My favorite autumn tree on the base

And everyone else's too! Every year I drive by a little picnic area on base with a gorgeous red leaved tree in the fall. It doesn't remain beautiful for long before the leaves fall off. Most years it rains or I can't find the time to take a picture of it. This year I finally managed to photograph it. I laid on the grass, viewed it from beneath and from afar. As I took the time to do that, every few minutes another person came to photograph it too. Amazing!!
Let me know if you recognize it.

Off the Wall Art Market Coming Dec 7th

I am participating in the first "Off the Wall Art Market" at the Leonardtown Art Center on the upcoming First Friday in downtown Leonardtown MD. Please stop by if you come out for First Friday. Maybe you will find a good Christmas present. I have some lovely unique framed prints, coasters, mousepads and mugs that you won't find anywhere else.

I like the clever title of the art show.

Friday Dec 7th 5-8 pm
22660 Washington St, 2nd floor

WARMTH Art Show and Silent Auction supports Three Oaks Center

I am participating in the WARMTH (Working Artists Raising Money for The Homeless) Art show and silent auction benefiting the Three Oaks Homeless Shelter in Lexington Park MD. It will be held at Camalier House in Leonardtown 22635 Washington St., next to the courthouse, 2-7p.m on Saturday, November 24th.

Some of my artistic friends showing their work and/or assisting include James Antone, Candy Cummings, Margie Haney, and Carol Wathen. Each artist donates a work of art and also gives 30% of any sales to Three Oaks Shelter.  Thirty artists are sharing their work.

When I used to work at the library, the first building housing the library before October 2002  (now the Theater for the Newtowne Players) was next door to the homeless shelter, so we often interacted with a lot of the men living there.  We continued to have homeless visitors in the current location as well.

Please stop by to enjoy the art, or perhaps buy something to help Three Oaks.

Show Us Your Moves Contest Photo

I had some excitement on Friday night.  I got a phone call that I won one of the 6 prizes for a local photography contest with Fit and Healthy St. Mary’s, sponsored by St. Mary’s Hospital called “Show Us Your Moves”.  The photos of friends and family were about people doing healthy activities to encourage the local community to live a healthy lifestyle.  The category for my winning photo was called Nature and Fitness (which wins a park entry pass for summer 2013 to Myrtle Point/Elms Beach County Parks and a full day kayak visit to Colton’s Point Marina near St. Clements Island).  My winning photo was sort of an afterthought, since I thought my other photo was better.

The photo was taken on Black Rock summit trail on short hike we love to take in Shenandoah National Park.  This trail used to be easy for my husband, but it was quite challenging for him this last June, especially with all those rocks!

I read a little about Fit and Healthy St. Mary's.  Some of the statistics in the Community Health Assessment from 2010 were eye opening.  It seems that an estimated 29.5 % of St. Mary's County residents exercise for 30 minutes 5 days a week and we have one of the highest death rates for stroke in the state, Age-Adjusted Death Rate due to Cerebrovascular Disease (Stroke) were 44 per 100,000.   They are trying to reduce the numbers.

Scott Kelby's Worldwide PhotoWalk at Flag Ponds

On October 13^th, we participated in Scott Kelby’s Worldwide PhotoWalk at Flag Ponds in Lusby, MD. Thirty three people signed up to participate on a pleasant sunny day.  Participants were encouraged to submit one photo to the world contest and 13 people shared a photo.  I wasn’t too impressed by my pictures that day, but Jim and I each submitted a photo. Jim worked especially hard on his panorama made of 12 images of one of the ponds and we practiced proper Photoshop techniques with my photo.  Imagine our surprise to learn that Jim received the winning photo for our walk.  It was just amazing, since just holding a camera can be difficult and challenging for him.  We were both thrilled. 

 

To see more Flag pond photos, visit my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CalmReflectionsPhotographyor my Flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/75311362@N08/

If you are interested you might want to read more about the PhotoWalk

Muskegon Michigan Highlights

Last month we visited relatives in Michigan.  Here are some highlights of Muskegon, near Lake Michigan.  The depot was an old train station, now used by the tourist bureau.  It featured a small train museum.  An interesting piece of trivia was that Buster Keaton, the talented comedian from old films was originally from Muskegon.  The old brick building had an interesting façade with lots of angles.

 

We drove to the local waste water management property to view the birds.  There were many birds, but they were difficult to photography.  It was rather exciting driving through a whole flock of birds though.  Later, I photographed this duck family in a stream that was much more accessible for photographers.

 

I took a tour of the Hackley Hume Historic site.  The Hackley house, originally owned by Charles Hackley a wealthyMuskegon lumber baron.  It was decorated in the Victorian era, so it was very elegant and full of beautiful wood carvings (of course!).  This photo was taken of the City barn, where the horses and carriages resided, looking out from the carriage entryway of the Hackley house. Pretty fancy barn! The Hume house next door was owned by Hackley’s business partner Thomas Hume and was less fancy in its 1920’s style.

 

 

Going to the Races, the Boat Races that is

We attended the Third Annual Offshore Grand Prix Boat Race on Solomon's Island recently. We almost missed it, because it was in September instead of October. Some of the biggest boats were particularly exciting with their powerful jet engines, very loud and rumbling. The local favorite was Tug It, (from Maryland, I believe) which won unexpectedly when another boat missed a buoy. I am sharing a photo that portrays a little of the excitement of this race for the National 2012 title. There is usually a helicopter or two around for fast rescues.