As Seen By Karen

Apologies apologies

2009-03-03T21:51:00.000-05:00

It has been an interesting couple of months that I did not mean to take off.

I do apologize to everyone and hopefully I'll have some great pics to start posting again soon.

Elephants can have tattoos, too!

2009-01-22T06:10:00.002-05:00

Elephant

2009-01-21T07:05:00.001-05:00

I do apologize for missing yesterday, I did not mean for it to happen.

But here is an elephant that was walking around while they played the Star Spangled Banner.

The Circus

2009-01-19T08:30:00.001-05:00

I took my daughter to the circus and the zoo for her birthday this year. So this week's pictures will be from the circus and next week's pictures will be from the zoo.

This picture was part of a song and dance routine that the circus people did:

Flower

2009-01-16T20:53:00.001-05:00

I love taking pictures of nature, however, I don't get a chance to do so very often.

But here is a flower from outside the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa.

I have no idea!

2009-01-15T22:56:00.001-05:00

I have no idea what this is. I just found it in my camera and thought it looked neat!

Hot Air Balloon

2009-01-14T07:07:00.001-05:00

Every now and again, early on Sunday mornings, there is a group of Hot Air Balloonists that go past my house. This past Sunday they didn't come too close to my house (they've come so close that we could wave to each other) but I got a picture of one of the balloons anyway.

Up Up and Going Nowhere

2009-01-13T06:54:00.002-05:00

Goofy apparently knows how to fly a plane. This lawn decoration is a yellow plane sitting on a wooden stake with Goofy as it's pilot. I don't understand this decoration at all, but hey, it made for an interesting picture right?

Rapunzel, Rapunzel Let Down Thy Hair!

2009-01-12T07:31:00.002-05:00

I pass this tower everyday on my way to work. I have no idea why it is there or what it's purpose is.

Painted Clouds

2009-01-09T08:05:00.003-05:00

Remember when I said that sometimes the clouds look painted in the sky? Another one of those times:

Fog!

2009-01-08T06:43:00.000-05:00

A picture of my backyard one foggy morning:

The Birds

2009-01-07T07:12:00.001-05:00

This is like a scene from the move "The Birds" - don't you think?

I took this picture somewhere in the middle of the state of Florida on my drive home from my mom's house. It is a landfill and all these birds were just flying around the place.

My mom's house

2009-01-06T07:26:00.003-05:00

This is where I stayed in Lake Worth over the holidays. I lived in this house from summer 1990 until summer 1998. Well, ok two time periods in there where I wasn't but one was for college (at Florida State in Tallahassee) and one where I lived for a few months with an old high school friend and her son.

I'd Drink This Water

2009-01-05T07:15:00.002-05:00

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year! Let's hope this next year brings an even more prosperous one than the last!

It is good to be back.

For Christmas I went to visit my family in Lake Worth, FL. Now this is what a water tower is supposed to look like (not the one I previously posted). I don't remember exactly when this was erected, but it was in the early 90's. I saw it everyday when I was in high school and it is just as pretty now as it was back then.

As a side note, if you are curious... Lake Worth is just south of West Palm Beach in Palm Beach County.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-22T06:58:00.001-05:00

I will be off this week as I will be out of town for the holidays. I hope everyone has a great Christmas!

Would you drink this water?

2008-12-19T07:25:00.003-05:00

I pass this water tower every day on my to work. I admit that I don't even know what the use of a water tower is, but I'm not sure that I would trust anything that came out of this thing!

Lil Ev's Barber Shop

2008-12-18T07:44:00.002-05:00

It's a little hard to see, I couldn't pull over in time to turn into the plaza. Teach me not to think ahead of time that I would want to take a picture of Lil Ev's Barber Shop.

What's so special about this barber shop you ask? It is owned by my brother-in-law, Evan. He's owned this shop for about 10 years now and has a booming business. There is talk that this plaza is being torn down, and Ev is unsure of where he will move his shop. But for now, it's staying right there.

Got the Munchies?

2008-12-17T07:17:00.003-05:00

Then head to Munchee's!

I saw this shop on my way to the cookie swap this past weekend. Unfortunately I don't remember what road it is on, but it is in Dunedin. And I just laughed to myself when I saw it that I had to take a picture of it on my way home.

Cookies!

2008-12-16T06:59:00.002-05:00

I went to a cookie swap over the weekend. The rules are that you must bring 6 dozen cookies. Any kind will do as long as they aren't store bought. You then exchange cookies with the other people there and you come home with a variety of cookies.

I made Caramel Filled Chocolate Cookies. Aren't they pretty with my leftover Rolo candies?

The Moon

2008-12-15T07:00:00.003-05:00

Ever since I took the picture of the sun, I wanted to be fair and post a picture of the moon. I hadn't been able to get a shot until Friday's full moon. So here you go, the moon in all of his glory! This was taken about an hour after sunrise.

Big Bird

2008-12-12T07:04:00.002-05:00

Ok, so not really Big Bird (from Sesame Street). However, these birds live in my neighborhood and are constantly in everyones' yards (except mine, because of our dogs, hehe).

I did a little research this time and found that they are called Sandhill Cranes.

Here is an awesome slideshow I found:

http://albums.phanfare.com/slideshow.aspx?u=1487167&a_id=2226803

Different Angle

2008-12-11T07:03:00.001-05:00

Yesterday's tree from the 6th floor (the top floor) of my building looking down into the lobby area.

Christmas Tree

2008-12-10T07:26:00.002-05:00

This tree sits in the foyer of the building I work in. I think it is so beautiful and I'm mad jealous over their decorating skills.

For The People

2008-12-09T07:00:00.003-05:00

Yes, took a picture while driving again :)

I've seen this billboard now for a few weeks. Can anyone explain it's meaning? I surely don't understand it.

The sky

2008-12-05T20:38:00.001-05:00

Sometimes I just stare at the sky and think the clouds look like they are painted on. This was one of those times.

Landing

2008-12-04T20:49:00.001-05:00

I work right by the airport and am constantly seeing the airplanes flying by. This is a shot I took while driving (yes, shame on me for snapping a pic while driving) home one day from work.

Finally!

2008-12-03T20:54:00.001-05:00

A sign that Autumn is here (although Winter is only a few weeks away).

Home

2008-12-02T20:21:00.002-05:00

I only think it is appropriate that I show you a home today. I do not believe this is yesterday's hawk's home as this nest isn't in my neighborhood. It is a few miles away. But I think it is neat to see the hawk's nest on top of the telephone poll.

Do you see it?

2008-12-01T21:39:00.003-05:00

First off, I do want to apologize to my followers. I did not mean to take all of last week off. But things happen and it did. I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving.

---------------------------------------

Now, do you see it?

Here's a better look if you don't:

That's right... it's a hawk. I'm not good with names of birds (or any type of nature at that), so I'm not sure exactly what kind of hawk this is. But I've seen it a few times flying overhead. This is the first time I've seen it land. Luckily for me, I had my camera close by and was able to get a picture.

Steinbrenner Field

2008-11-21T07:01:00.002-05:00

Across the street from Raymond James Stadium is George M Steinbrenner Field. Yes, the Steinbrenner that owns the New York Yankees. This is where the Yankees hold their spring training camp.

Buccaneers - pt 2

2008-11-20T06:50:00.002-05:00

Raymond James Stadium, where the Tampa Bay Buccaneers play.

On a side note, the University of South Florida also play their home football games here as well.

Buccaneers - pt 1

2008-11-19T06:57:00.002-05:00

Tampa Bay is home to 3 professional teams. Our football team is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This is a picture of the flag that waves outside of One Buc Place.

The fog

2008-11-18T08:35:00.003-05:00

This picture was taken from the parking garage of my job the same morning I took a picture of yesterday's horse statue. It is of International Plaza - a high end mall.

Eerie

2008-11-17T07:06:00.001-05:00

This almost looks like it could be a scene from Sleepy Hollow or something.

This is a statue of a horse (obviously) taken about a mile or so down the road from where I live. It was foggy the morning I stopped to snap its pic and I thought the result was quite eerie looking.

Fire!

2008-11-14T08:03:00.002-05:00

As I was driving home yesterday, I saw smoke:

I do apologize that the picture is blurry, but I'm not as good as some people in taking pictures while I drive ;)

Here is a better picture, but the smoke doesn't look as ominous:

A car had caught on fire. I feel bad for the guy who was driving the car (he looked like he was in his early 20s) but thankfully it wasn't a house fire.

I wanted to get a picture of the fire truck but I didn't want to disturb the firemen while they were putting out the fire. And traffic was moving again by the time they were done.

Already?

2008-11-13T07:06:00.003-05:00

I was surprised the other day to notice that Christmas decorations have already gone up. They can't wait til after Thanksgiving to start reminding people that Christmas is just around the corner?

A day late...

2008-11-12T07:18:00.003-05:00

But not a dollar short....

Happy Veteran's Day!

I should've posted this yesterday, but the abundance of flags appeared yesterday. A quick thank you to all of those who have served and are serving our country.

Bonus pic!

Here is a picture of my dad while serving in the US Army, he's such a nut:

The Sun

2008-11-11T06:54:00.002-05:00

I was playing aorund with the settings on my camera and decided to try and take a picture of the sun. Here is the result:

Every picture I took, had the vertical line "shooting" out of the sun like that. I'm not sure if that is normal or if there is another function on my camera that needs to be set in order to fix that.

Gas

2008-11-10T20:39:00.002-05:00

Gas Price as of Friday the 7th:

Side note: I do not get gas here. We do not get gas at Citgo, ever. This was just the place that had the cheapest gas that I saw.

My vice

2008-11-07T07:29:00.001-05:00

Enough said about this, too.....

The bane of my existence

2008-11-06T22:31:00.002-05:00

Enough said....

My apologies

2008-11-06T07:17:00.001-05:00

I forgot my camera this morning so I have no picture to upload. I will, however, upload one tonight before I go to bed.

Ants!

2008-11-05T06:55:00.003-05:00

I am asking you to actually click on the picture to enlarge it to its full size and see the full effect of the ants

One little step in the ant pile produced a lot of ants in a matter of seconds:

Disclaimer: No ants were killed in the shooting of this picture and no feet or ankles were bitten either (thank goodness), hehe.

Election Day

2008-11-04T08:54:00.002-05:00

Taken at 7:45 this morning as I was leaving. Of course when I got there the line was long (over 100 people) but by the time I left it was very short (maybe 20 people).

My place of voting:

The Lamp

2008-11-03T07:08:00.002-05:00

This lamp is in one of my spare bedrooms and I thought it looked cool with the sun coming through the shades the way it is. I think, though, that next time I need to find it when the sun is at the right angle to cover the entire lamp and background (or move the lamp so that it is completely in the sun).

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T07:12:00.003-04:00

Not my best work as she wouldn't stand still for me. Happy Halloween everyone!

Breast Cancer Awareness

2008-10-30T07:23:00.004-04:00

I cannot take credit for this picture. My step-mom sent this to me and I thought it was appropriate since October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.

Fountain

2008-10-29T07:59:00.001-04:00

This fountain sits in front of the building I work in. I took this from the top floor of the parking garage, but I couldn't get high enough to get the tops of the palm trees in and I don't have a wide enough lens either.

Little Hands and Little Flowers

2008-10-28T06:56:00.002-04:00

We have these little weed like plants in our yard. Meghan thinks they are flowers and tries to pick them. I got a great shot of her "Little Hands and Little Flowers."

Family - Part 4

2008-10-27T08:02:00.003-04:00

This is my husband, Steve. This pictures was actually taken last summer while in Orlando and this is the picture I currently have hanging in my cube at work.

We met summer of 2001; engaged summer 2002 and married in January 2003.

Family - Part 3

2008-10-26T08:46:00.002-04:00

This is Lola. She is a purebred Vizsla (a Hungarian Pointer). We believe her age to be 4 years old. We adopted her in March 2006, just 6 months after getting Ewing. We adopted her from a co-worker who just didn't have the room for Lola needed to run around. The initial vet visit showed that she was older than 1 (because she had all her teeth) but less than 2 (because her teeth weren't dirty enough).

Family - Part 2

2008-10-25T10:11:00.002-04:00

This is Ewing. He is named after Patrick Ewing of the New York Knicks. He is 3 years old. Ewing is a purebred Golden Retriever. He is very lovable and still very hyper.

I received him as a gift from my husband, Steve, for my 30th birthday.

Family - part 1

2008-10-24T07:12:00.002-04:00

I want to introduce you to my family - so this will come in parts.

This is my daughter, Meghan. She turns 2 years old in January. The picture was taken 2 days ago (the same day as yesterday's sunset picture) in our backyard.

Sunset

2008-10-23T07:22:00.003-04:00

This was taken in my backyard yesterday. I'm not too good at holding the camera as still as I need to (perhaps a tri-pod is in my near future?) but you get the idea of what I was trying to capture.

The Hows and the Whys

2008-10-23T07:15:00.000-04:00

A good friend of mine, Dawn, started a picture blog (Gimme Some Sugah). She challenged me to start my own. I was reluctant at first. I don't think my artistic eye is as wonderful as hers. So, here we are. I can't guarantee a picture everyday, but I can guarantee that pictures will be posted.

So, welcome friends and I hope you enjoy the world "as seen by me."