Good morning! Yesiree, I'm meeting the gang for lunch today - wish you could all be there! A bit of excitement here yesterday: Lightening struck my neighbor's house and he came running over to ask if he could use the phone - he saw smoke coming from the basement. I called 911 and they called all the stations (we have 3 in town) - thankfully no fire. Just damage. The kids got a kick of having the whole fire department in their front yard, and thankfully it was not a true emergency. They did spend the rest of the afternoon chasing after the same sorts of calls, though, as the weather was wicked here :) My lawn has never looked so good in July. Ivy is growing leaps and bounds, and her big brother looks happy, too! Kenzie's a model in training, I see - Sarah went through the posing phase, too. We'd take one picture for mommy (au natural) and one with your best pose. The dueling bathroom models - much like dueling banjos, I guess? I love the idea of a quiet place to wind down the evening, Denise. And Liz, I'm glad you took the extra step to remove the popcorn - you could've gotten tired and left it :) I can't wait to see what tile you chose. I'm always dreaming of remodeling my bath, but I think I'll wait as long as I can since it's our only one (we have a powder, but that's not the same....). Ei, loved your fish story! Your new koi are cute, can't wait to hear their names :) Kathy, next year I'll add tithonia to the list. I'm really kicking myself for not growing the amaranth! I wanted it so bad and then ran out of spring. Yes, walating must be done several times....funny, now Sarah says, "while I was walating...." but I don't think she's always looking at flowers. I need to get moving - I've got lots to do before I embark on my lunchtime journey. Have a great day..... Saucy

Thanks Sue. I have an Olympus C-700 digital camera. This picture was taken at the highest resolution setting (HQ), in Auto mode. The only adjustment I made was to use the "Sharpen" tool in Picasa to eliminate the slight blurriness. Jen

Peter: It is a whole other world taking pics like that during the day. My friend is trying to figure that out although he gets some great cloud formations before and after the storms. Nice work. I hope to see more pics by you. Jojo: I have heard the monsoons can be quite dramatic! I have even seen the storm drains dug all around the outskirts of peoples home but never saw them fill up. I can only imagine that. I have seen lightning from a distance and been very frustrated chasing them because the roads there a long and straight with no way to turn down another for miles to catch up to it..lol Been there done that. Have you ever seen lightning drop from the clouds over the prairies or horizon? It must be majestic! It is nice to meet Peter. It is always nice to see new faces. I would never come there without visiting some very nice people here if the offer is there. Going there to see people I know would be so nice. We would have to visit the Indian Reservations though, Saguaro Cactus Preserve, and look for turquoise jewelry..lol I have danced with the Navaho tribes once before! I hope many others come here with nice pictures. I would of loved to have sene the hail storm ones that some here have experienced! Mike

Hi Have always found it interesting that color as perceived by the human eye is an optical illusion it exists only because the object refracts that shade of light. Light is actually totally colorless The sky is blue because Oxygen refracts blue moisture refracts almost any color depending on the angle. Remember at a landscape painting class .The teacher told us the sky can be any color except green. So far have found that to be true but still looking lol That's certainly a little bit gary