This weekend was our neighborhood fest. When I was a kid they called them carnivals, and to me they look the same and have the same kind of rides like the ferris wheel and the zipper and the funhouse. I don't remember petting zoos at the carnivals. The Fests of today have exotic petting zoos with animals like this Camel and this Baby Camel and these pigs and of course this llama .

Since we have had so many cute kitty pictures, I thought I would post some demon kitty pictures. This is Chrystal and she has a very bad habit of chewing on everything: Bad Girl Don't even think about it

Went to the Aquarium last week, took tons of pics, but only a few turned out. I was broken hearted. Then I turned to Photographica and got inspired to use photoshop. In fact, I went a little overboard. Check out what you can do with a crappy pic: This is the only pic I got of a standing dolphin

This Chicago pic was taken inside the Aquarium not very pretty, but I liked the lines: 1 2 3 4 <popup<p>

I went a little crazy with this reef pic also:2 3 4 5 6 7

I did a couple tonight for the assignment:This one has no filters, just played with the contrast Used PS extruded Again no filters

Tried out a BW for fun

Went to a Nature reserve a few weeks ago and realy liked the silo I saw: silo1, silo2 and silo3. Whats a nature reserve without some animals this Turkey was real proud of himself,and this Chicken would not stop primping.

We also visited a forest perserve: PratWayne , Prat Wayne3 I thought you might like a close-up of the scum on the lake: Prat Wayne4. I found a Mushroom with fuzzies stuck to it.

I got a picture of my first Rainbow.

Has any one heard of Laddergolf ? My inlaws brought it back from Florida. My family loves it. The object is to toss the golf balls around one of the ladder rungs for points. You have to use two ladders. There is a web site with the rules. Just google "Ladder golf"

I'm just a simple suburban girl (jealous of all you world travelers)who feels the need to show you some of the beauty of the burbs. These are just random shots of different parks and preserves:Marsh Tunnel Boys on trees Green Bridge and Brook. By the way does anyone know what this is: Umbrella Plant It grows in large Patches .

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I went out at lunch and found this Reflection for the assignment. Then I saw this Seagull and I got distracted. Goose Families and Goose Babies were every where. Then I remebered a few weekends ago I got this Nesting Goose and the Nesting Goose with the Dad.This Blackbird was just sitting there for me too, however, I did come up with one more reflection, it has a Beaver swimming in the middle of it.If you look hard enough you can see his nose.

Welcome to Talking Rocks. A beautiful cave in Mo. near Branson. There are some great examples of cave bacon1 and bacon2. Here is an interesting alcove and here is a big formation , the average person comes up to the first layer. Last is a view from above .Can anyone tell where I touched up a spot?

Meet Cody he is a little on edge right now. Next there is Chris and Cam they need to be on the Leading Edge of technology. Then there is me who is on the edge of insanity.Who wouldn't be with 3 boys and a spooky cat who stares at me while I use the computer?

I found a few more of the cat and bear pictures: ; . Plus a few other animals that live there too.

Snake Eating Mouse and Wolf. Not for the weak!

Great theme! I thought of this little zoo that I went to last summer in Mo. My kids and I watched these two Cat and Bear1  play for a long time. Cat and Bear2 Then we went in and saw this guy  shark swimming around.

Caves are a passion of my husband and I. I have here some pic's of Onadaga Caverns which is in Mo. The picture called lillypad is a rare formation. If you are interested I have pictures from about 8 other caves.

 cave1 cave2 cave5 cave6 cave7 cave8 Lillypad

Thanks for all the comments! Some of you were interested in my wall reflection. I have posted here the full picture. Kind of an average building, quite common here in Wood Dale, Il. Proffesional Building It was the reflection that interested me. My family hikes a lot on the weekends and I get a chance to visit a lot of different parks. The next two pictures were taken while hiking. I can't pass up a good reflection!

Tree from Glen Ellyn

Tree from Schaumburg

This is my first entry, please be patient, I'm not familiar with html. I have
posted my entries for this weeks contest. If you have any comments, I would love
to hear them.