Celebrating July 4th

Last year, my hubby and I were away from home on Independence Day and almost missed getting to see a fireworks show. This year I was determined to see (and, of course, photograph) some fireworks.
We made plans. We arrived to the location hours before the show in order to get a good spot....and found an excellent spot! We had snacks for the wait and lawn chairs for comfort. The weather wasn't as hot as it had been...so that was a good thing. I had two cameras poised to capture all the lights. It seemed as if everything was falling into place.
Then as they were getting ready to start the fireworks, I felt it...a drop of rain! I quickly took the camera off the tripod and put it away. The sprinkles of rain would make using two cameras too much trouble. So, I opted to just handhold one. That was disappointing because I had been hoping to get some long-exposure images. :(
As the fireworks began, so did the rain! Again, I was forced to adjust. The distance and my desire NOT to use my better camera and lens in the rain forced me to grab for the older camera and wide-angle lens. Still, I wasn't about to let this dampen my spirits. I adjusted my settings as quickly as possible and started shooting at the slowest speed that I felt comfortable using. Pointing toward the sky to capture the beauty, I was capturing rain drops on my lens too. Shifting my brain in gear, I remembered having my daughter remove her socks when we arrived since they were totally unnecessary with her shoes...Thank goodness, they hadn't had time to get dirty!
For the next approximately 20 minutes, I tried to brace myself and snap the shutter while protecting my equipment as much as I could from the rain and struggling to keep the raindrops wiped from my lens. It was so much FUN!! (OK...except for the worrying about my equipment part...that was stressful...)

Here are some of the images that I captured to add to the family scrapbook. :)

*you can see the lights of the bridge to the left in the following image*

*in the upper right of this image you can see the lightening of the sky due to lightning*

*At the end of the show, the sky was filled with brightness!
You can even view the smoke rising from the barge, where the fireworks were being shot.*

I hope your day was filled with happiness too! :)

Music from Mariah!

WARNING: Tonight I'm going with a totally random post. Like that never happens! :)

A lot of things have changed for me over the years. I've lived in a few different states and even more homes...I've made several career moves...I've gone from a brunette to a redhead to a disaster with black hair to even blonde! Ok, you get the idea. Things change.

One thing that has stayed the same is Mariah Carey being one of my favorite music artists! Let's just say her music dominates my collection. I've always somehow been able to relate to her musical journey in some way.
Her new album, MEMOIRS OF AN IMPERFECT ANGEL, is scheduled for release on August 25th. Until then, guess I'll just have to enjoy her new single, "Obsessed," which is available for download on Tuesday! Yay!

Yikes!

For as long as I can remember, I've been terrified of snakes. Although I have been reluctant, I have had many experiences to view snakes that my hubby has captured to teach me about different species (Isn't that romantic!?! HaHa!). My desire for the knowledge slightly outweighed my fears during those times...and I mean slightly.

I had always imagined that I would be frozen in fear if I ever encountered a snake in the wild...especially if my hubby wasn't around. Recently, I had the opportunity to test that theory.
What happened?
Being true to my photographer nature, instead of running away from the snake, I ran for my camera. My fear couldn't overrule my need to document the moment...lol!
I think my brain must have taken a vacation with me behind the 'protection' of my camera. ;)

confronting my fear...

My poor neglected blog

Dear Blog ~ I'm so sorry that I haven't been spending any time with you lately. ~sb

I've had so many spring 'projects' going on that I haven't been sharing much here. The bad news is that I still have such a long 'to do' list. It just keeps on growing...

The good news is that I have taken the time to stop and appreciate some things around me along the way. I am so blessed!

For now...here's one image from one of my pauses to simply enjoy life...

Website change

I wanted to make a note that (for now) my website address will just be www.sherryboles.smugmug.com instead of www.sherryboles.com. I'm working on simplifying some things but it seems like you always have to make a big mess of things in order to get things right...or maybe that's just me... :)

Beautiful Pose

My Friday night visit to the nest was a special one. I got to see one of the young eaglets fly back to the nest! :)
I've seen it AT the nest tree since its first flight but haven't ever seen on of the babies IN flight. It was a wonderful sight!

Another wonderful sight is viewing how majestic these young ones have already become. Only a few months ago the were unattractive with their seemingly over-sized beaks being their dominant feature. Now they are so beautiful! It has been such a thrill for me to both view and document (through photographs) their transformation!

~beautiful reluctant one~

One of the eaglets is reluctant to fly away. It flies in the nest tree but doesn't want to leave. (It must have had a bad "first flight" experience.) However, this beauty already knows how to pose!

Empty Nests :(

This week has been filled with loss...in the "nature" sense of the word.

*I noticed two robin nests had been knocked out of the trees in a storm. The little robin, who I had saved from a cat earlier, was gone.

*A check of our bluebird nest revealed that our five baby birds were gone.

*We released a "rescued" bullfrog so we had to say goodbye.

*Then today I went to the eagle nest (where I've been spending all my free time for the past few months) only to find out that one of the eaglets was missing. :(

Fortunately, I did get at least one more visit with the remaining eaglet...and I discovered a robin couple building a new nest in another of our trees.
The cycle of nature goes on...