As always, please give good critique - I wish to learn and grow.

7-1-08 alinea - the pilcrow symbol - new beginnings of paragraphs and other things........

7-2-08 Starfish are symbols of infinite, divine love....

7-3-08 Some Asian traditions hold that ladybugs if caught and released will fly to your destined true love and whisper your name in their ear...

7-4-08 The same traditions say that the number of spots on the ladybug you wish on is the number of months it will take for you to meet your true love. This haiku will not cooperate - I swear it doesn't want to be written! I have changed it + or seven times.... Grr....

7-5-08 .... ....

7-6-08 Hebe is the Greek goddess of youth with the ability to restore youth. Old age, youth, death.... Perhaps it can work that way if you make it.

7-7-08 Willow trees are symbols of flexibility due to their ability to bend in the wind. They are also symbols of fertility. More on this on the 8th.

7-8-08 It is said that pregnant women would lay a blanket under a willow tree hoping to catch a single green leaf, if one fell on it by morning it was believed that the goddess of the willow would grant an easy child birth. Its bark is a source of salicylic acid, which is the main ingredient in aspirin, since you can make a tea of willow bark - maybe that is where the idea came from. Hmmm..... On a side note, I now know why it works with acne! (swelling reducer)

7-9-08 One of my favorite photographers, Art Wolf, says that when you are out in Namibian desert when the stars are out, you literally cast shadows from the stars, this captures my imagination as well as having a deep symbolism for me.

7-10-2008 My neighbor who calls me daughter gave us all a scare thinking she had pancreatic cancer, but her tests were all good.

7-12-08 I think I will wake up my man now...

7-13-08 I saw a funeral procession in Belfast last month, they carried the casket covered in flowers on their shoulders down the street to the cemetery. I feel certain one of the men who almost collapsed was the husband. It was very moving - the murals on the walls of those who had died so young made it more so. A very emotional day.

7-14-08 Saw the people leaving the graveside today - so sad - the stragglers reluctant to say goodbye.

7-15-08 The rain on hot pavement and hotter cars.

7-16-08 A fear of black, perhaps. <inside joke - just ignore.

7-17-08 the young do not have a monopoly on beauty.

7-18-08 I always make the mistake of trying to photograph butterflies who are "perfect" Even if that is not the right way to go about it. Which butterfly? THAT butterfly.

7-20-08 and 7-21-08 go together - more or less.

7-22-08 I actually got out last night - (i work way to much!) and it was Monday night league dart night. This man dancing like a little boy was there, and I could not stop grinning at his excitement.

7-23-08 tiger lilies = wealth and pride - dragonflies = adaptability to change.

7-24-08 .....

7-25-08 This is such a sad story, committed by someone I love, all she knows is herself - no other - and she knows she was wrong, but it happened anyway

7-27-08 Everything annoys me now, and I said this out loud, even though I am home........

7-31-08 And so the month of July 2008 ends, I am coming by to read everyone's gallery to make the hunt - I am excited to see how everyone's unique month in their lives went.

To everyone who completed the challenge - congratulations!