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I didn't forget yesterday! I've just been very busy. Plus, the data on the camera proves that I did take this yesterday. I know I take a lot of flower pics, but I felt like we needed some color after all the gray and rain we've had lately.
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Some thoughts:
1.) This photo does not do nearly enough justice to illustrate how very hard it rained today. Anyone who walked out in the rain for even the shortest amount of time got soaked.
2.) I wish I had my camera nearby when I saw a turkey and her 7 or 8 turkey babies wandering through our backyard.
I saw this door on the way to the bathroom at Westfarms Mall today. Free People? What the heck is that? Given its proximity to the bathrooms, it looks like another classification of bathroom: "Men," "Women" and "Free People." Groovy, man.
Oh dear. Back to school stuff on sale already? It's July!
The part I don't really get is that they're selling back-to-school snacks too (individual portions, lunchbox-friendly stuff). Isn't it a little too early to buy back-to-school snack food? In my house, it would be gone by the first day of school...
Wherever you go at the University of Hartford, there are stacks of Summer and Fall course catalogs. In most buildings they are lined up in neat piles, but in the Hartt School of Music, someone decided to get fancy and built an elaborate structure out of Summer course catalogs. I'd like to think that this happened by surprise, and that some random passer-by arranged them while waiting to talk to the Dean or something.
When I get stuck on what to take for my photo of the day, I ask for suggestions. My mom suggested taking a picture of the new necklace she got this weekend. In the summer, my mom decorates everything with beach stuff, and likes beachy jewelry. She also likes things that come in 5s, to represent her 5 kids. This necklace came from Ashley's in Windsor, I think, where my neighbor works.
Today I made blueberry coffee cake using local blueberries, local milk and local eggs! It came out gorgeous - I can't wait to try it tomorrow for breakfast. Here it is coming out of the oven right now. Yay for farmers markets!
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I had a nice night out with my parents tonight. We went to my cousin Ryan's Thesis Show at the Hartford Art School, where he was displaying his final project from his MFA in Illustration. After that, we had a walk through the Elizabeth Park Rose Garden, followed by dinner at Max Burger in West Hartford. It's nice to get to go out and do something we don't usually do once in a while!
This pic is awfully grainy...I must have left the ISO on too high. I think my mom took better photos!
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This is me, phoning it in again. I'm kinda tired today. I made this birdhouse in 2003 (well, my dad built it, but I painted it, and it was my idea). It won me third prize in the Northwest Park Country Fair. Even though it's falling apart, I'm still proud of it.
200 days and still going strong! My mom bought me the wine glass you see on the right here today. I would have loved to enjoy a cocktail in it on the deck tonight, but the deck was soaked from the crazy rain we had today. Thank God for the rain, though...makes the weather much more tolerable!
Man, it was hot today...we went out to dinner, but nobody was really hungry because of the heat. When we got home, we went straight in the pool. It was perfect pool weather! I tried to get some action shots of throwing things in the pool, but they didn't come out so well...so I just took this instead for the awesome colors.
I've been taking suggestions and requests lately for my photo of the day to help stay inspired. Maggie suggested I take a picture of her wrinkly hands, which were wrinkly from the pool. So there you go.
Among the many strange things I've wanted this year (see also: the chaise lounge, the money jar, the iPad stylus and the USB necklace) was a popsicle mold. I got one today at Five Below, and am making popsicles in it right now. Half of these are orange juice and the other half are lemonade and pomegranate juice. We'll see how they turn out, but I think I might need to buy better molds at some point. :)
It seems to be a project weekend: my dad and I are making this sign for the deck. He cut and painted the wood, and I'm working on the lettering. The operative phrase here is "working on"...it still needs a lot of cleanup! But I'm happy with how it's coming out.
I bought this pedal plane for my dad for Father's Day. He just got it today, as it was in New Jersey and his friend had to go pick it up for him. I know this looks like a rusty piece of junk right now, but he is going to restore it. I thought it was pretty cool, especially since he hasn't done a plane before. I'll post some pics when it's finished!
I subscribe to a mailing list that sends me daily ideas for my Project 366. Since today is the 12th, the suggested theme for the day was "dozen." So here you go: one dozen eggs from Scantic Valley Farm in Somers, bought at today's Windsor Farmer's Market.
Today I went to the East Granby Farmer's Market after work. It's actually a lot closer to my house than the Windsor one, and a bit bigger, too. A lot of stalls have very similar things (and some of the stalls also come to Windsor), but I did find some cool bath and body products made with goat's milk. I decided to take a picture of this pattypan squash because it was such a beautiful color - I'd never seen squash so yellow! This was at the stand for Windham Gardens.
I got out of work early today, so I went to someone else's town green for a change. I had lunch at the Thai Palace in Bloomfield, and had a look around the village green. The green has war memorials for the Bloomfield residents who served in the different wars, and has this monument to the Revolutionary War in the center (it was created for the Bicentennial).
The drum is actually a significant icon for Bloomfield. Brown Drums were made in Bloomfield and carried in the Revolutionary War, and I think the drum is now a symbol for Bloomfield.
I love being able to go in the pool or jacuzzi every night. The water has been unusually warm (we usually have a very cold pool), so I have been going in a lot more lately. I thought to take this pic because I thought the colors would be cool...I think I thought right. :)
Whenever we go to New Jersey (usually to the Newark Airport or to visit my parents' friends), we stop at the same truck stop every time. The first time I left for Oxford, my mom bought me a lovely bracelet at the truck stop. I got compliments whenever I wore it, and I always found it funny to respond, "Thanks, I got it at a truck stop in New Jersey."
Anyway, that bracelet broke a while ago, so I have this running joke with my mom that she needs to pick me up a new bracelet the next time she goest to that truck stop. My parents went down to the Jersey Shore to visit friends this weekend, and my mom bought this bracelet for me there...not at the truck stop, but at a little Fair Trade shop on the Shore. Even though I've never been to the Jersey Shore, it makes me think of all the times we passed through that truck stop in New Jersey on the way to Newark Airport to go to Oxford.
I'm getting into that bad habit again of not posting pics on the day I take them. I'll try to get back on schedule!
Kelly, Kevin and I (and Jack too) went to a 1st birthday party for McKenzie, the daughter of our childhood friend Amanda. There were lots of babies there, and Jack had a great time playing with all the water toys. Here is Miss Kenzie, hacking away at her smash cake. Happy birthday, McKenzie!
I bought this rose plant for my mom a while ago...I think around Mother's Day. My dad planted it with the other flowers outside, and it finally came back recently. What surprised me, though, is that the flower was originally a bit darker than this (I think it was more purple). My dad says it might have something to do with the soil.
Today I had another job interview...this time at the University of St. Joseph (formerly known at St. Joseph College). I loved the people. I love the college. I would love to work here. SJC/USJ also has some family importance: my grandmother went here (she was a Chemistry and Math double-major).
This particular building is McDonaugh Hall, which is an iconic building on the SJC/USJ campus. I can't help but wonder, though: are they going to fix the name of the college in all the places where it is etched in stone? We shall find out.
It's July 4. What did you *think* I'd have for my picture of the day? ;)
Happy Independence Day, America!
I should pretend that I went to some fancy monument today and this picture is from there. But no, it's from the P.F. Chang's outside of WestFarms Mall. (I did not eat there, by the way.) I stopped at WestFarms after my job interview today, as it was only 2 exits away. I think the interview went fairly well. I won't go into detail here, but you will find out if I get it!
I was going to do abstract pictures for a week and have people guess what they were, but when I look back at this project at the end of the year, I don't want to forget what they were! This here is a closeup of the top of one of PJ's bughouses. I was home working on my paper and getting ready for 2 job interviews, plus it was very rainy today, so I didn't go anywhere.
I can't believe I'm 50% done with this Project 366. After today, there are only 183 days to go!
Whenever it is hot hot hot like it has been lately, we always get crazy thunderstorms after. I wonder if this was the aftermath of the thunderstorms that were down in the DC area? Fortunately, this was only a passing storm and nothing major!
As I've said in the past, there is no better way to celebrate a nation's independence than pyrotechnics. My mom and I were trying out "writing" with sparklers last night, and we had a lot of fun with it.
I wanted to test out some of the manual settings on my camera tonight, when my mom got the idea to take some pictures with sparklers. We had a lot of fun and took a lot of pictures! We are working on our technique for the fourth of July to be able to actually write something :)