Winter Scene

Winter wonderland in North Carolina! This is the front yard of my parent's house near Charlotte.

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

Song lyrics to this famous Christmas Carol.

Hark! the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!"
Joyful, all ye nations rise;
Join the triumph of the skies;
With angelic host proclaim
"Christ is born in Bethlehem!"
Hark! the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Christ, by highest heaven adored;
Christ the everlasting Lord;
Late in time behold Him come,
Offspring of the favored one.
Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see;
Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with men to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King"

Hail! the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail! the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Risen with healing in His wings.
Mild He lays His glory by,
Born that man no more may die;
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King"

Cute Toys

Christmas Toys!

Daniel Stowe Gardens at Christmastime

This is the Canal garden lit up for Christmas with the visitor's pavillion in the background.

Wishing everyone a wonderful Christmas week!!

Christmas Garden

This is a photo of a Christmas tray....Santa's Christmas Garden.

Christmas Bells

Another favorite subject to shoot... Christmas decorations!

Charlotte Framed Skylines on Sale

If you're in the Charlotte/Matthews area, stop in at Village Emporium and see my skyline shots. I've got some framed and matted prints.

Village Emporium is at the corner of Sardis Road North and Monroe Road beside the Harris Teeter.

McAdenville House

This is one of the homes lit up for Christmas in McAdenville.

Christmastown USA

McAdenville is known for their Christmas lights. This is a must visit place to see all the lights....just roll down the windows, listen to the Christmas music and enjoy!

They've got a small lake in the town, with a fountain and all the trees lit up in lights.



Here's the link to their town for directions. Near Gastonia.

Christmas Decorations

Beautiful piano with the Christmas decorations reflected. This was inside the Daniel Stowe Garden visitor center last year.

Arch Fountain

This is the Arch Fountain at Daniel Stowe Gardens at Christmas.  You can walk under the water!  The gardens are a beautiful place to see Christmas lights.  This shot was taken last year.

Orchid Christmas Tree

This is the Orchid Christmas Tree at Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens (last year) in Belmont, NC.  The tree is made up of live orchids that are just beautiful!

Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens

Their Christmas lights are great.... a must see! I plan on visiting again this year.

Christmas Season

From Thanksgiving right into the Christmas Season.  I love it!

I've made some new Christmas desktop wallpaper.  I hope you enjoy!

Free Christmas Desktop Wallpaper

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

Autumn Decorations

Wishing everyone a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving week!

Pretty Fuchsia Blooms!

Here's my Fuchsia still blooming! I've had this flower since May and it has been blooming the best ever this month. I knew this flower liked cooler weather....

Mums!

This is part of a display at Rountree Plantation. Beautiful Mums! A great place to shop for flowers, plants, statuary and garden decorations.

HDR

The Leonids - November 17th & 18th

Just some info for the people that enjoy watching the night skies.

November 2010 has been a great month for meteors so far. Next up ... the famous Leonid meteor shower. They'll be best after moonset - on the mornings of November 17 and 18.

November 17, 2010 Leonids
Historically, the Leonids have produced some of the greatest meteor storms in history, with rates as high as many thousands of meteors per hour. These storms sometimes recur in cycles of 33 to 34 years. Most years, the Lion whimpers rather than roars, producing a maximum of perhaps 10-15 meteors per hour. Although the waxing gibbous moon shines till after midnight, the Leonids will likely be at their best after the moon sets for the night. Like the October Orionids, the Leonids ordinarily pick up steam after midnight and put out the greatest meteor numbers just before dawn. So here’s our suggestion for 2010. Try watching between midnight and dawn on November 17 and November 18. The most Leonids will probably fly in the wee hours before dawn, or after moonset.

EarthSky Leonids

Tall Panoramas

I've started doing some new panoramas that are tall instead of wide. Let me know what you think!

This is uptown Charlotte from Elizabeth Avenue.

Deer Ate my Pansies!

I just got my flowers planted on Saturday afternoon and the deer ate my pansies in one of the big pots I have at the front door. Overnight they're gone!

UPDATE!  I found out that putting dryer sheets in your pot/soil will keep them away.  It's working so far.

Another Beautiful Day!

I finally got around to planting my pansies, trimming the roses, butterfly bushes and putting away my perennials.

Now I'm pooped!

Streets in Charlotte

This is autumn in Charlotte right now. Shot taken yesterday around the Freedom Park area.

Charlotte in Autumn

Charlotte skyline shot taken this week. Caught all the fall color and Carolina blue skies!

This includes the two new towers that went up in 2010. The Duke Energy Center Tower and the Bank of America Office Towers are new this year.

Happy Veterans Day

Veterans Week

This is Veterans week and I'm very thankful for what our military does for me, my family and this country.

God Bless America!

Autumn Dogwood

The Dogwood tree is beautiful in the Fall!

Pumpkin Patch

Pretty orange pumpkins and haystacks. This image is great for graphic designs. Download the jpeg file.

Large Elk

Vote!

Get out and vote tomorrow!

Bugling!

Here's the big bull elk bugling! I think he has at least 12 points on him.

Elk in the fields

Notice the large elk in the middle...entering the picture. He's huge!

Check back for close up shots of him.

Elk

Here's a young male elk with his antlers. Pretty guy!

Elk in Cataloochee

Video of the elk in Cataloochee. This young male looked like he was going to bugle but changed his mind.

More to come...

Country Roads

This is a shot of the road near our house.

Herrin Gap

Get out and enjoy the NC mountains this fall! Beautiful time of the year.

Butterfly Fun Facts

Here's a great website on Butterfies! Enjoy!

Desktop Wallpaper

I have added a free desktop wallpaper page to my website!

I've got some autumn wallpaper scenes now.

I'll be adding to the page... so bookmark.

Whitewater Falls

Fall color at the Falls

Looking Glass Rock

Here's the rock from the Blue Ridge Parkway at Log Hollow Overlook. Pretty oranges!

Linn Cove Viaduct

Getting ready for this year's fall foliage! This was taken last year... almost didn't get to photograph. The weather was rainy and foggy earlier that day.

Andy Griffith

An Old Truck

Here's another old pickup truck around Wally's Service Station.

NAPP

National Association of Photoshop Professionals

If you work with Photoshop or Lightroom, this is a great place to learn techniques and other photography information. Plus discounts!

Fall Foliage

Here's a link to fall foliage in North Carolina.  This will be updated to let you know best time to visit the mountains.

Mayberry Days

Mayberry Days September 23 - 26, 2010

Fesitival in Mount Airy, NC

Squad Car

Here's an old squad car just like in the Andy Griffith show.

Celebrating 50 years of Andy (and Barney)!

Wally's Tow Truck

Here's Wally's old tow truck!

Snappy Lunch Cafe

Here's the Snappy Lunch Cafe in Mount Airy where you can get their famous pork chop sandwich. Yum!

Old Homes in New Bern

This is the John Wright Stanley home in New Bern. They have a ton of nice old homes.

Andy & Opie

Statues of Andy and Opie and the Andy Griffith Playhouse.

An Historic Clock

In New Bern, they have this historical clock in the downtown area. I hope they're having a great weekend celebrating!

Pepsi

New Bern is the birthplace of Pepsi! Here's their Pepsi store.

Dixon House

The Dixon House in New Bern.

Latham Garden

The beautiful Latham Gardens at Tryon House.

New Bern, North Carolina

The Anniversary Jubilee Celebration is September 16th through the 19th.

Go to the New Bern site for more info.

Tryon House

New Bern, North Carolina

Celebrating 300 Years!!

Oliver

This is Oliver at Surfside Beach. Holiday Inn Surfside takes pets!!

Oliver Video

This is Oliver saying "They won't let Oliver come to Myrtle Beach."

It's hard finding hotels that will take pets. Holiday Inn Surfside will though.

View his video!

For more of his talking videos, go to his SmugMug link.

Chipmunk

This is one of our chipmunks. We feed them pellets and sliced almonds. I think this one is pregnant

Cooler!

Finally! Some cooler days in the Carolinas! We've been having days and weeks of mid 90's and it's refreshing to see 85 degrees again.

Hurricane Earl

Well... looks like we got lucky on this one! I know there's some damage in the Outer Banks and power outages but much better than it could have been.

North Carolina Note Cards

I've got NC notecards on sale for $9.99.  (Regular Price is 12/$13.99)

They make great gifts!

Shown is Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.

Ocracoke Lighthouse

Still hoping the Outer Banks will not get hit very hard with Hurricane Earl!

The beautiful, white Ocracoke Lighthouse. One of the oldest lighthouses in NC.

Ocracoke Lighthouse

Hopefully, Hurricane Earl won't do much damage to the island.  Wonderful place to visit!