Catching up!

It has been a while since I shared my day to day photos. I have been pretty busy, so this will be a long blog with a lot of photos. We will jump right in with some sunrise photos. If you cannot guess, I am fascinated with sunrises and sunsets. The colors are just so amazing. Since I get off work at 7am, it has been the perfect time to go chasing the sunrise, and just down the road from my work place is Southeast Clarke Park, a nearly perfect place to get photos of said sunrises. On February 11th, 2022, I was not disappointed. It was a gilded sunrise, gold fading to bronze before the sun turned the sky blue. The first of these photos were taken with my camera.

The next are taken with my phone.

On the 18th of February, I had not worked and had to drop my son off for work on UGA campus. I happened to bring my dogs, thinking we may decide to take a walk. It had rained the night before and the clouds were still pretty thick, but I noticed a break in the clouds, almost like someone had pushed back some curtains. I thought that it was in the perfect place to reflect onto Lake Herrick, so we headed there. As I got to the big bridge, I looked out and, sure enough, it was amazing. I only had my phone with me, so I used it to capture these images.

This one is absolutely my favorite photo of Lake Herrick ever! With photography, at least half of the equation is being at the right place at the right time, and that happened here. You will see on later photos, that the clouds did move on and the break in the clouds was no longer directly over the lake.

After walking around the lake and getting several shots from different locations, I noticed a flock of ducks that landed on the other side of the lake. I was hoping they would swim my way, but most of them stayed far away. One duck, though, came our way, so I got some great photos of him.

I thought Moose was going to go over the side of the bridge when that duck got close to us!!!

On the 21st of February I got off work and headed towards Southeast Clarke Park again. It was actually a dreary morning, so there were no good sunrise photos, but I have been paying more attention to birds and trying to get photos of them, so here are some of the birds I photographed.

I love this photo of the geese! There is a lot of action and the one goose looks like it is missing it's head. I believe this is two of the couples of a flock of geese that hangs out in various locations on the east side of town.

The next morning, the 22nd, I took my son to work again and decided to take the dogs and walk them in Dudley Park.

Though it does not appear that they are enjoying the walk, they were, they just did not want it to stop for me to take a photo.

Since it was a dreary morning, one of my goals was to recreate one of my favorite photos of the pedestrian bridge over the river on my camera. To get this, you do have to climb down a little hill to the riverside. The rain the night before made this a treacherous little climb, but with the help of my dogs, I did it and got the photos.

I love the spooky feel of the bridge and river when it is foggy out. One of the main differences, though, from the last time I took the photo is that there is a lot more debris in the river. I also got some photos of the obviously evil squirrels that Moose wanted to chase.

One of the small, purple flowers just starting to bloom.

And a really cool photo of a raindrop on a leaf.

The next morning, I took my son to work and was not expecting a decent sunrise since it had been so dreary and rainy. I was driving through campus, and about to head home, when I realized that there was an amazing sunrise starting. I quickly drove to the top of North Deck on UGA campus to get a better look. Here are some of the photos.

From a sliver of a promise...

to a full blown purple Heaven...

to a golden glory!

My wonderful Dragon Soul reflecting the sunrise perfectly.

A breathtaking end before it faded to daylight.

The next morning, I was getting off of work, and the world had turned foggy again. I decided to get photos of more birds and some early daffodils that were blooming.

But there was just something about the fog that made me want to take some spooky photos of the trees and I was very pleased with the outcome.

I find these photos just pleasing to the mind. I also chose to make them black and white, because I felt it looked better.

I did not get any photos over the next few days, but on Sunday, February 27th, I had the joy of visiting my dear friends that live at Presbyterian Homes in Oconee County. This was my first time visiting Presbyterian Homes and I was very impressed with it. It is a beautiful location with three sections; individual houses, an apartment building and a an assisted living area. They specialize in Alzheimer's and dementia, with couples or individuals being able to progress from full independence to assisted living as needed. It was beautiful and I got a lot of photos. I took photos of my friends and their house, but will not be showing most of them here for privacy sake. I will, however share the outside photos and flower photos I got.

The main entrance above and below. The assisted living part is in this area, along with a pool, a workout room and the cafeteria.

The apartment building

The housing section.

Quiet little streets with sidewalks everywhere for walking.

The center of one of the blocks which has a fire pit and a lovely sitting area around it. What a great place to meet up with neighbors and socialize.

Several years ago, this couple was adopted by a young cat that decided that they were her preferred staff. Since they traveled a bit at that time, I would often come over and take care of the cat. She was never happy to see me, since I meant her servants were gone, but she put up with me. So, when I visited them in their new house, I had to visit with the cat. She was, of course, hiding in the closet.

"Wait, who is this demon coming to visit me?"

"Oh, no! I know that smell!!!"