Black Ice on Clarke Street
Kitty on Black Ice
Holy Leaf on Asphalt
Big Yellow Leaf on Frosty Ground
Frosty Seedpod Disks
Riverside Drive by the Locust Tree
Ice on the Black Car
Ice Abstract #85
Ice Abstract #98
Ice Abstract #73
Icy Red Abstract #1
Icee Carpet
Feeling a bit melancholic about 811, my former house. It had the most sharp, clean afternoon light. These are some of the last photos I shot in that house. Leon and Luna basking in the afternoon sun! What a life!
The sweet life in the dog's bed.
Sandpaper Tongue and a Big Yawn
Zen and the Whiskers
Bright Eyes
Morning light at the new place.
Morning Grooming
Surrogate Mom
Ready to Play, Ready to Rest
Don't Worry, This is Not the Dining Table
Leon’s morning nap.
Sound Asleep at Eight A.M.
Beauty Sleep
This is a lovely story. My friends after years of waiting have welcomed a baby girl into the world and their lives through adoption. How exciting it is that they asked me to photograph Chloe while she was still tiny, only nine days old. She was so alert and think she is going to be really smart. Look out mom and dad!! I have known Brad and Chantelle for years. I photographed their wedding at Craigfont in Gallatin and worked with Brad. They have been parents to several sweet four legged children including Tululah who has amazing eyes and Jasmine, the bengal cat who is smart as a whip. Being a birth mom myself, I know the struggles and heart break of letting a child go. It is painful and stays with you for your entire life. You can only hope and pray that the people who are now your child’s parents will love your child as much or more than you could. I know B & C are going to be incredible parents with more love for Chloe than anyone else in this world!!
Baby Chloe feeling the love from mom and dad.
What a beauty!
Getting comfort from mom.
Napping during the shoot.
Proud papa!
I love this image... just perfect. B & C painted the tree on the nursery wall. Chloe's birth parent's names are painted on the truck along with B & C in a heart.
baby hands
baby feet
baby face
So alert!
sweetness
Beautiful Jasmine and Jasmine and Tululah waiting for a treat.
Best friends.
Sleepy time.
Happy parents.
Content dog.
A collective set of photos taken the past week or so…
The pretty purple morning glories somewhere on ninth street in Old Hickory and a garden spider, Argiope aurantia, also called the writing spider or banana spider just outside the Mayo's. I call him Fred. Isn't he beautiful against the blue sky in the morning light?
Morning glory black and white study.
The royal, majestic and abundant purple morning glory.
Love the color of these. Hydrangea are beautiful in this state.
So many spider webs around. This one had a feather. This morning when I went out on my deck, just before dawn, I counted about 25 spiders doing their thing!
Along the brown/orange and green palette, we have Slim Jim in the grass in the early morning light.
Stray Dude in his best Buddah pose.
Tunnel Spider web. I have never seen a tunnel spider, that I know of, but I can only imagine that if I put my hand near the "tunnel" I would probably never see it again!
A holly hock leaf used as a canvas for some critter to create art!
Meet Nibbles. Nibbles came to our neighborhood last year looking for a family to love him. He found a few nice people on one street block who fed him, named him and welcomed him on their porch but no one really claimed him as part of their family. Nibbles was a skinny, not neutered, whinny kitty. Then one day he took a trip to another street block, this time by the lake where birds, raccoons and ground hogs abound. He happened upon a really nice lady who took him in, gave him shelter, a safe place, took him to the vet where it was found he had worms. This explained why he ate so much and never gained weight. She had him neutered and now Nibbles is relaxed, enjoys the air conditioning in the hot summer and the deck in the cooler weather. He has also learned to sing. Well, it may not sound like singing to the human ear but he for sure gets out there and belts a tune that maybe the raccoons understand or the birds or the groundhogs, not sure. The one thing I am sure about is this kitty is very happy and is cute as a button!
Last week I took a trip to the Nashville Zoo. It had really been too long, two months since I had seen the little baby clouded leopards. They have gotten so big and the girl has already left for her new home at the National Zoo in Washington DC. She is going there to get acquainted with the baby clouded leopard cubs born this year as possible mates. So it is just Luke and Chet. I wonder if they miss their sister? Here are some photos of the cubs along with some of my other friends who were out enjoying the warm, autumn air one afternoon last week. Another interesting thing while I was at the zoo this particular afternoon: I witnessed three separate scuffles. Two meerkats were at it, two lorikeets were at it and two of the gibbons were at it.
Such a beautiful face.
Big...yyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnn.....prrrrrrrrr....
What's that I see over there?
Handsome profile!
The boys kept looking up... there was a squirrel tormenting them.
Relaxing.
This is from the creek that runs through the Gibbons exhibit. I like the reflections.
The meerkat.
Silly goat.
Gotee.
Mr. Giraffe.
Knobby knees.
I cannot remember the name of this bird, he/she is related to the roadrunner and makes a really cool coo sound.
This guy was beautiful when he spread his wings... too fast and I was too occupied with the thought of lorikeets running into me. 
Lorikeets.
Two more of one of the boys.
Watch squirrels together. YEs, I am being silly but this squirrel was not fearful of me or my cat, Leon as we sat the living room window watching him.
I was working on the computer and kept hearing all this squirrel noise in the backyard. I thought it was two squirrels but turned out it was this guy just siting on the fence post enjoying a black walnut making all kinds of noise and Leon, listening intently! We watched him for 15 minutes.
When he first spotted the camera. Guarding his nut.
Watching the squirrel, I'll call him Wally in honor of the walnut!
Chewing and squealing.... that's what he was doing. Amazing how fast he whittled down the husk.
And then I pushed. I went outside scared poor Wally (he was shaking) and he lost his nut. He ran off...sorry buddy.
He’s a superstar! He’s the Fat Cat! He is everyones cat! Felix, the Rite Aid cat had a big party today welcoming him back home after his abduction last month! The party was complete with hotdogs, chips, cokes and lots of people coming by to see Felix. While I was there a little girl with her parents came by and left a sweet drawing of the kitty. A family made a banner for Felix that everyone signed, another person created a beautiful watercolor of Felix and there were tons of cameras…Felix’s own paparazzi!!
Looking dapper with his new name tag.
What a set of whiskers this cat has!
He was being quite the poser for me for about 5 minutes. I think someone was promising him chicken.
the banner
Grooming.
Going inside now.
Okay I'll give you one more!
Playing with a customer's shoelace.
High atop some cans of cola looking out on his kingdom.
Poor Felix!
Hanging out in front of the Snugglies.
Bye Mary, I'm going to take another nap...see you later!
For the life of me I can not remember if Luna came into my life in 97 or 98. She was actually my old boyfriend’s cat but when we split up he wanted to take her and have her live in his truck…. I mean really!! So she stayed with me and Pita. I do remember that Dave found her on the summer solstice and she was probably a few months old at a lumber yard over on Charlotte Pike. I can remember when he introduced her to me. He was working on a construction job and told me to come over for lunch.. there she was in the back of his truck… this little, tiny tabby cat. Luna is the momma in the house, the animal that connects to all the others in the house.
Pretty green eyes and sweet moon face.
Yes, Luna is a big cat!
Happy Happy News!!! Felix is back home and loving life at the Rite Aid!! I will post photos soon!
I am reposting this so it appears at the top of my blog. As most of you know Felix was taken from the Rite Aid store this past Sunday night around 8:30 by a woman with dark hair driving a late model silver honda with a spoiler. The folks at Rite Aid know this because there is a security tape, so they have indicated anyway. However, according to an article by a Tennessean writer who contacted the police department a report could not be filed because no one would claim Felix as theirs. We all know that Felix lived at the Rite Aid. We know he was fed and had water there and even had his own little resting areas in the store. He was also written up in the Rite Aid employee news letter. So the public can not see the video and the employees are not allowed to speak to the media. Ya’ll know how small Nashville is and how we are all connected so I feel for sure that someone would be able to identify the snatcher. I know we all want what is best for Felix and can only hope that he is okay and getting all the love and care that he deserves. In an effort to get the video tape released I am suggesting we start a petition. You can start your own and we can bring them together and present the list to the store manager. Until that tape is released or we know the real story I will not be trading at this store, the Rite Aid at the corner of Robinson Rd (Old Hickory Blvd) and Martingale Rd in Old Hickory, Tennessee. I have also written to corporate Rite Aid through their customer feedback link on their website and have not heard back from anyone.
At the corner of Robinson and Martingale roads in Old Hickory sits the Rite Aid, formerly CVS. It used to be a place with no soul. No one seemed to like working there. It just was not a place you really wanted to visit. Then one day I noticed this stout tabby hanging around the front of the store. This was three years ago?? The folks at Rite Aid adopted this kitty and named him Felix. For a while they did not let him in the store. They had a nice little house out front with blankets, bowls for food and water and some cat toys. It sits in the front to the left of the front doors. Before I knew it, there was Felix inside. He is so loved that he was featured in the Rite Aid newsletter as a steller employee. The people at the Rite Aid even make calendars with Felix’s photo and sell them. And now when you drive up to the store you might see Felix lounging on the sidewalk or on top of the newspaper stand. This cat has those people wrapped around his fat, little paw and they very happy about it.
Life is rough here at the Rite Aid.
Stretching out on the sidewalk.
Mr. Handsome
Hollywood glamour shot.
Come on by and give me a pet.