Saturday, July 28, 2012

July Catch Up

 It's been a busy month.  Time to catch up.  I did just post a bunch of these photos on facebook today, so if saw them there you might as well just skip this post and check back next time.  :-)  Lots of photos, here we go.

July 4th fireworks at Round Lake...experimenting with camera settings.  Undecided about the results so far.

Rodeo in Hamel.  Tough lighting for photos, but a fun night anyway!  Bareback rider.

It was a hot, humid July in Minnesota.  The day lilies didn't seem to mind.

Baseball playoffs.  Billy's team won their way into the state tournament.

Baseball on a hot summer day...one of my favorite things.

Backyard flowers.///red Gerbera daisy.

Teamwork.

A peaceful day off.

First game at the state tournament.  Billy hit the green ball for a double for one at bat...not this one. :-)

Storms came in, sirens went off, the game was postponed with an inning plus one out left.

Billy led off...hit a long ball to the warning track for an out.  So close.  His last at bat of the season.

His team ended up 3rd in state, not half bad.

My tomatoes are liking the warm days. Yum.

One of the few perennials that the rabbits haven't eaten.

Ladies golf league...a fun way to spend a Tuesday evening.

Flowers in my dining room.

Eric playing softball.

Feisty cat.

Purple Bell flower at my mom's farm.

Golfing with Eric.

One of my day lilies.

Back lit Gerbera daisies.

Brian and Penny sharing a laugh.

Billy punting at football camp...yup...football already.

I'll rest when I'm old....wait...oh, never mind.


Hope you are enjoying your summer.  Thanks for stopping by!


July 28th, 2011:  No Blog Post & Photo of the Day
July 27th, 2010:   Daily Photos & Photo of the Day
July 28th, 2009:  Grocery Flowers & Photo of the Day

Friday, July 6, 2012

July Flashback Friday

On the first Friday of June I took an idea from several other bloggers and did a "flashback" Friday.  My plan is to do one on the first Friday of each month.  Here is the July version...photos from July 2004.

In last months post from 8 years ago Billy was playing baseball.  Are you surprised?  A month later he was still playing ball. They moved the kids around a lot at this age, here he was making a scoop at first base.

He spent some time catching too.  I can't believe how little he looks.

Brian was still taking tennis lessons.  It looks like it was a hot day when this one was taken!

The boys would walk across our backyard and into the park to go to their lessons.  I remember one time when they were gone Penny decided that she was missing out and escaped from our yard to find them!  It's a scary thing when your dog goes missing in the city.  We found her in the park safe and sound.

Billy had been asked to play on a tournament team in the summer of 2004.  It was a little taste of what travel baseball would be like.  He was pretty serious about baseball way back then!

A boy and his dog.  Brian has always had a sweet relationship with Penny.  It's so strange to see her without her gray face...and to see Brian without hair on his!  The lazy days of summer.

It's still hot here, in the upper 90's today and humid.  I've been spending the last few days backing up my photo files.  I put them on an external hard drive and I'm burning DVD's of all of them just to be extra safe.  So many precious memories that I would really hate to lose.  Have you backed up your files lately?  Do it, you won't be sorry!


Thanks for stopping by!


July 7, 2011:   Summer Time  & Photo of the Day
July 6, 2010:  No Blog Post & Photo of the Day
July 6, 2009:  The Fourth of July & Photo of the Day

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Happy Hot 4th of July!

It's a hot one here, highs expected to reach 101 degrees.  101 degrees and humid.  It's been hot for a few days, and it's supposed to be hot for a few more.  You know that it's hot when the lows hover around 80 degrees.  Sheesh.  Thank goodness for air conditioning!  Grab a cool drink and sit back, there's a few weeks of pictures to catch up on!

Our summer has been filled with baseball.  Even on some of the days that Billy hasn't had a game, we've gone to one.  This is Billy at the High School state tournament game.  They ended up losing the game and took 3rd in the tournament.


Billy played in a couple of tournaments in June.  The days were much cooler a few weeks ago.  I liked how the light was hitting him when he was on 2nd base.

Billy usually takes enough of a lead to make the pitchers nervous, but he's on his toes and always gets back in time.  His uniform doesn't stay clean for very long.

We had a few nights off from baseball.  One night I was invited to celebrate a good friends birthday in Stillwater.  The restaurant she picked was right on the river.  I took this picture of a river boat going past with my cell phone.  I like it that my friends are catching up to me in age.  :-)

Later that night we had a storm.  We lost a willow tree in our backyard.  My golf league was cancelled because the course was underwater.  I took a picture of a pot of flowers next to my house.  It all made sense to me!

Eric and I had our 30th wedding anniversary.  That's a big number, makes me feel old...

...but we still have a lot to laugh about, and I think that's the key.

We had a few days with rain.  My roses in the backyard liked it.

Then it stopped raining and Billy had 9 baseball games in 8 days.  That's a lot of baseball, but what a better way to spend summer evenings?

Evenings and weekends.  Somehow we got the mess of the willow tree cleaned up between games.

Billy getting hit by a pitch.  Ouch.  He was ok though...and they won the game.  Things like that hurt worse when you lose.

Batting on a hot day...half the team decided that it would be cooler to just wear their jersey vests.  Yikes.  I thought that they looked undressed.  Another mom thought that they looked like a bunch of rednecks.  They had fun with it though.

Billy has played right field, 3rd base and catcher this summer.  He doesn't care where, he just likes to play.

He's been hitting pretty well, that's fun to see.


I took photos of my converse shoes on the fence for the final eleven games and posted them on facebook.  I'm sure that a lot of people thought I was nuts, but some got a kick out of it....and I had fun with it so what the heck.

And now, the regular season baseball games are done.  And we are stopping to smell the roses.  Or the petunias.  Play-offs start at the end of the week...then they have to win to keep playing.  I hope that the temps cool down before then.

Brian has been pretty patient with us spending so much time at baseball.  It's sure nice to have him home for the summer!

We finally got to spend some time in the country last weekend.  Good thing, I was missing this guy!

The lilies were blooming...they always say "summer" to me!


Penny got to take a dip or two in the river.  She loves it!  She acts like a puppy when she sees that water.

The sunsets are prettier up there.


We stopped on the way home so I could snap a quick picture of this pretty little farm.  So peaceful.

Petunias on my patio.

Cone flowers at the Arboretum.  My poor, rabbit eaten cone flowers aren't quite ready to bloom yet.

And last but not least, the big orange moon rising on a warm, humid evening.

Summer is here, it's the 4th of July.  My grandma would have been 104 years old this year.  She lived in a Country with many blessings.  So do we.  And for that, I am grateful.


 Have a wonderful Independence day!

July 4th, 2011:  No Blog Post & Photo of the Day
July 3rd, 2010:  Daily Pictures & Photo of the Day