Antiquing

I needed a little time out of the house, out of school, and just by myself to do something non-pressing ;)

I was super excited for the Maple Leaf Festival coming up, but it turns out that I might not get to go. So, last night I decided that I would take my camera on a date to an antique mall on my way to school to get that little relaxing me-time. 

So, I'm all stuck in a vintage mood today. Packing a thermos of tea to keep me warm until the car heated up... leaving early in my old beetle... sipping tea and zipping along back roads... swerving around in an effort to miss of all the pot holes and bumping along from all the holes I didn't miss... the morning sun glaring in my face... finally pulling my little car into a parking spot on the town square. Ahh, it was all too perfect :)

First stop out of my car was the little street market.

A quick snap as I walked into the antique shop.

I really should have brought my Lensbaby in, but I only had my 50mm, so I did a little freelensing. I'm really glad I have the Lensbaby so I don't ruin my camera's sensor, but sometimes freelensing is just a tad bit more fun... ;)

Neosho newspaper from 1969... Same year as my car ;)

And I didn't leave the place without a purchase for my new room upstairs.

A question for my readers...

Should I make the pictures a little smaller or is it good like it is?

-MarLeahJoy

Close to the Earth

It's one of those days where I will be perfectly happy to sit by an open window and do my homework. I love the low light and the perfect coolness of an almost fall day (2 more days - Yay).

The earth smells so good after a rain, especially up near our pine trees.
I spent a little time this morning, just hanging out up there with my camera.

You know what this is reminding me most of...? Colorado. Yeah I'm getting
pretty nostalgic right now, lol.

-MarLeahJoy

Myrtle Camp

I didn't really take too many pictures during the camp.

Actually, I am quite sure that others took more pictures on my camera than I did ;)

I would include some of those that others took,

but since they mostly consist of pictures of me with my

eyes crossed or my tongue sticking out... we'll just leave

those pictures alone. Maybe, my kids will find them

when they want to browse through my "old" pictures --

that should give them a good laugh! Haha

It rained off and on the whole time.

I guess that has happened most of this 

summer anyway, so nothing different there.

These little guys were quite serious about their horseshoe game.

I think I could be just as amazing at horseshoes if I pitched

two feet away from the stake, too... ;)

I had my extra lens sitting around and my cousin picked it up to look at it and 

wha-la! there's a mini version of him hanging upside-down. 

This is from Grand Gulf State Park.

It's a pretty cool place, and you can hike 

around down there as long as it's dry... 

and you can even go down through the natural 

bridge or cave and come out in another gulf.

Sad to say, I got stuck up in another area taking pictures of these little 'shrooms and missed my chance to actually go through the natural bridge. I only brought my 50mm lens so I used this little method to turn it into a macro lens. It was pretty damp out that day, so I actually risked quite a bit by detaching my lens to make it macro... and it kind of gave me a scare later because the auto focus wouldn't work on the lens later o.O But now it's all okay! :)

And then, of course the picture I just posted about recovering. 

She's so pretty.

And her nickname is Amazing-Amy!

So that pretty much sums her all up :)

The next day a few of us went back to the state park and 

followed the water bed to where we could view the entrance to the cave

or natural bridge, but it was filled up with at least 15 ft of water. It was crazy that 

one day you could walk through it and the next (after the accumulation of 

the rainfall) you couldn't have even floated through it. Anyone want to go 

scuba-diving in some muddy water??

 Anyway, it was a beautiful little walk and I have some more 

pictures to share of that day later. :)

-MarLeahJoy

Uniqueness

Meet my little car...

I got it in Dec 2012 on it's exact 44th birthday.

So basically, I'm driving around an antique investment... depreciation
happened loooong ago, and now it's hopefully going to pay for itself (and
make up for the gas mileage :O).

It was restored before I bought it, so it has new paint of the original color.

And it runs great, thanks to my dad's little tune up.
I'm always so proud of my little car for being quite considerably zippy. :) I enjoy leaving
other cars lagging behind. But maybe they weren't in a hurry anyway... ;P




 So I like it -- well, love it!

-MarLeahJoy