Wildflowers, Technology, and Having Fun!

The pretty wildflowers are making their debut here in the Bristolwood, and I love their splashes of color here and there. The little wood violets are such a gorgeous shade of purple. They are showing up all over the woods and I love their bright green heart-shaped leaves!

My favorite time to photograph flowers is in the evening as the sun is heading off into the horizon. There is something especially beautiful about the sun shining through the flowers and playing upon leaves. Here, the sunlight highlights the darker shade of lavender in this wild geranium.

Today was a hurried day, starting out with an appointment to have our little camper inspected this morning. Although Mark always likes to plan ahead to make sure things are going to run smoothly, we were unable to check the electrical system before hitching onto the truck for the appointment. Luckily, all systems were go, and we were off in good shape!

We dropped the camper at the service center and then were off to a large fabric store. Michelle and Ben are planning a rather *unique* outing! They have some other home schooled friends that they met at the teen skates they attend. These kids are planning to go to the opening night of the showing of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. The catch is, the kids plan to make costumes and attend the movie as pirates! We spent a good deal of time looking at patterns and fabric, finally picking out some suitable for a couple of pirates! So, Michelle is anxious to get started on sewing! What a fun idea!

After the fabric store, we went to a nearby tile store to get some more ideas for our kitchen remodel. We found some gorgeous 24" square granite tiles that were simply terrific! While we were there, we got a call that the camper was ready so we rushed a little to get out of the store.

We will definitely be going back to this store, as they not only have tons of different types of tiles; they also have many displays highlighting various tiles in kitchen and bath settings. We were so excited to find this place, as the last place we visited, the guy was very negative and tried to make us feel incompetent of doing nearly any work ourselves!

Yesterday, we received delivery of our new kitchen stove! Am I excited? YES! Is it hooked up? NO! The delivery men from Sears aren't allowed to do an LP Gas changeover, so Mark and I will do it ourselves. So, we also picked up the plumbing supplies today for that job. I cannot wait to try out the new stove, as it has a convection fan in it to help cook faster and keep food more juicy, and it also is self-cleaning. My old Magic Chef left with the delivery guys yesterday, and I was as thrilled to see that stove depart as I was last week when the old refrigerator made its way out of the house!

So, after we got home this evening, Mark and the kids were hungry. What to do, what to do....I cannot cook or bake, as the new stove isn't connected yet. But wait! The camper!!! I made a quick trip out to the camper to turn on the gas....turned the furnace on (it was only about 38 degrees outside!) and turned the oven to 350 to preheat. I assembled the pizza in the kitchen, then took it to the camper and baked it! Mark was shocked....HOW can you bake in a little "camp oven"? Ah, I so love technology.

As the pizza was baking, I brought my camera out, along with my laptop. I decided to upload my pictures. As I worked, I couldn't help but feel so drawn to my cozy little camper. So much so, that I told Mark and the kids "so long", as I headed out to the camper with pillow and blankets in hand! Yes, Murphy and I are spending tonight in the camper! I so love it!

After uploading my pictures, I saw the battery was low, so I plugged in the charger and we are good to go! But, before I end, I just gotta show off my SD card for the Nikon! Mark knows I am easily dazzled by technology (I have earned the nickname "Technochick") so he bought me this

SD card, called a SanDisk Ultra II Plus. 2 Gig.

I can upload pictures in my card reader, or! the little card folds in half........

to expose its little USB reader! How cool is that? So, I can upload 2 ways with the card, as well as with a USB cable connected to the camera itself! Oh, I used the Olympus camera to take these last pictures just in case you might be wondering!

Isn't technology GRAND?