Thunder Rolls

No, I didn't take this... but this is what I was going for!

We have had quite a series of thunderstorms down here in St. Mary's county lately. Feeling pretty confident on how to use some of the advanced features on my camera, I decided that I was good enough to try and take a picture of lightning!

So I mosey out onto our deck one Tuesday afternoon while the storm rolls in. After spending about 10 minutes trying to hook my camera up to my brand spankin' new tripod, the storm has finally moved right over top of us. Lots of lightning, lots of thunder... "this should be cake," I thought to myself. Five more minutes later, I finally figure out how to leave the shutter open (to collect all of the light from the lightening bolt) so I'm good to go now. First shot... nothin'. Second try, I miss the lightening (ever heard the saying "Lightening never strikes the same place twice?" Yea, just my luck). At about mid-third try, the heaven's opened up and let loose. The rain was diagonal at this point and the unruly deluge got me quickly inside.

No lightning shot...not this time anyway. So for now, here's my lame picture of the storm clouds that my cat could have taken. Blah, stupid lightning.

Blueberries for Killian

Hungry much???

...and please don't ask me why I have my piece of cake perfectly posed next to cartons of blueberries and my fruit bowl.

Gilligan's Island?

Nope... Gilligan's Pier! Oh yea... that place. WAaaayyy back in the country of Southern Maryland is a little place called La Plata. Some of you may have heard of it as every September, the poor little town gets leveled by every hurricane that comes to visit. However, there's a little "nook" of the town I was introduced to when my Photojournalism class went there to visit and take some pictures of landscapes! It's really cute and somewhat chintzy, but hey... we are still in MD!

Anyway, here are a few shots from the evening...

Summer Lovin'

While I hate the movie "Grease," the phrase from that stupid song is somewhat fitting for my summer thus far.

If you may not know, this is my first full summer down here in Southern Maryland as Bobby and I got married in the middle of last summer. I have been enjoying the local flavor and hundreds of roadside stands supplied by the many farms down here. I stopped at one last week and the poor farmer boys probably thought I was nuts... I was so excited to buy a HUGE bouquet of Sunflowers from them for $3!!!! 12 flowers for less than 1 "grande" Iced Caramel Macchiato at Starbucks! Oh, the deal! Aren't they beautiful though? I mean, seriously!

So here's my checklist of things accomplished this summer:

1. Get summer quota of mosquito bites : Check (Record was 25 at one time. Thanks Tiki Bar!)
2. Take the doors off the Jeep: Check (Picture is from a few years ago!)
3. Hit some baseball games with my stud-of-a-husband: Check
4. Discover new Sunscreen allergy by fighting a terribly uncomfortable rash on neck(wonderfully flattering picture, I know!): Check
5. Spend almost every summer week night doing homework (someone please tell me these past 4 years were worth it!!!) : Check
6. Brave it through a weekend with no AC (yes, on purpose, yes, very bad idea): Check
7. Attempt to understand my foreign lifeguard when he says "Ah-dough-t sv-weem" means
"Adult Swim" not "I don't swim!": Check
8. Win a cook-off with the neighbors by sending them into a sugar-coma with my Pecan Pie: Check
9. Attempt to walk 40 blocks up Coastal Hwy in OC after a night at Seacrets: Check
10. Spend almost every Saturday morning having breakfast with my handsome husband
outside on our deck: Check

So Happy Summer-ing, ya'll!

Red-Rover

Dear Saint Mary's County,

I am writing to express my sincere dissatisfaction with your continued decision to completely outlaw street lights.

Us poor "new-comers" to the county are not sure what to expect when driving down your beautiful country or community roads. Is it to prevent us from seeing the GIGANTIC deer play "Red-Rover, Red-Rover" across a road with the highest speed limit in the county?! Or perhaps you want to pride yourselves on having the most aware and alert drivers in the state... all with huge dents on the sides of their cars.

Alas, you can find deterring deer whistles in almost every checkout aisle in the grocery stores. But still no street lights to guide our way down the winding roads of such completely vacant farm land.

I digress.

Saint Mary's County, I am quite upset at you for this.

Sincerely,

Your bona fide "city-girl" resident