The Traveling Water Lilies Forever Stamps Project / Installment #11

For Installment #11, at the top we have my friends Gay White (Little Rock, AR) and her sister Wanda Titterington (O’Fallon, IL), and friend/fellow photographer Ruth Ann Lowery (Arlington, VA).

My friend Betty Ferguson continues to recruit stamp collectors, beginning with Joanne, Joey, Leonard, Mary, Sue #1 and Sue #2, and Tom (all from Denton, TX).

THE ONES TO BEAT TO WIN A FREE GALLERY-WRAP CANVAS: Sue Cummings Titterington (27), Betty Ferguson (24), Steve Stroupe (14), Kathy Muchemore (7), Judy Schefcick Martin (7), Martha Biz (7), and James F. Williams (5).

Ladybug on Hydrangea

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Big Contest Announcement!

DRUMROLL, PLEASE! The person who collects the most stamp-selfie photos for The Traveling Water Lilies Forever Stamps Project will win a free gallery wrap canvas (from 12×16 up to 20×30) of an image of their choice from my zenfolio.com site.

FIRST RUNNER-UP receives a set of my beautiful greeting cards (more than 40 to date!).

http://cindydyer.zenfolio.com/p270076135

HOW DO YOU WIN? Tell your friends to buy some water lilies stamps at their local post office, then shoot a selfie with the stamps (or have someone else shoot the photo of them) and send you the image, which you forward to me via email at dyerdesign@aol.com or through FB. Be sure to give me the full name, city and state of each person photographed.

If their local post office is out, check out another post office or ask your clerk to order more. They can also be ordered online here: http://uspsstamps.com/stamps/water-lilies

THE ONES TO BEAT: Sue Cummings Titterington (27), Kaarvand Ferguson Betty (17), Steve Stroupe (14), Kathy Muchemore (7), Judy Schefcick Martin (7), Martha Biz (7), and James F. Williams (5).

CONTEST ENDS: December 31, 2015 (so that gives you plenty of time to encourage friends and family to BUY THOSE STAMPS–the USPS printed half a BILLION of them, so let’s move some stamps, folks! (FYI: Normal run of stamps is 20-40 million; holiday stamps run half a billion. They expect these to sell well so they upped the quantity!).

The Traveling Water Lilies Forever Stamps Project / Installment #10

Thanks to all the participants who continue to submit to my “Traveling Water Lilies Forever Stamps Project.”

For Installment #10, my friend Betty Ferguson continues to recruit stamp collectors: this time, her “grandbiscuits” Cameron (Fort Worth, TX), Brian (Fort Worth, TX) and Chase (Denton, TX).

My FB friend Diane Berkenfeld sent her trusty gnome out for the task (Melville, NY).

The next 14 fine folks (including two from “across the (water lily) pond!) were collected by my FB friend (that guy in the water lily baseball cap) Steve Stroupe (McCalla, AL): Ellery Curtis (Hoover, AL), Charlie Curtis (Hoover, AL), Olivia Curtis (Hoover, AL), Steve’s son Daniel Stroupe (Tuscaloosa, AL), Motel McCready (Gulf Shores, AL), Karen Thatcher (Indianpolis, IN), Sonia Cruz (San Antonio, TX), Trevor Cole (Manea, England), Tammy Craver (Atlanta, GA), Nymphaea ‘Colorado’ (College Station, TX), Viktoria Clark (Chatteris, England), Nelumbo ‘Maggie Bell Slocum’ (Franklin, NC) and Joseph Dewberry (New Market, TN).

Rounding out Installment #10 is my friend Marisa Sarto (Los Angeles, CA).

Delphinium

There were numerous clusters of gorgeous purpley-blue delphiniums in bloom at Brookside Gardens yesterday. This color against lime green takes my breath away!

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

White larkspur (Delphinium)

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Sea holly

I see a sea of Sea Holly!

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Carpenter bee on Hollyhock bloom

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Assassin bug on Sea Holly

Assassin bug (fairly certain) on ‘Blue Glitter’ Sea Holly (Eryngium planum)

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Honey bee landing

Honeybee coming in for a landing on a Grandiflora “Wild Blue Yonder” rose, an All-America Rose Selection for 2006; photographed with my Nikon D800 and 105mm micro lens at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Save the date—Saturday, July 11

DC/VA/MD FRIENDS! Mark your calendars for the annual Lotus Asian Cultural Festival at Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens on Saturday, July 11.

http://www.nps.gov/keaq/planyourvisit/directions.htm

FOR MY PHOTOGRAPHER FRIENDS: the gardens open at 7:00 a.m. (yes, that’s early but it’s also most likely to be less crowded AND a tiny bit cooler temp-wise). Parking gets very tight during the festival so come early.

JOIN ME FOR SOME PHOTO TIPS! I’ll be giving a brief photo workshop/tips & tricks session from 9:00-9:30ish.

THE FESTIVAL officially kicks off at 10:00, followed by a Water Lilies Stamp Dedication Ceremony at about 10:20.

BUY SOME STAMPS! The USPS will have a mobile postal store by the curb at the entrance to the park where they will be selling the Water Lilies Forever Stamps (in case your local post office doesn’t have them available). Be sure to buy some, take a selfie holding them and send them to me via email or FB so you can be part of my ever-growing Traveling Water Lily Forever Stamps Project!

A HEAD’S UP: Water lilies and Lotus like to bloom during the HOTTEST period of summer, so dress cool, wear a hat, bring water, cover yourself in sunscreen and stay cool!

The Traveling Water Lily Forever Stamps Project / Installment #9

Thanks to all the participants who continue to submit to my “Traveling Water Lily Forever Stamps Project.”

For Installment #9, we have my cousin Brandi Fletcher (Atlanta, GA); my cousin Deanna Jones‘ cousin Kay Carr and her husband James (Vernon, AL); my friend David Loethen‘s kids Bess, Emma and Noah visiting Rehoboth Beach, DE (Kansas City, MO); friends vacationing in Key West: Kevin Muchemore (San Antonio, TX), his daughter-in-law Chantell (Benton, LA), Chantell’s daughters Alissa and Brooklee, Kevin’s wife Kathy Muchemore (San Antonio, TX), her son Isaac and his wife Breanne, (Boston, MA), and Kevin’s sister Kelly and her husband Greg (Omaha, NE); and Jodi Thompson Pridgen (Fitzgerald, GA), wife of Jacob Pridgen, my cousin Gary Pridgen‘s son. The next 11 stamp-happy folks were recruited by my industrious friend Betty Ferguson (Denton, TX), while she was recently visiting her hometown of Takoma, WA—Stephen, Carrie, Brian, Beau, Ken, Meredith, Mitch, Barb, Blanche and Janet. And last, but certainly not least—my friend, deputy director of Hearing Loss Association of America, editor of Hearing Loss Magazine, hostess extraordinaire and Sneezeguard Heiress Barbara Kelley! (Great Falls, VA) (Check out Barbara’s entertaining blog at www.kelleyhospitalitycom)

The Traveling Water Lily Forever Stamps Project / Installment #8

Thanks to all the participants who continue to submit to my “Traveling Water Lily Forever Stamps Project.”

For Installment #8, we have friend and HLAA member Evelyn Gardner (Marysville, CA); my sister Debbie Talbert (San Antonio, TX); friend and HLAA member Judy Schefcick Martin (Jacksonville, FL); new friend Diane Kern (Washington, D.C.), Brandi Chism (Pearland, TX); Daniel Stroupe, son of my FB friend, Steve Stroupe (McCalla, AL); friend and director of Green Spring Gardens Mary Olien (Winchester, VA); friend and fellow photographer Jeff Evans (Falls Church, VA); my friend and Jeff’s mother Bobbie Evans (Memphis, TN); new friend Terry O’Connor​ (Woodbridge, VA); friend Sue Cummings and her friends Drew Handlon, Rosely Martins and Anna Wickizer (all from Huntsville, AL) with Tator (Brian Swinford), their Redneck Bus Tour guide in Nashville, TN (http://www.theredneckbus.com); and finally, my friend Angela Heath (Kensington, MD).

Daylily

Daylily (unknown hybrid)

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Longlegged fly

A Longlegged fly (barely 1/8″ long); found my identification through the “Bug Eric” blog at: http://bugeric.blogspot.com/2014/05/long-legged-flies.html

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Trout lily

I photographed this trout lily at Green Spring Gardens this morning after a light rain. The bloom is about 1″ in diameter. Look at the petal on the far right. About halfway up the edge of the petal, you’ll see a tiny bug. This little guy was so tiny, he was barely viewable when I looked away from my macro lens. He was probably about 3/16 of an inch long!

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Fleabane daisy

Fleabane daisy (Erigeron glaucus); teeny-tiny, very delicate and often overlooked (but not by me!); photographed at Green Spring Gardens this morning

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Water lily stamp on tv!

A recent USPS tv commercial features one of my water lily stamps (and it’s the only stamp shown!). Take a look (don’t blink or you’ll miss it)! It’s at the very beginning at .04 seconds.

Monarch on zinnia

Just uncovered this never-before-shared gem from my archives—overlooked in the cull of hundreds of butterfly images from the Wings of Fancy exhibit at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD a few years ago.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Monday smiles

Bell peppers were on sale at Giant Food this morning for just a buck each (really good deal), so I bought two red, two yellow and two orange (for the ark?), with no particular purpose intended for them. I started chopping them up for bite size dipping snacks and decided that whacking off the tops (stuffed pepper style) would speed up the process.

I cut up a yellow one first and when I lopped off its “head,” voila—a happy smiley face greeted me—in both top and bottom sections. (FYI, this only happened with the yellow peppers. How appropriate is that?)

What’s better than one smiley face? Two!

Figuring this was a fluke, I cut into the second yellow pepper (very scientific approach, eh?) and voila—another smiley duo. This one has a crooked smile just like mine (plus Groucho Marx eyebrows).

I give you the Smiley family. If they don’t cheer up your Monday, I give up!