day 123 of 365

Today's words: Root canal.

day 122 of 365

Click to photo to read the text.

This is the last outtake from our vacation photos. Those of you who have been following this blog for awhile know how I feel about guns -- not a fan. What struck me about this sign is that it highlighted just one of the the many political and philosophical differences between Massachusetts and Virginia. Here in Massachusetts you can get suspended for bringing a plastic picnic knife to school, but in Virginia you can buy a toy gun on a school field trip with the permission of a teacher. But I promise I won't get all political on you. It's just one tiny example of the deep divisions in this country.

Suffice it to say it was a big stretch for me to stay at my brother's house and sleep in the same room with his gun cabinet full of firearms and ammunition. But I did it, and now I'm back home, safe in my own room. :)

Hannah, as you can see, oblivious to my inner turmoil, liked the pink one.

day 121 of 365

A few more outtakes from our vacation. I went walking here on our last morning with my stepmother Debby and her husband Phil. Lutherville Historic District has wonderful old homes with lots of character. The female seminary mentioned above was converted into a nursing home where my grandmother lived out her last years -- she died at the ripe old age of 101!

Here are a couple of the houses.

day 120 of 365

Here's an out-take from our vacation last week. As you can imagine, this gift shop had lots of rocks and gems for sale. And also these little plastic rings that caught the light just right. Pretty!

day 119 of 365

Jeanne is a woman of many talents. Not only is she a fantastic library volunteer, but she is the queen of Wii bowling. 300 points! She gets the special tiara, and we must bow down to her.

day 118 of 365

Wuthering Heights. Very dark, but very good if you're swept away, like I am, by the whole obsessive love thing. I just posted the third series of photos inspired by the Bronte sisters on my other blog. Click here to take a look.

day 117 of 365

Tell me you don't take pictures of things with your name on them. Especially sweet little boxes of cookies like these!

day 116 of 365

Vacation over. Home to Cape Cod, after driving through this crazy storm in Providence. (BTW: This photo was taken by Hannah, since I was busy freaking out and actually had my hands firmly planted on the steering wheel).

I've almost caught up with my 365 posts now, so check the last 7 days to see images from our vacation.

day 115 of 365

The last day in Baltimore.

day 114 of 365

Oh, Baltimore.

day 113 of 365

Driving back to Maryland through Virginia and West Virginia. Beautiful farms, LOTS of churches, and fields and fields of wild mustard.

day 112 of 365

Luray, Virginia. Where they fix your brakes for $35 and where movies play on schedule even when there's no one in the theater.

day 111 of 365

Hannah and I got to be touristy cave women in Virginia this week. We visited Skyline Caverns, drove part of Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah Valley National Park, and also toured Luray Caverns. Pretty amazing!

day 110 of 365

I suspect the driver of this truck had a few choice words to say (see him in the top photo to the left), but I cannot print them here. Ditto for the people in the 5-mile traffic jam created by this sad accident.

Read about the truck fire here.

This was taken on our road trip from Cape Cod to Baltimore.

day 109 of 365

Here are 3 views of the stage and graphic sign at the Barnstable High School 2010 Fashion Show (featuring the lovely Ms. Fallon.) Students and teachers were asked to complete this sentence: "Fashion is ______." Click the photo to see some of the words that they chose.

we interrupt this blog

We interrupt this blog for a vacation. Stay tuned for more photo fun next Friday, when I will return renewed and refreshed, and will pick up right where I left off.

Meanwhile, hold down the fort, and don't have any wild parties in the house while I'm gone!

day 108 of 365

And the alphabet continues...

day 107 of 365

day 106 of 365

Six swift sailboats skimming over the sparkling sea.

The water's still pretty arctic, but sailing school has started so it must really be spring!

day 105 of 365

So these -- Euro Bobbles -- are the latest attraction at the Cape Cod Mall. Oodles of fun for all ages (and for photographers) in a giant kiddie-pool!

day 104 of 365

Even though I love to photograph signs, I have to admit that I don't often follow their orders. I interpret NO TRESPASSING and PRIVATE PROPERTY as "You can come on in and look around because you're such a nice person." KEEP OUT and NO LOITERING have the same effect.

There are two signs, however, that I heed well. The first one is BEWARE OF THE DOG -- after a bad biting incident as a child the fear lives on. The second one is:

It makes me break out in a rash just looking at it.

day 103 of 365

Here's the third installment in my alphabet series. To see the whole emerging alphabet, click here.