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Ten on the Tenth: May

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It's very easy to lose track of the days while you're on vacation, and even easier when you are beguiled by your grandson, so I was a bit surprised this afternoon to open up Shimelle's blog and see that today was the 10th of May. Since I have hundreds of new photos of Caleb what better subject for this post? Here are 10 photos of a real cutie!

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Tracy put up a jumper for Caleb on Monday, and it is a huge hit. When Sarah had one, it was called the Jolly Jumper, and Caleb certainly is a jolly jumper!

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We spent most of the day today shopping and sight seeing in Jacksonville. Caleb and Grandpa walked the streets while Sarah and I browsed.

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On Sunday, Caleb was baptised, and Adam's parents were also here for the service.

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March-A Month of Photos

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I had my templates for Capture Your 365 and A Month in Photos done the first of April. I've been waiting to post them until I got the layouts done, but it's just not happening. So here is my March Month of Photos template. I will be back with the layout of the photo-of-the-day which I've managed to stay on track with for three months now.

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Some of my favorites from March: Skylar (I just love those chubby arms and bright eyes), my brother-in-law's birthday party, Tracy's birthday celebration at the Irish Harp in Niagara-on-the-Lake, high school rowers practicing on the Genesee River, a favorite photo from the orchid show, my self-portrait for the month (reflection in the doors at LLBean), and the beautiful magnolias in Highland Park (typically taken in late April or May!)

Winners and Some Sad News

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First off, the winners of the blog giveaways:

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Jacky, I'll be sending you Botanical Silhouettes. I have  your address and will get them in the mail before the week is out.

Donna C., I need your address so I can send you the Papertrey Ink Thank You set. Please email me with the information: karen@walkermediadotnet

Rinda, later tonight you should find an Amazon gift certificate in your inbox.

Once again, thanks for coming to the blog to visit, and especially, for the kind comments and support I've gotten over the last few years. I've really enjoyed getting to know you!

And now for the sad news . . .Tracy's mother and stepfather have operated a wildly successful bed and breakfast for the last 20 years. They renovated their beautiful home where Tracy and his four siblings grew up. Yesterday they suffered a terrible tragedy. About noon, a neighbor saw smoke pouring out of the roof and called 911. Then the neighbors contacted Tracy's sister since his mom and Bill are in Florida for several months. By the time Tracy and Jill arrived it was clear this was a major fire.

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The cause is still unknown, and thankfully, no one was hurt. The damage was extensive. The roof and entire third floor (where there was a lovely suite of rooms) are totally gone. Most of the rest of the house received extensive smoke and water damage. Tracy's mom and stepdad are handling it remarkably well. We are so grateful they were safe in Florida when this happened as well as to the fire department of Rochester who worked for nearly seven hours to be sure the fire was extinguished. Today when Tracy and his siblings walked through the house, they were immediately aware of the care the firemen took to protect as many of the antiques and valuables as they could. We really don't know what can be salvaged. It's another reminder for me to live each day to the fullest, and to count my blessings which are many.

Home

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I must admit that leaving Oregon was MUCH harder than I expected it to be, and I never thought it would be easy. Fortunately, we already have our next trip planned, so that makes it a bit easier. For the first time in several trips we actually got home on time, despite a long delay leaving Medford. So here we are, a bit jet-lagged trying to get ourselves back into some semblance of routines. I've cleaned our basement pantry since we returned and done a huge grocery/pantry shopping. Today was filled with appointments and commitments, and tomorrow doesn't look a lot better.

But what I really want to do is get busy in my studio. I have over 100 photos of the baby to edit. (Don't worry, you won't be subjected to all of them!) I started working on Finding Photo Flow, an online course by Kayla Lamoreaux, while we were away and which I can already recommend. I really need to get through the next lesson soon. Then in just a week or so, two new courses begin:  a BPC class on type with Cathy Z. and a class by Amy Tan at Studio Calico on stretching your scrapbook kits.

January is a month filled with birthdays. I got most of them made ahead of time so I could mail them from Oregon. Most of them are for guys, so I made a set of cards with a new Hero Art set I picked up in Buffalo earlier in the month. 

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All four cards were made with small ready-made cards from Paper Source, the new Hero Arts "Past Times," "Simple Sentiments" by Papertrey Ink, and patterned papers from the "Funday" paper pad by My Mind's Eye. The tags are from my stash, and I wish I knew where to get some more of them.

And because I'd hate to leave you without a baby photo or two, here are two favorites. The first one Adam took with Caleb in one hand and his Rebel in the other. Nothing I'd ever be able to do, and I just love how it came out.

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And one of Sarah and Caleb:

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He's so tiny now, but he gained over a pound in the second week we were there, so I know he's not going to be tiny for long.

Journal Your Christmas: Part 4

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I'm still working on my Christmas Journal. I have seven or eight more pages to go, and I'm determined to get them finished before we leave to visit Sarah and the new baby. Matt comes home today. We're off to Buffalo to pick him up, but he'll leave from Rochester on Sunday. It's a short trip for him, but I'm so glad to be able to see him as part of the holiday. We've left our tree and Christmas decorations up until he has a chance to open the rest of his presents. It will all get packed away this weekend before we leave on Tuesday.

Here are the latest three pages. I continue to work on them in a random fashion, and it's a process that seems to work very well this year.

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Sometimes I put one of the cards I make in my Christmas Journal, but I didn't have any left this year, and wasn't inclined to make any more so I was glad I'd taken a photo of some of them ready to go with the letter to out-of-town friends and the family photo. The journaling reads:  

Almost all of my Christmas cards this year were of the same design. I’ve found over the years, it’s just easier to mass produce a lot of the same card than do many different designs. I did send out the cards I made in a Memory Box class in Buffalo, and ones I made for the Scrap-Mart design team. The beautiful snowflake die was cut from some silvery text-weight paper from Paper Source which required a quick stop in Berkeley to pick up some more on our way to Sarah’s at Thanksgiving.

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It's been awhile since I played around with the opacity of a photograph. I didn't want the large one to overpower the strip of close-ups so I decreased the opacity to about 65%. I tried printing the journaling right on the patterned paper, but it has a bit of a shiny surface so that didn't work. I ended up printing it on vellum and attaching it with the border sticker. Journaling:  

Although we frequently walk past Lamberton Conservatory, we don't often stop. Today we enjoyed a leisurely stroll through their lavish display of poinsettias. They've also installed lots of tiny lights among the tropical plants which are lit on Sunday evenings. We'll definitely be going back on January 1st to take another look.
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I was blessed by receiving cards from all over this Christmas, many of them handmade. One of Shimelle's prompts encouraged us to use postage stamps from some of our cards to embellish the page. I still have a few saved to use on other pages (or projects). Journaling: 

Being part of a crafting community, both locally and through blogging means I received many beautiful, handmade cards. This year they came from England, Ireland, New York, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Arizona, and California. I also got a lovely card from Australia. I decided to showcase all the handmade cards on my new magnetic chalkboard in the kitchen. They were admired by many during the holiday!

I can't resist leaving without sharing a couple of baby photos. This one of Caleb was taken in the brief hours they spent at home last Sunday. Within several hours of arriving home, Sarah developed a high fever, and they were back at the hospital. She had a kidney infection which took several days to get under control. They're all home now, and doing well.

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I can't wait to get my hands on this little one. In the meantime, I'll be spending more time with Skylar this weekend while Matt is home. I have to figure out how to post a video. Betsy posted the most fabulous video of Skylar laughing on Facebook yesterday. Here are a couple of my favorites of Skylar, taken right before Christmas.

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So Excited!!!

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The best Christmas and New Year's gift ever arrived today. Caleb Elijah was born this morning and weighed in at 8 pounds, 4 ounces. Caleb, Sarah, and Adam are all doing well, and we got a Face Time introduction to him shortly after he was born. LOVE technology! 

Here are the proud and relieved parents!

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We can't wait to meet him in person! 

Happy Thanksgiving from Ashland, Oregon

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It’s hard to believe but we’ve been in Oregon for nearly a week. Our goal was to get Sarah and Adam settled, and we’ve made remarkable progress. All the rooms are arranged and organized, all the boxes have been unpacked, and Tracy has nearly all the artwork and photographs hung. We’re planning a pretty low-key Thanksgiving celebration with plenty of time to rest and relax. I’ll have photos of our accomplishments later.

Sarah and Adam are renting a lovely home with quite a beautiful yard and view.

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This is the view from their living room. They have the same view from the kitchen and family room, as well as a lovely deck off the family room.

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The yard is large, but has a steep drop-off.

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In addition to unpacking, Tracy and Adam got some great help in putting up a new fence  in the backyard. Sadie is delighted with the room to run around. Amazingly, a deer leaped over the fence last night, and put Sadie in a fury of excitement. After some time, the deer leaped back over the fence and disappeared.

Ashland is a beautiful small city surrounded by mountains. We were a bit worried about driving up from San Francisco since there had been snow in the Siskiyou Pass where chains are often required. In anticipation we upgraded our rental vehicle to a 4X4 SUV. Fortunately, we didn’t need it, but it’s easy to see why you might. From Siskiyou Summit to Ashland, there’s a drop in elevation of more than 2,000 feet in a pretty short amount of time. It was pitch dark when we drove through last Friday, but the headlights of the traffic lit up the towering, snow-covered evergreens against a star-lit sky. Truly a beautiful sight.

After church on Sunday, we decided to drive up to Mt. Ashland. It was a beautiful, clear day in Ashland, but we found a totally different environment on the road up to the summit.

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Clouds totally obscured the summit, but there were some beautiful views of the valley as we drove down.

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I hope you and your family are enjoying a wonderful holiday if you’re in the States. I love the opportunity to be with family and take stock of all my many blessings. Being able to travel and spend time with Sarah and Adam is top on my list today. I’m also grateful to Matt’s friends in Denver for including him in their Thanksgiving festivities.

 

 

Bear!!!

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Meet Samuel Bear Harrison, Adam's sister's new baby boy. Allison and her husband, Simon, live in England, and Adam's parents arrived just after he was born. Perfect timing! He sure is a cutie pie!

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I couldn't resist buying him a little outfit embroidered with bears, a long-sleeved onesie, a hat, bib and adorable little socks. I forgot to take a photo of it, but I did take a photo of the package with the card I made.

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I cut the card with my Silhouette using cute gingham paper by Memory Box. Then I stamped the little bear from Papertrey Ink's Baby Button Bits on brown gingham paper and added a button from my stash tied with some twine by Martha Stewart.

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Baby Shower Scrapbook

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I found this amazing jungle scrapbook by BoBunny at the Buffalo stamp store in September, and couldn't pass it up. I had no idea what I might do with it, but I'm sure glad I grabbed it. It turned out to be the perfect format for Sarah's shower scrapbook. After all the guests wrote their tags out, I printed a photo of each of them that Tracy had taken with Sarah that afternoon. The tag and the photo fit perfectly on a Grand Nestability Scalloped Circle die which fit perfectly into the scrapbook. 

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The cover

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 The bottom photo is of Sarah and her babysitter who is still like family to us!

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The album came with several adorable chipboard animal faces which I used as dividers for the pages.

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Sarah liked the animals so much she asked me to buy a second album so she can hang the faces on the nursery wall. Fortunately, the store still had an album left when we stopped there on our way home from Canada recently. I'm really pleased with the way this turned out, and think it makes a good record of a lovely afternoon.

Baby Shower for Sarah

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Sarah and Adam left almost two weeks ago, and time has flown by, partly because we had to be out of the house for the better part of two days while the hardwood floors in the  kitchen and hall were redone. They are beautiful, and Jack spent three days installing the hutch near the window, and the crown molding. This week the tile guy, the painters, and the siding folks all arrive, and we should be done except for the final coat on the floor. The contractor took all his tools out of the kitchen and powder room on Friday, and we finally have our kitchen back for the weekend, at least.

The first day Sarah was here I hosted a baby shower for her. It was so much fun to have  so many of our good friends here to celebrate with her. The day after Sarah and Adam left was the anniversary of Micah and Judah’s birth and death; a sharp reminder of the grief and trials of the last year for all of us, but especially for Sarah and Adam. It was wonderful to be celebrating the upcoming birth of Caleb Elijah, and so good to know that everything is going very well this time around.

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I put together a collage of some of the photos. Sarah has chosen a jungle theme for the nursery and it was a lot of fun choosing and making decorations for the shower. The cake was fabulous. All the little animals marching around the cake came from the design of the paper products. It was a pumpkin spice cake and as delicious as it was cute. The cookies were made by a friend of a friend and matched the food picks in the muffins (see below). The centerpiece had three little stuffed animals, the giraffe and lion as well as a monkey on the other side. The family photo shows four generations:  Tracy, his mother, Matt, and Sklar—and Betsy and me as well. (I wonder where Sarah was when this was taken?) Sadly the light over Tracy’s head doesn’t do much for the photo.

Here are some close-ups of the banner and some of the things I made for the shower. 

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Each guest was asked to fill out a tag with good wishes or advice for Sarah. Then Tracy took a photo of each guest with Sarah, and I've put them together in a scrapbook for her.

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I used my favorite fry-box die to make favors we filled with chocolate-covered almonds.

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These cute papers from My Minds Eye were just perfect for the jungle theme. I'll be back tomorrow with some photos of the scrapbook album I put together. I'll be taking it with me when we go to visit in a couple of weeks.

 

October Recap & Pass the Book

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A bit (well, maybe more) about what’s been happening here. The first weekend of October, Tracy and I were in Lake Placid along with our good friends. Tracy and Bob did some hiking (more about that), and Cathy and I enjoyed some time in the shops in the area. It was a cold, rainy weekend, but beautiful, nonetheless.

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The following Wednesday, I began a class on learning how to use Lightroom 3, taught by one of the professional photographers and gallery partners at Image City. My friend, Nancy, and I attend their monthly photo critiques at the gallery. We’ve now had three classes (the last is this week), and I’m beginning to feel comfortable with the program. I had tried to teach myself how to use Lightroom 2, but got all confused about the catalog and how to import the photos. Now I have that mastered and must say it is a very powerful editing program, and much more affordable than full Photoshop. With Lightroom and PSE, I know I’ve got all I’ll ever need in the way of software.

I’ve prepared dinner for Interfaith Hospitality guests at our church, we’ve signed new wills (and taken our children to the lawyers to sign notary documents), attended two meetings in my role as chair of a Presbytery committee (two more to go before the end of the month), crafted with my friends and on my own, had lunch with college friends, attended an Arts & Lectures presentation, and moved back into the kitchen (though it is still not done & there will be more about that later as well.) Tracy and I redid our guest room. Tracy repainted it, and I chose the new bed linens, curtains, and decorations. We also spent a day in Ithaca, visiting our favorite Farmer’s Market, and hiking in Buttermilk Falls State Park.

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But the best part of the month was that both Sarah and Matt arrived on the 15th for a visit. Matt was here a week, and has returned (safely) to Denver. While he was here we spent a lot of time with Betsy and Skylar as well. It was so much fun to have everyone here. Sarah could barely keep her hands off Skylar. On the 16th, I hosted a baby shower for Sarah who is expecting a little boy in early January. It was a lovely event (more about that later). Our friends were so happy to have a chance to see her (as well as Matt), and it was lots of fun to have everyone together. I made the favors, a banner, and have started a scrapbook about the event. Sarah and I have spent quite a bit of time in baby stores, and I’ve had a lovely time picking up some special things for this new addition to our family.

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(Love this photo of my two kids and Skylar)

Adam arrived from Virginia on Thursday where he had been presenting at a conference at Union Seminary. We went out for a family dinner on Thursday night (Skylar slept through the whole meal), and got our family photo for the Christmas cards. Sarah and Adam drove to New Jersey (and back) Saturday for a wedding, and took off for California late this afternoon. They will be there for just two more weeks, as they are moving to Ashland, Oregon where Adam has accepted a position as Associate Pastor for Christian Education at the Presbyterian church. We’ll be going out next month to help them unpack & organize and attend Adam’s ordination back in Livermore after Thanksgiving.

And over the weekend we went on our annual trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake with our good friends, Karen and Mike. We dined, we visited some favorite and new wineries, and saw a fabulous production of My Fair Lady at the Shaw Festival.

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If you skimmed through the above, I certainly don’t blame you, but I’ve had a couple of emails about things going on here so I thought I’d do a recap. Somehow there wasn’t time to blog about it as it happened. But here’s the big news: the new recipient of Sharing Your Story.

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Deb, I’ve got your address, and the book will be on its way tomorrow!

Hands, and Contented Baby!

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I've got some more beautiful photos of Sylar Rose to share as well as a photo of her tiny fingers wrapped around Tracy's hand. I'm posting it at the I Heart Faces blog for their Hands challenge.

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Skylar is one of the most contented babies I've ever known. I've only seen her eyes once in the times I've visited her; she's a great sleeper and is giving Betsy four-five hours of sleep at night. Tomorrow she'll just be three weeks old!

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Off to the pediatrician's

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We think she's just the sweetest baby ever! I can't wait for Matt to get here this weekend to meet her.

 

Look Who’s Here!!!

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While we were away, Betsy delivered Skylar by C-section. Both mom and baby are doing great. Betsy and Skylar went home on Saturday, and Betsy called us yesterday morning to say she was ready for visitors. To say we're delighted is putting it mildly. Matt had sent us a couple of photos while we were at my brother's so we knew she was a cutie, but we are smitten.

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One Day Old

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Mom and Skylar

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  She never woke up the whole time we were there. She slept four hours straight last night. I think she's going to be as good a baby as she is cute!

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Happy Birthday, Sarah!

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It's hard to believe I have a daughter who turns 31 today, but it's true. We'll be leaving the cruise ship and beginning the land portion of our Alaskan tour today, but I'm hoping I'll be able to get a phone call through to her. She knows I'm thinking of her, for sure! Here's the card she'll open today.

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And the inside greeting:

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I found the Melissa Francis crown at CKC in June, so I knew I wanted to use that as the focal point. Sarah's not a fan of fussy cards, so I tried to keep it pretty clean and simple.

Supplies:
Cardstock: Royal Velvet (PTI)
Patterned Paper: Kioshi (Basic Grey)
Stamps:  Mat Stack 1 & Mat Stack 3 (PTI)
Die:  Small Classic Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders)
Resin Crown: Melissa Francis
Pearls:  Hero Arts

Happy Fourth of July!

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Yesterday  Tracy and I took nearly a three mile walked around my brother's neighborhood in Hyde Park, NY. It was drizzling most of the way and since I didn't think I had any great fireworks photos to post, I was looking for Fourth of July decorations for today's post. First I saw this:

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I love the way the bunting was reflected in the puddle. Then we came upon this:

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The little doggie ornament is holding a flag as well.

Then last night I uploaded photos from my point and shoot (above) and my photos from my SLR from Saturday night's fireworks. In frustration, I had pointed my camera to the sky and took about 20 photos with my remote, not expecting anything. Imagine my surprise when I saw these:

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Edited to add: I'm submitting this one to Sweet Shot Tuesday:

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Just four of ten decent photos of the fireworks. What a pleasant discovery! If you're in the U.S. have a wonderful holiday! My brother and Tracy are off to golf this morning, and I'll be hanging out with Stephanie. There's a cookout planned for tonight. Early tomorrow morning, we'll be headed home.