SPSH 2018 - June link up

I'm joining in with the Seasonal Photo Scavenger Hunt hosted by Mary-Lou over at  Patio Postcards.  I'm a little late in getting started and busy with work, so just these two entries for today:

For #20 - Mellow Yellow.  These are blooming right now in my front yard flower bed.

 
If you have pollen allergies, keep your distance!

#11 - Pretty in Pink.  Potted Cala Lily plant on my back deck.

Countdown to London

I can't believe that two weeks from this moment I'll be on a plane somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, winging my way to London.  With that in mind, I know that it is high time I've checked back in with my blog peeps and finalized some plans!

I asked those of you who live anywhere within reasonable traveling distance of London to save the date and meet up with me on Friday, July 29th for dinner.  Now I need to get a count of who will be able to be there and make some reservations. Will YOU be able to meet up with me????  The apartment we have rented is in the Fitzrovia section of London and I'll be looking for a restaurant close to there, but also close to a station for those using public transportation.  King's Cross is fairly close by.  Any recommendations?

In the meantime, I'll leave you with this shot of Item 15 on the Scavenger Hunt - a team logo.  Taken at the Varsity Inn Restaurant in Ocean City N.J.  Almost every square inch of wall space is covered with college team pennants.

Scavenger Hunt 5 - The Final Countdown

Here are the last of my Scavenger Hunt photos:

#4 People Playing a Board Game - well it can't get more literal than this game of Human Chess at the Maryland Renaissance Festival!

#10 - A College or University.  This is Bucks County Community College (or rather PART of it) which is literally across the street from the development I live in... which explains why it took me so long to get this photo, right?

#11 - A cellular tower.  Another one that is across a different street from my development - near the high school property.  Looks ridiculously out of place.

#14 - A traffic signal.  Also within a half mile of my house. So why did I wait until the last day of the hunt to take these photos??? Beats me.

#21 Photo of me... Well, me taking a photo of me writing out my sign!

And that's it.  I got all 21 plus a couple of the alternates. And the rocking chair is coming....

Scavenger Hunt 4 - the Monday Wave Edition

I've been home from our family trip to the shore for nine days now... and I'm still catching up with my life!

Here are a few more scavenger hunt photos I managed during the month of August:

#6 A Metal Bridge.  This is the bridge connecting New Hope PA to Lambertville NJ. We cross it almost every week on our way to the Golden Nugget Flea Market.  The entire bridge is metal - even the road surface that you drive on. Which means it hums and vibrates as you are driving over it.  I hate it!

#18 - overloaded trash truck on the Boardwalk

#3 - A person walking a dog. 

Alternative A - People Eating Outside - my family at the Baia Restaurant (bayside in Somers Point NJ).  This was a covered deck with an open side and a great view of the bay (you can see the reflection of it in the windows behind them) 

#8 Someone "plugged in" to social media.  All three girls on their cell phones posting to Instagram and Snap Chat.  They are pretty good about leaving the phones alone during the meal. This was after dessert and we were just waiting for the check to be processed.

#13 A Carousel.  This one is at the Cape May County Zoo. No horses on this carousel - it is all zoo animals.

#18 Overloaded Car.  This is the back of my van loaded up with Becca's stuff for back to college.  It would have been far worse, but she was able to leave a lot of her stuff at Rachel's room over the Summer AND we took two cars, so the stuff Rachel was taking back (mostly clothing and toiletries) was in the other vehicle.  There was stuff in both middle seats and on the floor as well - Only the front driver and passenger seat left room for people!

So now the girls are all back at their respective homes away from home and I'm settling back into life here. Linking up with Rinda's Scavenger Hunt and waving hello to Sian and all the Monday wavers!

Me On Monday - the Anniversary Edition

THIRTY YEARS AGO TODAY... I married this man...

I was young, in love, naive, but pretty sure of myself...

Today we celebrate thirty years together...

(Okay this photo was two years ago, but I don't have anything more recent that is fit to be posted)

We usually don't make a big deal out of anniversaries, but I think after the disaster of our 25th, this one had to go better!

Yesterday he brought home a dozen red roses.

This morning he gave me a beautiful card.

I separated the flowers into two vases so I could have some in the kitchen and some in the office. I almost never get to enjoy flowers in my office!

(This counts as #1 A Bouquet of Flowers for Rinda's Scavenger Hunt).

Tonight we are going out to dinner. Trying out Bonefish Grill which is new to us.

My real "gift" will be purchased shortly.  The contemporary gift for a 30th wedding anniversary is diamonds. And I had an opportunity while in Ocean City with Deanna last month to do a little advance scouting... [to be continued]...

Waiving Hi to Sian and all the other Monday waivers.

Scavenger Hunt 3 - the retrieved photos

Having successfully retrieved my photos from my re-formatted SD card, I have these to add to my Scavenger Hunt finds:

# 5 Architectural Columns

Taken from the underside of the 14th Street fishing pier.  I've shot this before, but always facing the ocean. From a strictly composition perspective, it is a lot more interesting facing toward town.

























#9 A tent:

 The tents where the umbrellas for beach rental are stored. And the big locked box to the left is where the beach chairs are stored.

Bring your own shade...

#17 Matching Uniforms:

It is always nice to see that our beach tag fees are being put to good use! Not sure if these are paid employees or folks doing community service.  Either way, I love how clean Ocean City beaches are.

Scavenger Hunt 2

I had a really wonderful visit with my sister Deanna July 20-24.  I flew her out here to celebrate her 50th birthday (which was in June but we had to work around her work and kid schedules).  The only thing she asked for was to see the ocean. You don't get much of that living in Tennesee. Needless to say, I was happy to oblige! And Ocean City was a wonderful spot for Scavenger Hunt photos!

We arrived and checked into our bed and breakfast around 3:00 in the afternoon on the 21st.  With only 45 hours for our total visit, we wanted to fit everything in!  As soon as the rain cleared, we headed up to the boardwalk and visited the shops. Stopping in my favorite shop, the first thing we noticed was:

#7 - a turtle:

Then this one:

And these:

And I thought finding a turtle was going to be hard!

We had dinner at Manco and Manco - the best pizza anywhere! And dessert at Kohr Bros - frozen custard - orange and vanilla twist (think the flavor of the creamsicles you used to get from the ice cream truck as a kid!).  Then we walked down to Wonderland Pier which is one of the small amusement parks on the boardwalk. On the way there we found:

#17 - matching uniforms - a string band from Philadelphia. And by the uniforms, I would guess they are part of the Mummers Parade.

Our first stop at Wonderland Pier was # 19 - a ticket booth:

Across from the ticket booth is #13 - a carousel:

But we didn't go on the carousel. We bought tickets for the ferris wheel ($6 each, sheesh!) just so I could get this photo:
#16 a panoramic view from high up

This is a view of the town (island) of Ocean City NJ, facing toward the bay.  You can see the bridge that you cross to come into Ocean City.  The large building to the far right of the photo is the high school grounds. Yes, kids apparently live here year round!  It was just before sunset when we took our ride and the sky was gorgeous.

And facing to the other side of the ferris wheel is a view of the boardwalk and the Atlantic Ocean. Also qualifies for #20 - a natural body of water... a very big one!

On our second day, we got up early and walked the beach.  A stingray had gotten stranded on the beach side of a rock jetty when the tide went out and we helped guide it (pushing its wings over the sand bars in the shallows) back out to the ocean.  I had a few really good photos of our rescue, along with shots of architectural columns under the 14th St. fishing pier and a tent on the beach (and waves, and pink toes, and the sunrise).  But when I got home... I accidentally formatted my SD card before downloading my pictures. UGH!!!  At least most of my Scavenger Hunt shots were cell phone shots and not deleted.

Up on the boardwalk again, we captured Alternative B - someone holding an umbrella:

Truthfully, this was two artists setting up to paint and the umbrellas would eventually be fixed on a pole to shade their work.  I was lucky to catch the lady in the white shirt while she had the umbrella in her hands!
























Later in the day, we went shopping in town and stumbled upon this:
#15 - a flag pole with at least 3 flags:

I have Deanna to thank for noticing this. We were on our way to lunch, came to an intersection, and I said "we need to turn left here."  Her response was "We can't" and she physically turned me around to see this.  I could have walked one end of Ocean City to the other and never seen this particular house!

I consider this the find of the trip as I never thought I'd find this one!

We capped off this trip with massages and movies - saw Magic Mike XXL.  Channing Tatum makes for very nice eye candy!

Our family vacation to Ocean City is in mid-August and I hope to capture some of the photos I lost then.  Unfortunately, our sting ray rescue mission has been relegated to a sweet memory with no proof.

Scavenger Hunt 1

Between illness and travel, I haven't been around much.  But I'm finally feeling better, catching up with my life, and I have my first set of photos for the Scavenger Hunt!

We traveled to Lexington, KY July 7 - 11 to visit Jay's family.  I was sick the entire time.  In fact, this summer cold had me down for two solid weeks. As in zero-energy-can't-breathe-sore-throat-want-to-curl-up-in-bed-for-a-week sick. Not being up to snuff, I didn't have the energy to get photographs and missed several opportunities for a college and structural columns, among other things.  But I did get a few shots in Kentucky.

#2 - an ornate door knocker

Okay, I suppose technically it might be a gate pull? But it looks like a door knocker to me. And what is really cool is that this knocker belongs to this:

The Castle Post in Versailles KY, just outside of Lexington. It was built in 1969 by the Martin family, so it isn't really old, but designed after old castles in Europe. It is now operated as a luxury bed and breakfast. You can't tell from this photo, but the 4 towers at the corners are just part of the outer fence. The castle really only takes up the very middle of the photo.

#12 - a public restroom

Taken via the mirror inside the ladies room at Hanger's Restaurant in Richmond KY (and carefully angled so as not to be a selfie).  I liked the art work on the walls.



























#20 - a natural body of water:

This is the Kentucky River as seen from inside the in-laws Jeep Wrangler while crossing on the Valley View Ferry.  The ferry only fits two cars at once.  It was a rainy day when we were out, so we didn't leave the vehicle for photos on either side.  The ferry was founded in 1780 and is believed to be the oldest continually operating business in Kentucky.

The few other photos I have from Kentucky are of horse farms and don't fit any of the scavenger hunt requirements.  And honestly, I didn't really get anything good.

Scavenger Hunt 5 - the final few

 #3 Birds On a Wire.  What, you can't see them?  They are almost dead center in the photo, below the traffic lights facing the other direction, on the wire stretching between the top edge of the hotel and the street light.  Roughly a dozen of them. I would show you zoomed in, but all you'd see is pixellated blobs. I saw them clear as day sitting at this traffic light. Unfortunately, my iPhone did not.

 So I give you this shot, taken for me by Jay on Saturday morning. Seriously, birds on a wire has become a running joke when we are in the car. So he saw this driving himself to work and snapped the photo for me.

#6. An urban street scene. The streets of Washington D.C. as taken in front of the Thai Restaurant that Sarah and I were visiting for dinner on Friday night.

#7. A rural landscape. Shot from the Bloomsburg University campus. A great view of the valley and the rolling hills of Pennsylvania.

Which leaves me with #10, the photo bomb:

The view of the Oprah Live the Life You Want Weekend event from the nosebleed section of the Verizon Center in Washington D.C.  Seriously, I got vertigo the first time we went up to our seats and turned around toward the stage. It is kind of terrifying. Oprah looked like an ant on that stage. And I'm not really sure this counts as a photo bomb, but I was trying to get the crowd seated and didn't expect all these people to be popping up in their seats.  In any event, I did get both alternates, so I'm calling it good!

Scavenger Hunt - 4 Playing Catch Up

It has been awhile since I've posted any Scavenger Hunt photos. So here goes...

#2 - A garden gnome.  I've been on the look-out for one of these guys since forever June. And never saw one. Well, as it turns out, he wasn't visible from the street. This little guy is on the porch of the house directly across the street from me! And I would have never known had I not been outside taking a photo of a hot air balloon and discussing the Scavenger Hunt with my next door neighbor.

#12 A Mascot. I am not a sports fan and don't get to games. So when we went to Bloomsburg last Friday to take Rachel & Becca out to lunch for their 21st birthday (yes, my babies are 21... YIKES!) I asked them to take me to the bookstore so I could get this photo.

#14 - A Parade.... of college students on the Bloomsburg campus. Which is apparently as close to a parade as I'm going to get this Summer!

#18  A Waterfall.  This was taken in Putnam CT. Jay and I went to "Mystic Country" over Labor Day weekend to visit antique shops. I was so happy to find this... not just one waterfall... if you look closely you can count at least five different spots that have water tumbling down!

#20 A Bus with a picture painted on it.  I have come to the conclusion that buses here in the northeastern United States are BORING! Most of them have the name of the bus company and a few stripes painted down the side. That's it. No pictures. We did spot this one on the drive to Connecticut and I managed to snap a picture from the passenger seat.

Alternative A - A Hot Air Balloon. Believe it or not, this photo was taken from my front yard. I was sitting at my computer when I heard the sound of the balloon. So I grabbed my camera (this is one of only a few not taken on the iPhone!) and headed outside. It was almost sunset. This balloon was riding so low, it skimmed the top of the trees and went right over my roof! I suspect they ended up landing in the soccer field behind the grocery store. My next door neighbor was also out taking pictures. I told her about the Scavenger Hunt. And that is when I learned our neighbor across the street had a gnome.

Alternative B - A Bird House.  Found this one this past weekend when Jay and I were at an antique store up in Allentown (no, I didn't buy it - took the photo in the store). Love the weathered look and the faucet handles as perches!

Which leaves me needing an urban street scene, a rural landscape, a photo bomb, and the ever elusive birds on wire...  I have been seeing birds on wires lately... always when I am driving and always on roadways where there is NO PLACE to pull over. Never out on a walk in my own neighborhood. That would be too easy, right? I'll be right down to the last minute getting these last few photos in! With my travel schedule, I will probably have to post my last few (IF I can get them) via iPhone to Facebook!

Scavenger Hunt - 3 (So Many Signs)

#1 - A sign welcoming people to my home town.  These are posted at various entrances to the borough. This one happens to be just a few blocks from home.

 #16 - A sign not in English.  This billboard is located on Old Bethlehem Pike in Sellersville (next town over). Old Bethlehem Pike is a moderately traveled two lane roadway that leads to Route 309.  This area happens to be very "white bread" - very small minority population and certainly not a significant Spanish speaking population. In fact, I'd be surprised if even 5% of the people who drive by this bill board can read Spanish (I can't).  I did a google translation - it says "From home to forest in less than 90 minutes". (ahem, there is plenty of forest within 5-10 minutes of this sign)  I'm just totally stumped as to what demographic the advertisers are trying to reach???

Oh, and take note of the completely bird-free overhead wires...

#19 - A Public Garden. This might not be what you'd expect. This land is set aside so that any borough resident can come claim a small patch and grow their own flowers/vegetables.  Meant for those that don't have the yard space for a garden.  It is really hard to tell from the photo, but there is a beautiful patch of sunflowers growing at the far back corner (nearly center line of the photo, right in front of the white house).  If I had to venture a guess, there are at least 50 different little plots in there with folks growing things - mostly veggies.

P.S.  All taken with my iPhone... I may be getting a little better at this. Although zooming with my feet has proved a bit dangerous - especially with that billboard photo!

Linking up with Rinda's July Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt.