BTR (181/365)

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“It's not true I had nothing on, I had the radio on.”
~ Marilyn Monroe

TIME: 10:00 PM
PLACE: ABL Compound
SUBJECT: Blog Talk Radio

I did something tonight WAY out of character for me - I drove down to the ABL compound to meet up with Annie & Burl and sat in the studio during their live broadcast on Blog Talk Radio. I even talked! Really!! You can listen to it [HERE] if you don't believe me!!

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Red (180/365)

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“Blue flower, red thorns! Blue flower, red thorns! Blue flower, red thorns! Oh, this would be so much easier if I wasn't color-blind!”
~ Donkey (from Shrek)

TIME: 5:30 PM
PLACE: Forest Preserve
SUBJECT: Red

I love going to the Forest Preserve this time of year. Every time I do I see something new.

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Brick (179/365)

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“Better to be a strong man with a weak point, than to be a weak man without a strong point. A diamond with a flaw is more valuable that a brick without a flaw.”
~ William J. H. Boetcker

TIME: 10:30 AM
PLACE: Bagwine Ohio
SUBJECT: Beer Mine Brick

It was a great visit - one that will not be forgotten!

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Lantern (178/365)

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“I still have my lantern.”

~ Diogenes

TIME: 4:00 PM

PLACE: Bagwine Ohio

SUBJECT: Lantern

The Christmas tree in Bagwine remains lit, but with Chinese lanterns now instead of the traditional christmas lights.

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Camp (177/365)

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A lot of parents pack up their troubles and send them off to summer camp.

~ Raymond Duncan

TIME: 8:30 AM

PLACE: Church

SUBJECT: Camp

I sent Cam off to camp today. I think he felt he left his troubles behind!

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Wrapped (176/365)

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If I get to wrapped up in how I have to be, or what I have to do, things gradually get worse and worse.

~ Namie Amuro

TIME: 12:30 PM

PLACE: Forest Preserve

SUBJECT: Wrapped

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Fence (175/365)

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“It doesn't matter which side of the fence you get off on sometimes. What matters most is getting off. You cannot make progress without making decisions.”
~ Jim Rohn

TIME: 12:30 PM
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Fence

I just wish the fence I've been sitting on was a pretty as this one!

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Storm (174/365)

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“Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come.”
~ Robert H. Schuller

TIME: 7:30 PM
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Storm

We had a pretty severe line of storms come through tonight resulting in tornado warnings and funnel cloud sightings throughout greater Chicagoland. Once the storm passed, the sky emitted an eerie pinkish-yellow light, turning the leaves on the trees from vivid green to washed-out brown. It was so out of place that it actually startled me more than the storm itself.

This shot was downloaded directly from my camera without any manipulation.

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Circles (173/365)

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“Little-minded people's thoughts move in such small circles that five minutes
conversation gives you an arc long enough to determine their whole curve.”
~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

TIME: 5:30 PM
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Circles

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Lilies (172/365)

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“Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless: peacocks and lilies for instance.”
~ John Ruskin

TIME: 12:30 PM
PLACE: Podunk Illinois
SUBJECT: Lilies

I've always loved lilies, and they grow wild and untamed along the roadsides here in Podunk!

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Skirt (171/365)

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TIME: 12:30 PM
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Skirt

“A good sermon should be like a woman's skirt: short enough to arouse interest but long enough to cover the essentials.”
~ Ronald Knox

I splurged this weekend and bought new (i.e. did NOT shop at Goodwill) work clothes, but I did stay on the clearance racks and got these two skirts, two tops and a cardigan for only $51.02 ... not bad!

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Firefly (170/365)

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TIME: 8:00 PM
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Firefly

“What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.”
~ Crowfoot

Do you see it? That short, golden streak on the left side of the photo? Not only are there challenges with settings to capture fireflies on a point and shoot camera, but the dang critters don't hold still when they are flying!

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Terrorist (169/365)

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TIME: 5:30 PM
PLACE: Cubicle Hell Parking Lot
SUBJECT: Terrorist

“Johnny Appleseed was a fucking biological terrorist.”
~ Chuck Palahniuk

Odd title for this photo, don't you think? Here is the story ...

As I was leaving work Friday I was looking for a photo that would capture the storm we had. I don't usually consider what people will think when I'm taking photos, I mean, I have a camera - what else would I be doing?

Up drives the President of the company. Calling this guy an egocentric douchebag would be a compliment. He slows down as he approaches me. Honestly? This guy never even acknowledges me 98% of the time. As he slows down he rolls his window down and asks (quite sternly), "What are you doing?"

I've got a camera in my hand - I'm pointing it at things and snapping shots - what do you think I'm doing?? OK, I didn't say that, but instead responded with, "Don't mind me - I'm just taking a few shots trying to capture the storm."

To which he replied, "You aren't a terrorist are you?"

It would have been funny ... except he was serious ...

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Construction (168/365)

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TIME: 5:00 PM
PLACE: Podunk Illinois
SUBJECT: Construction

“The road to success is always under construction”
~ Lily Tomlin

Road construction is always a pain, but when you live in a small town where only ONE road goes over the railroad tracks, and it is under construction, the pain becomes somewhat debilitating. Our main street is being revamped and repaved (it needed it) but the only route around the construction adds 7 miles to my less than 2 mile commute.

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Twig 'n Berries (167/365)

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TIME: 1:00 PM
PLACE: Forest Preserve
SUBJECT: Twig 'n Berries

"Eww,their trouser snakes, their wedding tackle, their twig 'n berries! They turned gold!"
Austin Powers: Goldmember - 2002

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Teapot (166/365)

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TIME: 6:00 PM
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Tea Pot

“Strange how a teapot
Can represent at the same time
The comforts of solitude
And the pleasures of company”
~ Zen Haiku

I realized that I had not given the proper respect to this teapot. You see, it came along with this friend - a friend who remembered that I collect teapots - a friend who probably didn't realize my teapots were left (temporarily) behind - and a friend who made the sometimes cold concrete slab walls of this apartment feel a little more like home!

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Payphone (165/365)

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TIME: 12:30 PM
PLACE: Podunk v2
SUBJECT: Payphone

From The Hangover (2009)
Alan Garner: Do you know if the hotel is pager friendly?
Lisa: What do you mean?
Alan Garner: I'm not getting a sig' on my beeper.
Lisa: I'm not sure.
Alan Garner: Is there a payphone bank? Buncha payphones? Business.
Lisa: Umm, there's a phone in your room...
Alan Garner: That'll work.

Remember these?? Back in the day when they still had phones in them? I think the last time I saw a working payphone was at the airport.

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Sign (164/365)

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“The sign brings customers”
~ Jean de La Fontaine

TIME: 9:00 AM
PLACE: Podunk v2
SUBJECT: Sign

I hear they have good food, but they never seem to be open at 8:00 Sunday morning!

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Fork (163/365)

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“Is it progress if a cannibal uses a knife and fork?”
~ Stanislaw Lee

TIME: 11:30 PM
PLACE: Northern Illinois Food Bank
SUBJECT: Fork

Cam and I were back at the food bank today, continuing to do our part to give hope and respect to those in the community very much like ourselves. I'm including a link to vote for our food bank to receive a $50,000 grant to help offset the costs of a new sorting/distribution facility that they are breaking ground on next month. Your help would be greatly appreciated!


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Wildflowers (162/365)

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“Men do change, and change comes like a little wind that ruffles the curtains at dawn, and it comes like the stealthy perfume of wildflowers hidden in the grass.”
~ John Steinbeck

TIME: 12:30 PM
PLACE: Forest Preserve
SUBJECT: Wildflowers

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Ant (161/365)

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“Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk, my first instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what if I was an ant, and she fell on me. Then it wouldn't seem quite so funny.”
~ Jack Handy

TIME: 5:30 PM
PLACE: Forest Preserve
SUBJECT: Ant

Looks like the spring/summer Project 365 theme will be bugs and buds! I'm fascinated with both and since the wildflowers at the Forest Preserve are beginning to bloom, I have many opportunities to capture both!

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Bubblegum (160/365)

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“I had a stick of CareFree gum, but it didn't work. I felt pretty good while I was blowing that bubble, but as soon as the gum lost its flavor, I was back to pondering my mortality.”
~ Mitch Hedberg

TIME: 7:30 PM
PLACE: Church
SUBJECT: Bubblegum

Although the weekly middle school youth group gig is up for the 2009-2010 school year, we don't get a "real" summer break. Events are scheduled throughout the summer - one or two per month. Last night was the open house for incoming 6th graders and their parents, complete with buckets of balls - bubblegum balls!

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Books (159/365)

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Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.
~ Francis Bacon

TIME: 12:30 PM
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Books

I think these books were meant to be door stops. I received a phone call from Cam's school yesterday. Seems he was missing a few books that had been assigned to him. This was the set of books we had at home. I was thrilled to send these back from whence they came!

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Cart (158/365)

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“Why would anyone steal a shopping cart? It's like stealing a two-year-old.”
~ Erma Bombeck

TIME: 7:00 PM
PLACE: Walmart
SUBJECT: Cart

I hate shopping! I HATE SHOPPING!! Did I mention I hate shopping? We have slim pickings for markets in this part of Podunk, so when I need to do a full-on shopping trip I travel the 17 miles to Walmart. It's not my favorite store, but they really do have the best prices!

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Petal (157/365)

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“we wouldn't ask why a rose that grew from the concrete for having damaged petals, in turn, we would all celebrate its tenacity, we would all love its will to reach the sun, well, we are the roses, this is the concrete and these are my damaged petals, dont ask me why, thank god, and ask me how”
~ Tupac Shakur

TIME: 10:00 AM
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Petal

Are you tired of flower photos yet? I hope not because I'm not tired of finding pretty flowers!

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Birthday (156/365)

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“Life begins at 40 - but so do fallen arches, rheumatism, faulty eyesight, and the tendency to tell a story to the same person, three or four times.”
~ Helen Rowland

TIME: 7:00 PM
PLACE: Gold Class Cinemas
SUBJECT: Birthday

Cam, husband and I attended a surprise birthday party for one of our friends. Her husband rented out an entire theater at Gold Class Cinemas. We had hors d'oeuvres, watched Iron Man 2 (surprisingly entertaining), had pizza and beer served to us during the movie (if you've never been to a Gold Class Cinema you must go at least once), and then enjoyed cake afterward!

The biggest surprise? Our dear friend doesn't turn 40 until August ... but I think that's why her husband was able to pull this one off!

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Scale (155/365)

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“The best measure of a man's honesty isn't his income tax return. It's the zero adjust on his bathroom scale.”
~ Arthur C. Clarke

TIME: 8:30 AM
PLACE: Cubicle Hell
SUBJECT: Scale

There is a small group of us doing a "Biggest Loser" contest at work. Every week we weigh in and pay $2 to participate and every week there are 1st and 2nd place winners (based on percentage of weight lost) who win $7 and $3 dollars respectively. We are in week 6 of a 12 week contest and I am proud to say that I've lost 9 pounds in those 6 weeks. I even won the $7 first prize this week!

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Rose (154/365)

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“I once had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: not good in a bed, but fine up against a wall.”
~ Eleanor Roosevelt

TIME: 1:30 PM
PLACE: Podunk Illinos
SUBJECT: Rose

Mmmmmm ... roses ...

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Corn (153/365)

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“Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you're a thousand miles from the corn field.”
~ Dwight David Eisenhower

TIME: 5:30 PM
PLACE: Podunk Illinois
SUBJECT: Corn

I took this picture thinking the the symmetry of the rows of corn looked pretty cool, then I saw the clouds!

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Bug (152/365)

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“The way a child discovers the world constantly replicates the way science began. You start to notice what's around you, and you get very curious about how things work. How things interrelate. It's as simple as seeing a bug that intrigues you. You want to know where it goes at night; who its friends are; what it eats.”
~ David Cronenberg

TIME: 10:00 PM
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Bug

I'm a big fan of bugs. Spiders? Not so much, but I love bugs. Summer nights bring out some of the best of them!

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