flowers – Stephanie Ingram

Yes, it’s January 12th. I did glance at the calendar before I sat down to write this post. Is that going to stop me?

Nah…

I know by this point most people are ready to move forward and put the stress and craziness of Christmas behind them. Most of us have undecorated and put away (or thrown away – so sad) the tree. We’re back to work or school or whatever we call the normal routine and we’re embracing (or not) all those resolutions we made at the start of January.

That’s okay. I’m sharing these photos with you anyway. In my part of the world when the start of the year means cold and snow and dreary days, I’m grasping for a happy pick-me-up. Over the weekend, the family and I went to Phipps Conservatory for their after-hours candlelight tour. I’m so glad we managed to squeeze it in before it ended because it was as beautiful as I expected.

It’s tough to pick out just a couple of my favorite photos but here you go… I hope you enjoy them, too.

Over the weekend, we finally went camping. It was a long overdue getaway due to about a million other things going on this summer, but if you know anything about me at all, you know that I love camping so I was eager for it. I haven’t posted Tuesday Photos in a while so it seemed logical that I should stop by and share our most recent excursion with you. I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed living the moments…

First of all, no trip down memory lane would be complete with a photo of the campsite… The tent is brand new. Don’t you love it? I do too although we soon discovered that they just don’t make them like they used to. I bought my previous tent in 1998 and it lasted me thirteen years. It had nice, sturdy metal pools to actually hold the thing up. The new tent, while light and roomy, has very flimsy pools that we don’t suspect will last very long. Just to prove our point, one of the rain fly pools already snapped while we were taking it down. Ah well, what can you do, right? Hopefully Coleman will be kind enough to replace it free of charge. After all, it’s only the first time we’ve used the tent and we were being very careful.

(My little doggie friend looks so lost and lonely in this photo!)

I love trees. Here we see the sun trying to peek through the tops. Saturday it struggled to show itself through the clouds so these rare glimpses were worth photographing.

These puffy things always signal late summer / early fall to me, kind of like seeing fat, fuzzy caterpillars. I don’t know what they’re called but I think they’re pretty.

A view of the quiet lake during late day. I love the way the water reflects the trees. And wow, look at all those clouds. I am happy to report, however, that it didn’t rain a drop on us all weekend.

Last but not least, I include this photo from a hike through the woods. Those big, beautiful trees beckon me…
Thanks for stopping by and sharing the adventures. Be sure to check back tomorrow to share a different kind of adventure. I will be posting a sneak peek into the new novel Ghosts Don’t Wear Silk Stockings. It is your chance to read all of chapter one before the official book release in September!