An Apple a Day.....

Happy Monday to you all!!  

Hope you are enjoying the fall season quietness before the holidays set in. I told myself this year I'm not overdoing it & not stressing this season. If it doesn't get done, then it wasn't meant to get done. Just saying that to myself was a bit of a relief...holidays should be enjoyed and not so stressful you wish them away right?

*********

Thought I'd share my Apple Orchard pictures with you all today.  The hubs and I went a couple weekends ago to one out in the foothills of the Shenandoah Mountains & it was a gorgeous day.  We spent a few hours there picking apples, enjoying some warm apple cider donuts and walking around enjoying the day.  I'm STILL eating an apple every day from the 1/2 bushel we picked...and gave some to Alexa at college and my mom too!  They are so yummy!

The hubs in the land of apples...I mean look at those loaded trees...beautiful!!

Look at this wonderful antique apple press they had...I'm not sure where I'd put it but I'd love to have one. Vintage machines that like are gorgeous works of art.

We picked a variety of apples including Granny Smith, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Nittany & Rome.

If I lived near or on an apple orchard like this you would find me out underneath the trees with my camera, a good book and probably enjoying an apple. It was beautiful!

I loved the red apples against the brilliant blue sky...gorgeous colors!

Gorgeousness right?

I would've loved to have brought an apple crate home but I'll settle with a picture ;)

This pic was taken with my iPhone but I love it so I had to share it!

The trees were just hitting their Fall peak of color when we were there.  Now half the trees have lost their leaves and are looking bare. (Winter is a'coming..sniff sniff)

The fresh, warm apple cider donuts were mmmmm....need I say more!

This photo was snapped with my iPhone too but this is only a small part of the orchard and these are all baby trees. As you can see it went on and on and on!

Something about this scene made me think of the Wizard of Oz...I could so live out of the hustle & bustle and enjoy some more of the quiet life these days.

Hope you enjoyed....and hey, go enjoy an apple...they're good for what ails you!

TGIFall Friday!

Happy Fall Friday everyone!  Just thought I'd pop in here and say HI and hope everyone has a great weekend.  We are having sunny, blue skies and temps in the low 70's today and all weekend...I'm taking advantage of every moment too.  Walks with the dogs & hubs, taking photographs in the woods and our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch and wine tasting tour.  I'm not a winter girl so I take every advantage of the nicer weather before the cold hits us...then I hibernate like a bear lol!

Thought I'd share a few pics I took the other day from my walks in the woods after it had rained.  Still working on learning my camera and all its functions and getting the right lighting and mood framed in my photos.  One thing about photography is how much it relaxes me...almost like meditating...perfect for those days when I'm feeling a little burnt out.

The colors of these leaves are so vibrant...they just made me so happy!

I loved that all these leaves were in 3 different color stages...the green of summer, the yellow of fall and finally some in the end stages of brown before they fall down to the ground.

One of the last blooms & buds on my rose bushes....loved catching it with the raindrops poised on each petal

One of my favorite photographs I've ever taken...this old tree trunk has Father Claus waiting for folks to find.  So cool right?

Both photos taken with my camera from the same exact spot....love how the change of colors/tones goes from a gorgeous & bright Fall image to a bit more mysterious and secluded view.  The woods behind my house are gorgeously littered with fallen trees and huge rocks covered in moss...how can you not love it?

Yes, this is the photo I made the other wordy version out of :)

Found a few berry bushes still clinging to the warmth....

And I had to snap one of my Baylee....yes she's looking shaggy but always so cute!

Have a Wonderful Weekend!

Makes You Think & Dream.....

One of my fave photographs I took last year

I hope to get back to my photography lessons when I'm feeling better. I miss taking photographs and loading them up on the Mac to see what I've been able to capture.  I just don't have the energy to do much with it right now.  I'm hoping to gift myself with the Canon 135 mm lens for my birthday if I'm better...its been on the "wish" list for awhile but its a steep investment. I have yet to hear a bad review on it so I know it would be put to good use, but hard to justify the cost when I have a daughter graduating, needing a car and headed to college soon.  So we shall see.

Anyway if you like to look at stunning photographs you have to check out
  Elena Shumilova's Flickr album.
She lives in Russia and is a mom who simply loves to photograph her children and nature. There aren't even words to describe her photographs.  They certainly invoke different feelings, a kind of longing that I cannot explain myself.  But I have looked at them a bajillion times just because they are simply......beautiful.

So I'm sharing a couple photographs of her's, but please check out her Flickr Album as well and prepare to be amazed, stunned and left a bit breathless.