Wordless Wednesday - The Life of Princess Noodle

Starring Princess Noodle as Herself ...

shhhhh it is a wordless Thursday but I took it on Wednesday!

this week has been nuts.  truly.  In a good way and in a crazy truly nuts way.  In the good way, I have my Mom and my nephew here from Florida for several weeks.  It is awesome.  In the truly crazy nuts way, a dumpster crashed through my window Monday night and the weekend was back to back and I had to prep for company and work ahead even though I am behind and sigh.  SO.  here is my wordless Wednesday.  on Thursday.  but I took it on Wednesday so it should count.  right?  right.

  

Wordless Wednesday

You Can Call Me "Bug Girl"

Since starting my journey in photography, I have to admit to a fascination with bugs.  Not like any bugs and not bugs in my house or bugs touching my body but taking pictures of bugs.

It really started with the dragonflies.  While living in Florida, I had close encounters of the dragon kind every day and I love them.  OK - I am obsessed with them.  Folks in my photo groups call me the Dragonfly Whisperer although I am fairly certain that the dragonflies would concur with Dragonfly Stalker.

My obsession does not just extend to stalking dragonflies or running after bugs in the wild, but I also began to read about them, especially dragonflies.  I knew it was bad when I would wax enthusiastic at family dinners about species and experiences during my photographic journeys, adding in all the neat new facts that I had uncovered about bug behavior.  Blank stares and even my Mom asking me if I needed to see a therapist were the results.

 
The idea of going out to stalk dragonflies and other various denizens of the buggy kingdoms has gotten me out of bed at dawn, led me into standing in swamps motionless for 20 minutes to get a shot and hanging upside down the side of a canal to inspect a cocoon.  Weird, right?

In my defense, I have documented over 26 types of dragonflies, identified invasive species harmful to the Florida ecosystem, submitted to various scientific and scientific groups and  gotten a few darn cool photos along the way.  I even realized that my serious and debilitating arachnophobia could be controlled if I breathed and looked through the lens.  I do not wax poetic about spider behavior ... you are safe.

But the real reason that I am so excited about bugs ... beside the darn cool photos is that they saved my life.  Two years ago, I had just returned from London.  My husband and I had separated.  I had just been laid off.  I hated Florida.  The economy had made finding a job in my industry virtually impossible.  I was depressed and then one evening during a walk, I sat down in a field of dragonflies.  I was entranced and that was the first of months of daily walks.  Instead of going to bed and staying there (which is what I wanted to do), I went outside, took photos, did research and formed awesome networks on Flickr.  

 
I am through the bad patch now but my love of photography and capturing all the wonderful and weird things around us, no matter how small, has definitely stuck.  So, yes, you can call me Bug Girl.  or the Dragonfly Whisperer/Stalker, or as one friend dubbed me - the Reigning Queen of the Dragonfly Nerds on flickr.  But the bugs and I know ... I owe them.

   

All Photos Are Mine so Please Respect Copyright ... or the bugs will get you ... seriously.  

Cherry Blossoms in Utah

I am from the East Coast (Delaware originally) and one of my favorite spring events was to go to DC and see the Cherry Blossom trees.  It was ethereal and something that I always missed after leaving that area.

This is my first spring in Utah and imagine my surprise and DELIGHT to find Cherry Blossoms - Everywhere!  The smell and the beauty just adds to the charm of Provo.




Did you know:

House Bill HB33, which designated the cherry as the official state fruit in 1997, was sponsored by Rep. Fred Hunsanker, R-Logan; the 2nd graders at Millville Elementary School in Millville, Utah were responsible for presenting the new state fruit. Thank you to the school children for researching the subject and gathering the following information.

The Millville Elementary School children selected fruit as their choice to support as a new state symbol and chose the apple, peach, and cherry as candidates. After compiling some basic information concerning each of these fruits and their economic impact upon Utah and polling elementary schools throughout the state, the cherry came out the strong leader.

Both sweet and tart or pie cherries are grown in Utah; the average yearly cherry sales for the past 5 years was $5,564.600. Utah is the second largest tart cherry producing state in the nation and fifth in the nation in the production of sweet cherries. No other state ranks in the top five in both categories. About 2 billion cherries are harvested yearly and approx. 4,800 acres of agricultural land is used for cherry production.

Cherries are grown in Utah, Box Elder, Weber, Davis, Salt Lake, and Washington counties. The cherries are sold as fresh fruit, to canneries to make pies, brined as maraschino cherries or dried.

Another interesting fact, submitted to the Millville Elementary School children, is that cherry trees were sent to Utah by the Japanese following World War II. They surround the capitol building in Salt Lake City. The cherry tree is a symbol of friendship to the Japanese.

Some of my pics of the Cherry Blossoms in Provo:

The Beehive Blog Visits Park City for a Day Away

The Beehive Blog took a break from the blogosphere today and shot up to Park City.  And it was SO worth it.  I am a few months new to Utah (and loving it) so this was my first visit to the infamous Park City of the Sundance Film Festival and the Winter Olympics which is the only reason that I knew about Park City.



Sadly, I do not ski - sadly for my future orthopedic surgeon because I would be sure to end up in a cast and pay for a doctor's lovely Easter getaway.  No Thanks.  This Queen Bee will be quite happy to wander around taking pictures, talking to the folks up in Park City and taking in the sites.  And what great sites!

We wandered Main Street and enjoyed the steady snow flurries, popping in and out of businesses along the way.  Evidence of the Sundance Film Festival was all around as today was the last day.  Unfortunately, we missed Robert Redford and Paris Hilton (ok, that is not really that sad) and Tommy Lee Jones and Marissa Tomei.  Next year, The Beehive Blog will have to make sure to get up there and stalk check out some celebs.




Since The Beehive Blog is also Foodie oriented (please join us at our other blog Foodies Unite), we were interested to see the restaurant offerings and well, there are tons.  We sampled some yummy potato leek soup at Flanagan's Irish Pub and Restaurant to warm up a bit.  Multiple trips are in the planning simply to go back up and EAT at all the tantalizing places that we saw.



The Beehive Blog would love to hear from you as to what our target restaurants should be in Park City!  Leave a comment or tweet us and give us the buzz  on Park City's foodie and other offerings are your favorites!

Before we left Main Street, we fell prey to the amazing smell coming from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.  We followed the smell and were greeted with the hugest pile (there really is no other way to explain it) of rice krispie treats in production that we have ever seen.  Samplings included a giant dark chocolate peanut butter cup, a caramel and chocolate dipped pretzel and some homemade cookie dough ice cream.  The Beehive Blog verdict?  The Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory is the Bee's Knees - they can do chocolate for us anytime!





The day wrapped up with a leisurely drive up Empire Pass and we had a peek at the site for the new Montage Resort (opening Dec 2010 with a 35000 sf SPA!).  It is a breathtaking area and the views from the resorts that I could anticipate as well as the talk of the spa under construction makes it a destination for 2011.


You can see images from the day at Shakti Womyn Photography's flickr account.

where did the week go?

Have been busy with work, calling nurses and doctors!  Know any?  :)  We are paying $1000 for a candidate that I end up placing to anyone who refers them!
Anyways. it has been hectic but super fun - I love talking to people all over the country - I can sometimes speak to people in more than 20 states in a day! 
I did sneak a walk in so here are a few of the pics of the area around the house...and of course, snuck in a few more pics of the dragonflies!
Happy Friday early!!!!

pretty pink

Dragonfly with buddies

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dragonfly!

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canal behind my house

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Dragonfly Breeding Ground

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Evening Sky

Deerfield Beach, Florida Pier at Dawn

Hello all!  I found the cord and got these off the camera from Sunday morning!  They are in order as the dawn progressed...

Deerfield Beach Pier

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fishing at daybreak

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end of the pier

first blush

almost there

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my favorite

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champagne blush

Full Moon at dawn

The Fountain In Evening

On my way to and from getting a coffee this evening (and I wonder why I cannot sleep lol), the fountain in my neighborhood looked particularly pretty.  so I snapped a few and kept going.  When I returned, it was full dark plus and there was a nice treat hanging right over the fountain!

fountain at dusk

fountain darker

fountain at moonrise

Winter Morning

Winter has completely arrived here - I went up on the Heath this morning before "sunrise" (I am still waiting :) ).  It was about 30F and a wee bit windy.  So here are some pics from Hampstead Heath now that winter is here!  Now I am just waiting for the snow!  My camera did not like the cold so much though!  I am heading into Central London to take some Christmas city pics.