Shine On...

I have talked and talked about how much we enjoyed seeing the sunrises and sunsets while at Ocean Isle Beach,  NC, in December.  What I haven't shared is the beautiful moon pictures that George took while there.  We enjoyed seeing that gorgeous full moon each night we were there,  and we even set the clock to see the Eclipse on Dec. 21.  Here are some of our beautiful MOON pictures.

These first two pictures obviously are of the gorgeous full moon.  It was wonderful to be at the beach during this time --since we had such great views of the moon that week.

There is something so interesting about seeing the moon surrounded by clouds.  George took this one from our balcony one night... Neat, huh?

Here is another picture of the moon with the clouds around it.  If you look at the clouds,  you can almost make out some different shapes.  I see a dog's or cat's face,  above and slightly to the left of the moon.  What do you see?

We didn't get outside soon enough to see the total lunar eclipse,  but we did get to see the partial eclipse--after the moon was moving out of the earth's shadow.   During a lunar eclipse,  the Earth lines up directly between the sun and the moon,  so there is no direct sunlight to hit and reflect off the moon's surface. During the total eclipse,  you cannot see the moon at all because it is hidden by the earth's shadow.

The only light that reaches it is 'filtered and bending through our atmosphere'.  That gives it the color of "all of the world's sunrises and sunsets"  together.  It was awesome to see.

Here is one more picture of the moon as it moves out of the earth's shadow.  The total eclipse lasted for 72 minutes and the entire eclipse lasted for about 3.5 hours.  We only saw about 10 minutes of it --since it was 4:07 a.m. Eastern time when we got up.  YAWN!!!! ha...   Well---even if it was in the middle of the night,  we are both glad that we got up and saw this rare happening.

Hope you enjoyed our moon pictures as much as we did.   We think we picked a perfect week to go to the beach!!!!

Hugs,

2010 Best of....: WATERFALLS

Most of you know that George and I 'collect' waterfalls ---pictures, that is!!! ha..  We have seen over 435 different waterfalls since 2001, many of them several times.  Picking out favorite ones is always hard,  but I chose 11 favorite waterfalls which we saw in 2010. I will show you 9 of them today.  Above is a picture of LODGE FALLS--found at DeSoto State Park,  Alabama.  We had seen this waterfall before,  but this is the first time we have seen it with ICE all around.  George surprised me with a Valentine's trip to DeSoto that week.  The picture was taken on 2/14/10.

We drove WAY back into the woods, and then went on a beautiful hike in the Ouachita Mountains in Arkansas to see this beautiful waterfall.   This one is named the LITTLE MISSOURI FALLS.  This picture was taken on 2/22/10.

This is the MT. NEBO WATERFALL in Arkansas.   As you probably know if you have followed my blog for awhile,  George and I go to Mt. Nebo State Park at least once a year.  We stay in a cute little cabin with a view of the valley below while we are there.  Mt. Nebo is one of our favorite places.  This waterfall also looks different each time we see it.  This picture was taken on 2/23/10.

Another of our favorite places is SERENITY FALLS (near Cosby, TN)... We stay in a cabin right beside the waterfall --and enjoy its beauty 'up close and personal'.  I took George to Serenity Falls for his birthday this past year.  The picture was taken on 3/9/10.

In April,  we took a little trip to West Virginia to check out some new waterfalls there.  We saw many pretty ones --but I chose my favorite one to feature today.  This  1500 feet wide waterfall (you can only see part of it in this picture) is named SANDSTONE FALLS.  This picture was taken on 4/23/10.  (There are two other West Virginia waterfalls which I had chosen as favorites.  One is Campbell Falls and one is Brush Creek Falls.  IF you want to see pictures of these two falls,  click HERE. )

This waterfall is found near Bland, Virginia (where many of my Bruce relatives used to live).  Its name is the FALLS of DISMAL,  and the picture was taken on 4/24/10.

After my knee surgery in June,  George took me on a little outing to Tellico Plains, TN.  We saw some of our favorite waterfalls in that area (Bald River and Baby Falls).  BUT--we also drove back in the mountains and found a new waterfall for us.  This one is named NORTH RIVER FALLS..   Isn't it pretty?  This picture was taken on 6/18/10.

In September,  we took a trip to the Cumberland Gap area of TN/VA/KY.  During that trip,  we stopped by to see CUMBERLAND FALLS... And--as you can see,  God smiled down on us that morning,  giving us a beautiful rainbow to enjoy in addition to the waterfall.  This picture was taken on 9/25/10.

Finally,   on our way to Ocean Isle Beach in December,  we stopped near Tiger, GA to see  STONEWALL FALLS.  We had to drive back into the mountains for awhile and then hike to this pretty little waterfall..  The setting was beautiful --and I could have stayed there forever.  However,  the beach was also calling my name!!!! ha... This picture was taken on 12/19/10.

Hope you enjoyed seeing some of my 2010 favorite Waterfalls.  As you can tell,  waterfalls don't have to be huge.  In fact,  some of my fav's are the smaller ones in great settings --where we can enjoy them from up close.

Well--the good news is that the SUN CAME OUT at home yesterday.... Hooray!!!

Have a wonderful weekend.  I will see you on Monday.
Hugs,