Nancy Lynne Photography

Ya just gotta love FreeCycle ! I have given away a few usable things and have acquired some really nice stuff thru this network. It's awesome!! Last weekend I received a sit-on-top kayak, and I just can't wait to try it out!! I have ordered a couple of things to make it safe and workable and hope to get it wet this weekend. Woo hoo! I was hoping for one that would be big enough to also carry Freckles but this will definitely work for a starter boat. I look forward to posting some new pics from the water very soon!! Keeping busy at the studio, got some sessions going on, including this one from yesterday, this is Jasmine on her second birthday. Toledo's City Council is keeping me hopping and so is the Toledo Chamber of Commerce... we'll have our own booth at the Seafood and Wine Festival so I sure hope to see you there!! The bluebell bulbs are up in the backyard, and the purple-leaf plum tree has buds on it. Yay! And I'm noticing that it's not completely dark ...

Yesterday one of my very special friends took me down to one of my favorite parks, put me in a kayak, showed me how to paddle it, and shoved me off into the wild blue yonder. The weather was stunningly beautiful, the water was glass-calm, and the experience was magical. I was out paddling for nearly an hour when I realized that I wasn't thinking about any of the stressors I have going on in my life right now, all I was thinking about was 'wow - what an amazing experience!' I paddled upstream a ways, saw lots of ducks, a beaver, several Great Blue Herons and also several Great Egrets all doing their thing out there. Herons are a skittish bunch, and I know from experience that they don't like to have round things pointed at them. I stopped paddling and just drifted with the slow current, as still as I could be while trying to capture images with my little point-and-shoot. The heron watched me the whole time and when I got too close, he took to the air again, squawking li...

Seems like I've been going non-stop lately with City meetings and photo shoots and radio commercials and appointments... all the daily stuff I do... so today I took a day of rest. I hung out at home, soaked up some 60-degree sunshine in the back yard, took a nap, and went out to see my sweet horses. I put a bridle on Lucky and we rode around the pasture for a while. It was awesome, and just what I needed. He has lost some weight over the winter - he really needed to - and now he's easier to stay on bareback. We cantered up and down the length of the pasture... what a joy to ride. He is so graceful and smooth. (Took that with my cell phone.) Then I came home and had some delicious homemade clam fritters - went clamming on the last minus tide and learned a lot about horseneck clams. Like the fact that they taste pretty darned good!! Back at it tomorrow with household chores and another City meeting. Hope you're having an awesome weekend!!

The City of Newport offered an event last night at their City Hall that I found very interesting and informative. It featured the Newport Police Department and they did an awesome job of it. Here is a link to the PDF they published. I have several friends on the force there and a couple more who volunteer for them. I even had my picture taken with the new K-9 officer, Eyan. He's gorgeous, and very smart. I expect there will be more of these events, seeing how successful this one was, even in the driving rain. The sun is out today, and I am SO glad to see it! Have an awesome weekend!

Last night I was sworn in as one of Toledo's three new City Councilors... all women. Our new Mayor was also sworn in last night, in front of what I can only call a hostile crowd. Not hostile towards us, but because of the situation we are in right now. We've heard some pretty strong feelings aired by a lot of citizens regarding the proposed placement of an asphalt batch plant here in Toledo. Here is a bit of history on the subject. The City Council chambers have been jam-packed at these meetings, and it has been interesting for me, and I'm sure for my fellow new councilors, to be jumping into this thing at this particular time. All of us are first-timers at this. We join 4 men on the board who have been at it at least for a while... Well, last night, the asphalt plant owner and his infamous attorney gave us a two-hour presentation on their side of the story. After a nearly four-hour first meeting as a councilor, I was finally able to breathe a big sigh of relief that the f...