I need to spend my extra time just holding everything else together. That is one of the lessons about self-maintenance that I keep learning over and over again. Someday I may know how to do that and still maintain some creative productivity. And when I find that balance, I will probably write about it a lot.

I do miss blogging, though, and I have so many plans for updates in the new year.

Today, because I shared senior photos of my niece, I'm also going to share some senior photos of my nephew.

The two sessions could not have been more different. Justin's photos were taken in a little park across the street from his house, just hours before my plane was scheduled to take me back to Indiana from Houston. We were pressed for time.

There was no clothing change. In fact, he wore shorts, which didn't make it into any photos at all. And, he is at least a foot taller than I am. I think he might be the tallest person in the family. He might be six foot five?


The scenery was the opposite of lush. It was all brown and dead-stick-filled, and the lake in the park had mostly dried up, leaving rusty debris. It wasn't even rustic in a cool way. Shooting around those grounds made the photo session even more challenging!

Now that I look at this, the photo above looks kind of greenish. I should fix that.

And, Justin doesn't even really like to have his picture taken. Or at least, I think he doesn't. I was so thrilled that he let me take his picture at all!


He is the king of goofy faces. He is so hilarious. He is awesome at impressions - seriously talented. (There were many photos even more goofy than this one!)

This week he was accepted to UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego and UC Santa Cruz. He hasn't even finished applying at schools. We're all so excited for him!

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Rest whenever you feel like you need it - whenever you can. It will help. I promise.

awesome day!

i had the best day.

it started out okay...i ran some errands, and then picked up my niece, katie.

we ate lunch at creation cafe. our service was less than stellar, but the food was delicious.

then, we set out on a senior portrait photo shoot adventure (katie is a senior in high school).

we walked most of the downtown canal, passing a gondolier, paddleboats, pedal cars, a segway tour, the entire indiana aids walk, and "barktoberfest", a celebration of dogs in their halloween costumes, including a golden retriever in a purple tutu.

we explored the grounds of the indianapolis museum of art and the 100 acres art and nature park. for that segment of the shoot, katie was such a trooper in her high heeled boots.

then, after a brief starbucks pit stop, we finished the photo tour at garfield park. we stopped into the conservatory to see a bat exhibit, although we couldn't find any bats. we liked it though, as we photographed the fish in the ponds were approaching us as if we were going to feed them:



i took katie home, went to adrian orchards, and bought my first apple cider of the year.

i went to church, and heard just the sermon i needed about worry and anxiety. "worry is part of the brokenness of humanity", pastor yates said. yes.

dinner was mexican gumbo from qdoba. i love to cook although i didn't at all today, because i wanted to get home to edit photos:










i am loving this photo editing process, although i'm going to stop for the night to paint for a while, during a brand new snl.

life is good.

pitcher plants

on my birthday (the weekend before last), our neighbor stopped by to chat, and after just a few minutes of conversation, my parents, brother, neighbor and i all went for a drive to search for the carnivorous plants he had spotted earlier in the summer.

i'd never seen a pitcher plant before. when they were spotted along a stretch of rarely-traveled road, they were just far enough into unsafe territory that i couldn't stand too close. the ground was uneven and the wild weeds grew so high that i couldn't tell how low the ditch was. there was also poison ivy, so i took photos from the side of the road.



across the way, in a swamp-like area, we found some more. i could get closer to these, so thought i could take some close-ups and try to figure out how insects get stuck in them. they didn't seem to open and close like venus flytraps.

when i looked inside the flower, i determined that the insects were attracted to the knobby thing in the center, but got stuck in the gunky insides of the "petals". (wow, i am definitely not a botanist.) i thought this made a lot of sense, since it looked like there were a little black insect remnants inside, so i took a lot of photos of that particular part.



when i returned home, i opened our field guide to north american wildflowers, and it turns out i was really wrong.



the insects get stuck inside the pitcher-like "leaves" at the base of the plant.

i didn't really take many photos of that part. oops.

after a zillion mosquitoes showed up to wish me a happy birthday, we returned home for blueberry pie and ice cream.



it was just one little fun part of a really nice birthday, and one i didn't expect.

fireworks

i'm back in indianapolis-i've started readjusting to work and routine, and i've started downloading the approximately 10 GB of photos i took over the past two weeks. summer in northern michigan offers the chance to take photos of so many of my favorite photographable things. a week ago, the fireworks were awesome:









so much more soon...i hope your tuesday is spectacular.