Did anyone else see it? It was somewhat brief – and a bit freaky. I couldn’t get my camera in time to get the hail bouncing off my driveway, but I did get this one of Erik holding a handful of hail

and these of the remaining hail on my front lawn

the sky was looking ominous, but really beautiful!

Pretty cool stuff – I am glad I wasn’t caught outside when the hail was coming down. I imagine that would be pretty painful ; )

have been a bit of a whirlwind. I can’t seem to catch my breath! I wanted to share some of the random things I have been up to.

Erik turned 35!

I went to Boston to visit one of my very best friends, Jessi – and meet her new guy…aren’t they adorable? Check out how they look at each other ; )

Then I got to visit Chicago – my very first time!

More to come!!

I have to confess I have some phobias about bugs. All kinds of bugs – especially spiders. Don’t get me wrong, I have serious respect for all living things…but those arthropods terrify me. (Did you know that lobsters, crabs and shrimp are also arthropods? I call them all “sea spiders”.) Not that long ago I discovered a wolf spider living in my backyard, and I did actually take some pictures of it (with a LONG lens!). I don”t think I will post those – man those spiders are scary looking close up!! What I did want share today was the fact that I saw this really cool looking dragonfly for the past few days – a dragonfly like I have never seen before. One of the greatest things that photography gives me is this ability to see things differently. It actually has trained me to “see” and pay attention to things I may not otherwise. Or maybe I have it backwards. I have been using a camera in conjuction with “seeing” for so long, I am not necessarily sure how it works. All I know for sure is that I love the moments with just my camera, and the little magical “things” – creatures, people, moments….

So I spent the afternoon today literally stalking this dragonfly. I just found it to be so incredibly beautiful. Enjoy!