Twenty Days and Counting

Another high school reunion is fast approaching. Conversations are often the same, "So Nancy, what have you been up to?," they will ask. With that in mind, I started thinking about what I've accomplished in the past five years. So here's what I've come up with in no particular order: become seriously interested in photography ("When does a hobby become an obsession?," my sister asks. "When I spend $600. on a lens," I answer.), joined Facebook, taken three photography classes at the Showcase School, taken four on-line photography classes at Kennesaw State, started volunteering at my local elementary school and stopped, spent over four hours hanging out under the Brooklyn Bridge taking hundreds of images while my hungry husband waited patiently... God, I love him,

worked as an extra in a television show (Drop Dead Diva), started writing this blog, spent two weeks traveling around Provence with my sister and brother-in-law,

figured out how to download songs according to the beat onto my iPod for walking, started an on-line shop on Etsy, done several art shows, planted lavender that actually lived, painted our front staircase in black and white, designed my own web page (in html no less...okay, I'm bragging), went to the Oprah Show in the middle of winter and got Gore's DVD instead of a car :(, went to NYC on a girl's trip with my three of my long-time friends, lost two friends to cancer, saw the Chihuly exhibit at both the Atlanta Botanical Gardens and the New York Botanical Gardens,

visited my niece's fourth grade class in Brooklyn and almost killed one student, joined a Bible study at church...still with it, started taking YOGA classes...absolutely HATE the plank pose, began a life-long study of Photoshop, really, and bought my first pair of Chuck Taylor Converse sneakers in RED!

That just about sums up my life for the past five years. I'm ready for the reunion. So tell me, what have you been up to?

It's A Jungle Out There

The other morning as I was returning home from a morning walk, this is what was parked in the driveway. Not being a nature lover and having a serious fear of reptiles, I was in a tizzy. Although I admit that I have zero to no nurturing in my being, I did feel somewhat sorry for the turtle; it was hot and she was in the sun with no water in sight.
Before getting water, I did what any other blogger would do...run to get the camera. I don't know why I broke my neck to get it in seconds, I was dealing with a turtle. By the time I returned she had moved maybe two inches. This turtle was shy...camera shy. I had to sneek up on it to get this shot. She was kinda cute.

My next move was to get the water. Because she was so low to the ground, I had to find something shallow. A lid! I border on genius. I also had to confine the reptile until I could decide on my next step. I found a wire basket that normal people use to store sweaters in those closet systems, but I had used it to cover daisies as they were growing to keep them from being the rabbits' lunch. Again, genius.

Next I had to deal with the sun. Got an umbrella and positioned it over the basket. I know, it's overwhelming.

After I got her comfortable I called Barbara and gave her a quick update. She mentioned that I might want to give her some lettuce. Done. She was starting to pout.


Now she was really pouting. Bless her heart, she kept trying to get out of her new home by banging her head against the basket. By this time I was exhaused. After an hour or so I decided that she had to go.

I called and begged my neighbor, Lee, who has two wonderful boys, to adopt this creature. She really didn't want to, but as luck would have it, one of her boys overheard our conversation and started to beg. Lee caved. She offered to come later that afternoon. Actually her two sons, Garrett and Evan, ended up walking over with a shoe box in tow. I didn't hear them, I must have been napping from the exhausing day, so I went over to her house and took this shot. Aren't they handsome? They had already done research and told me that it was a female box turtle. Handsome and smart...the boys, not the turtle.

After saying my goodbyes, I took one final shot. She was still pouting. After all I've done for her and that's the thanks I got. She was one ungrateful turtle.