over the long weekend, my girl and i went to visit my parents. they live near the lake about an hour and half away and we got there just in time for lunch. so the four of us – mom, daddy, kelsey, and myself – piled into their SUV and we went into ‘town’ to one of the neat little lakeside restaurants close by.
side note: this has nothing to do with this blog post, but while we were there my dad got into a fight with a mustard bottle. and he lost. 
anyway, after lunch, us girls checked out a couple of the nearby shops while my dad stood outside and held our drinks. and then after that, daddy drove us down to the state park and we checked out all the campers and boaters.
well so on the way home, we decided to take the long way (my favorite!!) and check out some of the beautiful homes on the golf course not far from their house. and once we made the loop through that neighborhood, daddy took us down some old country roads.
and so you know what means don’t you??? 
you guessed it! fences!
you should have seen the look on my dad’s face when i asked him to pull over so that i could take a picture of a barbed wire fence. which then i had to explain to him about flickr and fence friday.
but i think he kinda got a kick out of it as we were driving along because then he would point out a good one. which was so fun. until he pointed out a gate and then i had to explain to him the subtle intricacies of fence friday…no gates, guardrails, retaining walls, etc.
please….i know…. don’t say it.
anyway, we were almost home and i spied a really rusty fence with a bunch of weeds growing up around it. booyah!!! i yelled, ‘hey daddy stop! there’s a good one!!’ and so he pulled off to the side of the road. my mom hollered out from the passenger-side window, ‘better watch out for snakes!’
{{shudder}}
well so while i was traipsing through the brush (watching for snakes mind you) to get close to the fence, my dad turns to kelsey and asks, ‘does she do this all the time?’ to which kelsey just nodded and rolled her eyes. then daddy says, ‘well…she’s gonna git chiggers.’
but just check out this cool shot i got!!
once we got back to parents’ house, i noticed that the field next to their house was covered in queen anne’s lace…something we don’t see a lot here in the city. so mom and i got her dogs and then walked over so i could get a couple of shots. which i did and even managed to capture this sweet little lady bug.
but then we noticed two swallowtail butterflies flitting around.
which was just SO neat! i almost never see these at my house. so of course i had to get a few shots of those too.
and by that time we were both a sweaty mess (summer has definitely returned!) and it was time for kelsey and me to head back home.
and so here i am a few days later…typing this blog post with chigger bites all over my ankles. still. but i also came home with a memory card full of wonderful surprises and heart full of wonderful memories.
thanks for letting me share it with you.
love, itchy
Lovely shots – love that ladybug!
Those shots are worth the chiggers! Great!
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Yes, so worth those chigger bites! I do hope you show these images to your parents…then they will have a better understanding! 🙂 Wonderful images, every one!
Ahhhh … the price we pay to take our photos … But it was worth it, these are ‘keepers’.
Get a cup of salt, go take a shower and rub the salt all over the chigger bites. On another note, GREAT pics and well worth it! 🙂 tell your dad I would have cheered for him over the mustard bottle any day! 😉 hahaha
Oh the things we do for a great photo. I feel the same way when I’m around my parents. They happily oblige all of my “please stop here!” requests. My Dad even thinks of places he can take me for photos. But I do think they think I’m just a little bit “off.” My Mom told my sister “Judy takes pictures of EVERYTHING!” 🙂 And she’s right!
i love that ladybug shot! nothing like chigger bites to remind you of summer in these parts!
What? No pictures of your chigger bites? Beautiful pics sis, put the ladybug one on my wallpaper. xoxox
I love every. single. shot. Stunning!
Ah chiggers. HATE those things. I once got such a bad case I swear one pops up occasionally again as if it affected my nervous system. I call them shades of the chiggers. LOL
OH OH OH!!! I LOVE the pictures, and that last one is AH-maze-ing!!
Must be a summer for catching photos of beautiful flowering weeds. I haven’t gotten chiggers yet, but have done some weed photography. Love all that you captured, and especially like the editing and texture and the saying on the last one with the butterfly. Lovely…
I must say you got some amazing photos in exchange for those chigger bites! They itch worse than anything I know of!! I love all those gorgeous fences, my favorite is the one with the black berries! My grandfather always took us to pick blackberries along a fence row. He’d load us all in a wagon that he pulled behind his tractor. He’d drive us up close and we’d pick from the wagon; avoiding the snakes!!