.:: My Memphis ::.

Don’t you just love the zoo?  I do.  Well, I do…once I get past the nagging thought that all the animals are in captivity.  To break through that barrier I just keep reminding myself that if they were in the wild there is a chance of them starving to death or being killed by another animal or poached by man.  That usually helps.

This is a picture I took at (can you guess?) the polar bear exhibit.   I just love these big beautiful creatures!  The exhibit at the Memphis Zoo allows you to be above ground with the polar bears and also below the water so you can watch them swim.  We are having quite the cold spell in Memphis right now, and I bet those big bears are just loving it.  Yes, that’s Derek looking like he’s about to get a big ‘ole smooch.

.:: My Memphis ::.

This is a photo of the National Executive Office for ALSAC with a tilt shift effect added.  I can’t afford the actual lens.  ALSAC is the fundraising arm for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, here in Memphis.  I took this photo from the top of the parking garage just to the west of the building.

.:: My Memphis ::.

This shot is of some of my favorite flowers, Cone Flowers.  I love how trippy they are! It’s as if God said, LET THERE BE PSYCHEDELIC DAISIES…and there was.   You know how it goes. I’m sure it in the bible somewhere.

I shot these awesome “Crazy Daisies” at the Botanic Gardens back in 2007.  I wish they didn’t attract bees, cuz I would totally have some in my yard.  Being that I was stung by wasps on both cheeks (the face people…the cheeks on my face) when I was about 6, and having my cheeks each swell up to the size of regulation size softballs, I have lived my life in deathly fear of any of those buzzing, flying, stinging things.  P.S. – my skin is crawling just writing about this.  Ahhhhh!

Being 6 and having your face look like an inflated Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade balloon is enough to send any person running for the hill for all of eternity when they see one of those things.  And the pain, the pain!  Anyway, the point I was trying to make is that I have a rule about plants in my yard, “If it attracts bees, dig it up please.”

.:: My Memphis ::.

This is an amazing picture that my darling husband took of a very colorful spout somewhere in downtown memphis.  I added a few texture layers in Photoshop to give it a bit more of a grungy vibe.  Don’t you just love the little bit of spider web hanging down from the opening?

.: My Memphis :.

This sign for the Frank James Hotel is hung on a building down on South Main in downtown Memphis. The flowers on the sign are linked together by words of inspiration. Can you see the face of a man in the lady’s hair? The location is now occupied by a photography studio, Murrry Riss Photography.

.: My Memphis :.

If I remember correctly my talented and devilishly handsome husband, Derek, took this picture.  This is such a beautifully bold doorway that is down a small side street in downtown Memphis.  The reds and the greens just seem to jump out at you.

This picture was taken a few years back, and the doorway has been spruced up a bit since then.  Since the face lift, the doorway has become quite the popular location for engagement/couples photos, bridal sessions, and senior portraits.  All this writing about this charming little doorway makes me want my picture taken here.

.: My Memphis :.

This sign obviously belongs to a very hungry homeless person.  This IN NEED OF FOOD sign was wedged into whatever that yellow diamond thingy sign means, on the corner of East Parkway & North Parkway.  This homeless person was I guess so hungry and tired that they ran out of energy to stand and hold the sign; so they left to go nap on a bench and just let the sign do all the work in their absence.

Well, I don’t know about you, but I just think that is R-U-D-E.  Letting that poor piece of cardboard do all the work.  Seriously, cardboard signs get hungry too!

P.S. – I know it’s not the sharpest of photos, but it was totally on the fly, and I was in the passenger seat of a moving car.