Down on the Farm: October 2010

I can't believe it's almost the end of October! My favorite month of the year, it's so beautiful outside. It's been real busy lately, no time to blog. I have been going through a lot of training, business training there is. It's a different world out here, real estate is not what it used to be when I first got my license 16 years ago. One of the sessions I've enjoyed the most and probably the most valuable is Key Yessaad, Internet Strategist - it was so good that I've taken it twice. Since my last blog I also got a new car, a 2006 VW Passat. It's my 7th personal VW and my 3rd Passat. Elizabeth's first car was a Jetta and so was Phillip & Sara's. I guess we can say we are Volkswagen family. Phillip came for a visit and spent his 29th birthday with me, I took him to see Medieval Times Tournment and Dinner, it was so much fun! He helped me get all the tree limbs and the winter mess cleaned up. It was bothering me that I hadn't been able to get it done myself but I am just not that good with a chainsaw. But actually it wasn't that bad and it got done in a couple of days.

He also met up with his friend from High School Will

Then a couple of weeks later it was time for Sara and my birthdays. Saturday/Sunday and we didn't see each other. I don't remember a birthday since she was born that we weren't together. She turned 22 on Oct. 2. My baby is all grown up! I had imagined years ago my 50th Birthday being a special one with all the family around. It was disappointing but I got through it. Dave and Kim invited me Friday night to stop over their house for crabs and martinis, it was also a treat to sit in the hot tub for hours and enjoy the moonlight and clear starred skies over the water. On Saturday Diana and Joey came for dinner, Diana from Bethesda and Joey from St. Mary's County. We had more hard crabs and fixings, they played Wii. Then on Sunday, Curt took me out to dinner at Outback Steakhouse, we had a fun time, good food, good service and great company. We came back to the farm and watch Dexter on Showtime. That was my birthday!

My celebration was the gift to myself of a digital Nikon D5000 camera. It's amazing how much fun it is photographing everything I never could before. Last weekend I attended Eric Smith's Photography class. I can now take shots in Manual and I'm not only limited to Auto Mode.... how about that? I learned about lighting, and so much more. The best was learning about Photoshop... it can be very complicated but Eric and Susan showed us ways to make it easier! Here's some wild pictures I took while learning.