A Philly 4th

A Philly 4th, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Some snaps off the tv of the fireworks display around the Philly Art Museum. Sheryl Crowe performed here too. The bottom left is the new LCD banner around the top of the PECO building in Philly.
Sean and Brian did their own fireworks display in the driveway!

A Booming 4th!

Looks like a gorgeous, though breezy day out today for Independence Day! I haven’t ventured out yet as I was making Italian pasta salad and Strawberry ice cream cone cupcakes for a picnic we were invited too. We haven’t been to a picnic in ages!
~~I want to wish my brother Dave a Happy Birthday!!!!~~~~
Here is a desktop I made a few years ago-we are using it now. Enjoy your day and evening!

Here’s the link to Flickr for the full size version.

My yard-early July 2009

My yard-early July 2009, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Some longer shots instead of flower close-ups. Those are Chestnut tree catkins all over the place.

Thursday Thunks

1. When you close a door, do you close it quick and just let it slam or do you hold the knob and slowly shut it tight?
I can’t stand anyone slamming doors, so I try not to let one slam if I can help it.

2.Train A is moving at 60 miles an hour. Train B is moving at 22 miles an hour. They will pass each other at X time. Now what color shoes are you wearing when train A derails?
Huh? Depends on my outfit and if I was out watching trains go by.

3. What if M&M’s grew on trees? What color M&M tree would you have?
I’d hope they come like they do in the package-multicolor! If I couldn’t have multicolor, then I would go with green for ‘obvious’ reasons (and not because trees are green!)

4. How many petals on a flower does it take to make it the perfect bloom?
As many as it takes to make it perfectly symmetrical. : )

5. I took you to spend $421.67 on you, what did we spend that money on?
Probably a mini vacation down at the beach.

6. If you were a squash, what type of squash would you be?
Zucchini because I like the name!

7. Have you ever gotten a wrong number call and ended up talking to the person for longer than 5 minutes?
Nope!

8. Why haven’t you joined Berleen & Kimber at Insanity Cafe yet? Do we stink?
I didn’t know about it. I’ll go look.

9. Now for one of Ber’s questions back when TT was brand new… Shampoo bottles say lather, rinse, repeat… do you?
Only if I think my hair had a lot of hair products in it like hairspray.

10. It’s July, the year is half over. Do you see it as “whew that part is over” or best is yet to come?
Definitely-whew that part is over as we had some health issues, etc.

11. Why do you do the Thursday Thunks meme?
For something different to entertain my readers with. I think they get sick of flower photos!

Tying things up

July was always the month for my grandmom Ruth-born July 3rd and my brother Dave-born on Independence Day. When he was little, he thought the celebration marked with fireworks was just for him-lol
Not to much going on here this week. I’ve had to take allergy medicine three days in a row-so unlike me! Today I am better-have ‘another’ issue that may have knocked out the allergy one. Your body makes lots of histamines which can mess with hormones. Maybe I’ll be on an even keel for a few days-lol Our Chestnut trees are dropping massive amounts of catkins-the pollen part-which are dirty and dusty and I am sure the culprit with me. The guys have itchy throats too.
Anyway…mainly been doing quiet things inside and tying up, or should I say making ’string trellises’ for the tomatoes, cucumbers and string beans. The bean one looks a little wacky, but I hope it works! The tomatoes look good. I’m glad I skipped the ‘tepee’ ones from last year. You really need a large garden for them to work. Here’s the tomatoes:

The main support stakes are at the end of the rows. I have a few thinner stakes in between. You go down with the string and up again, make sure to wrap it around the skinnier stakes and that the tomatoes are in the middle of the string to hold them up.
Sean is going through his books and wants me to list them to sell. He’s sold one, but I have a big pile to add to Amazon. I should follow his lead, because I do not like piles of books on the floor. I know I must have similar books too. It’s hard!
Brian was pulling down poison ivy vines which are terrible this year in the yard. While Sean and I were out in the garden area, he pointed to a thick vine growing 50-60 feet up a pine. Brian was at the bottom of it! Today he has an few blisters on his face-yikes-I hope that is it. I gingerly go around with my garden snips and do the ones coming out of bushes, etc.

3D baby!

Baltimore, originally uploaded by starg82343.

Ran across a photographer that does 3D images. I happen to have some 3D glasses from an old computer game of Sean’s. Wow-what a feast for the eyes!
I’ve been to Baltimore before, so I can sort of relate to what I’m seeing here.

Lilies!

Lilies!, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Ah, it’s that time of year again. I really love all the varieties of lilies and have them in several areas of my yard. The deer already snacked on a few buds-so I have to see if I can mix up some homemade deer repellent-thanks to Turkey Feathers blog and Missy who pointed in that direction. I just sprayed what was left with insect repellent, seems to have done the trick, until it rains again.

Photo hunt-flags

The flag and sky, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Taken on the day my son graduated from high school, over 4 yrs ago now. He’s a college graduate now! I like how the flag is waving and how puffy the clouds are.
~Update-must give credit where credit is due-my son took this photo at his friend’s graduation last year…same place that he graduated 3 yrs before her-opps!
Here is an Art Trading Card I made last year featuring some flags:

A shocking death

We were all so surprised to hear of the passing of pop singer/entertainer Michael Jackson. Although the events of his life took many unusual turns, he was deep down a sensitive and obviously a confused man. He was only 14 months older than me, so in my house, we watched Michael and the Jackson Five on The Ed Sullivan Show and followed his career for many years. He had a great voice and some amazing moves. He was awesome on his LP ‘Thriller’ and the video was just as neat-a big event at the time.
I’m thinking about his three children and what will happen to them. I hope their future was planned.
I’d like to remember Michael like this:

Thursday Thunks

1. Someone knocks at your door. You answer it. It’s a kid from the local school selling candy bars for a fundraiser. Do you buy one?
Not to sound mean, I probably wouldn’t answer the door and I have a sign there that says no solicitors or salespeople. Now if they were sitting at a table outside the supermarket, etc. I usually do.

2. The end of the world is tomorrow and you are out of milk – do you go buy some? Don’t see a need to.

3. Have you ever picked up the phone and called someone that you hadn’t talked to in years? Let’s say I have emailed them. Facebook is a great place to meet long lost pals again. See my post below.

4. Whats on your computer desktop background? It’s the night sky a few weeks ago when it was an orangey-pink color.

5. What was the very first movie you saw in a movie theater? I’d have to ask my mom..one of the first ones that I remember was definitely ‘The Sound of Music’-a long movie for little kids. I’m thinking it was probably ‘Mary Poppins’? I remember the first movie I took my son to see was ‘The Little Mermaid’ and he was 3.

6. If you had to take a 10th grade science test, do you think you would pass?
I think I would now as I have gained more knowledge over the years about science related things. Plus helping my son with his work has helped me! If I remember correctly, 10th grade science involved frog dissection- I let my partner do the dirty work.

7. Describe heaven.
The ultimate peace. I hope God picks me to tend his gardens.

8. Has a place that you lived ever been infested with some sort of insect or rodent?
Our apartment had some cockroaches at one time-got it sprayed. Our basement here had a flea infestation-had to put off one of those bombs-same at mom’s house a few times.

9. When you were a youngin’, did you hide in the clothes racks at department stores?
Most definitely-many were not the cleanest of areas-dust bunnies galore!

10. Is there anything in your vehicle that is broken?
One side of my cup holder which is a pain. The other doesn’t work that well. To replace it is too expensive.

11. What is something in your house that people would be surprise to find?
I have some porcelain dolls around. I have cut back a bunch. Also have up a dollhouse that I built back in the early 90s.

12. Do you agree with the death penalty?
The punishment must fit the crime-so I guess if some serial killer has the death penalty, he/she sure doesn’t deserve to take up a cell’s space.

13. Whats your favorite type of bear?
I really think Polar bears are awesome! The Philly zoo has a unique display (I think they still do) and I could have stood there for hours watching them swim, etc.

14. Where was the last place you went? I went to my classmate’s house-see below!

15. What if that person knocking at your door earlier was an adult selling candy bars… would you buy one?
I stand by my 1st answer. Mama said never take candy from strangers too!
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It’s going to be a warm day today-high 80s. As I stated on Facebook-make sure your ceiling fans are spinning counter clockwise for the summertime. : )