Why haven't they changed much in millions of years? That's due to their habitat - living in the deep sea - an environment that is incredibly stable compared to the surface world. Down there, temperatures are cold, light is nearly nonexistent, and conditions don’t fluctuate dramatically over time. When an environment stays consistent for millions of years, animals that are already well adapted to it don’t face strong evolutionary pressure to change, thus is the case for the goblin shark. 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A few quick facts about the goblin shark species:

• Goblin sharks live in deep water, usually 300–4,000 feet below the surface.

• Their skin looks pink because their blood vessels show through their semi-transparent skin.

• They have a long, flattened snout filled with electroreceptors that help them detect prey in total darkness.

• Their jaws can shoot forward in less than a second to grab prey. This makes it one of the fastest jaw projections among sharks.

• They mainly eat deep-sea fish, squid, and crustaceans.

• Goblin sharks can grow up to about 10–13 feet long, though most are smaller.

• They are rarely seen alive because they live so deep in the ocean.

• The first goblin shark was discovered off the coast of Japan in 1898.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The goblin shark is a big reminder about how much we don't know about our planet, or the species that reside here along side us. Living close to 125 million years, but never seen by human eyes until little over a hundred years ago, and living at such depths that they are still rarely seen today. Pictures and information about them are extremely rare, and most of what scientists understand comes from the few specimens accidentally caught in deep sea fishing nets. Until technology allows us to explore the deep ocean more freely, the goblin shark will likely remain one of the sea’s most mysterious and least understood predators.

Although the goblin shark may look intimidating, it poses no real threat to humans. Its survival across millions of years highlights how stable and mysterious the deep ocean environment truly is. Studying species like the goblin shark not only helps scientists understand marine ecosystems, but also reminds us of the importance of protecting habitats we don't know all that much about yet. 

Let's do a few fun facts about these guys first:

• An octopus has three hearts. Two pump blood to the gills, and one pumps it to the rest of the body.
  Fun fact: the heart that pumps to the body actually stops beating when they swim, which is why they prefer crawling.
• Octopus blood is blue because it contains hemocyanin, a copper based molecule that helps transport oxygen in cold, low oxygen ocean environments.
• About two-thirds of an octopus’s neurons are in its arms, not its brain.
  Each arm can taste, touch, and even move semi-independently so it’s almost like they have eight tiny brains.
• Some species, like the Mimic Octopus, can impersonate other sea animals such as lionfish, flatfish, and sea snakes.
  They can change color, texture, and even body shape in seconds.
• Octopuses can open jars, navigate mazes, and remember solutions. They’re considered among the most intelligent invertebrates on Earth.
• Because they have no bones, an octopus can squeeze through any hole larger than its beak, which is about the size of a coin in many species.
• Each suction cup can taste what it touches. That's the equivalent to if you could taste with your fingertips. 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Octopus vs. Squid: Knowing the difference. 

Octopus:

Has a round, soft body. 
Mostly found on the sea floor. 
An Octopus has a rounded shaped head. 
Octopus have eyes on the top of their heads. 
They are solitary creatures and do not live in groups. They can be seen with babies sometimes, as they care for their young. 
An Octopus only has 8 arms, and does not have tentacles like the squid does. 

Squids:

They have a very triangular shaped head and their bodies are long as opposed to the Octopus, which is more round. 
Squids have 8 arms and 2 tentacles. 
Their eyes are on the sides of their heads. 
Squids have been known to live in groups and can often be found with other squid. 
They are usually found in the open ocean and not on the sea floor like an octopus. 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The smartest animal of the ocean?

Octopuses are considered the most intelligent invertebrates on Earth, with complex nervous systems and around 500 million neurons distributed throughout their bodies. Unlike most animals, a large portion of their neurons are located in their arms, allowing them to process information and move semi-independently. This unique setup contributes to their impressive problem-solving abilities. In laboratory settings, octopuses have been observed opening screwtop jars to reach food, navigating mazes, recognizing individual humans, and even escaping from secure tanks. They are capable of learning through observation and remembering solutions to tasks long after first encountering them. Their intelligence makes the octopus one of the most remarkable thinkers in the ocean.

When faced with a new obstacle, an octopus will explore it with careful, deliberate movements, testing and adjusting until it finds a solution. Studies have shown they can distinguish between shapes and patterns, remember successful strategies, and adapt when circumstances of their environment change. Their ability to rapidly camouflage by processing visual information and altering their skin in real time also reflects advanced neural control. Rather than reacting automatically, octopuses demonstrate curiosity, memory, and problem-solving skills that suggest a highly developed and independently evolved form of intelligence.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hope you guys enjoyed reading this, and walked away with a little more info about octopus!~ 

• They are about 95% water.
• They have no brain, heart, or bones.
• Their tentacles are covered in tiny stinging cells called nematocysts. These cells fire microscopic harpoons that inject venom.
• They mostly drift with ocean currents rather than actively swimming long distances.
• Jellyfish have existed for over 500 million years, making them older than dinosaurs and some species have remained relatively unchanged for millions of years.
• The box jellyfish is one of the most venomous marine animals in the world.
• The species known as the “immortal jellyfish”, Turritopsis dohrnii, can revert back to its juvenile form after reaching adulthood, potentially repeating its life cycle.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Now I'll go ahead and do a myth vs. fact jellyfish addition too. 

Myth #1: All jellyfish are deadly.
Fact: Most jellyfish stings are painful but not life-threatening to humans. However, species like the box jellyfish can be extremely venomous.

Myth #2: If it’s dead, it can’t sting you.
Fact: Even dead jellyfish can still sting. Their stinging cells (nematocysts) can fire after the jellyfish has washed ashore.

Myth #3: Jellyfish are fish.
Fact: Despite the name, jellyfish are not fish. They’re in the phylum Cnidaria, making them more closely related to corals and sea anemones.

Myth #4: Jellyfish don’t have eyes.
Fact: Some species do! Certain box jellyfish species have surprisingly complex eyes that can detect light and shapes.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Box Jellyfish

This section will be dedicated to the box jellyfish, the most deadly of the jellyfish. Currently we know of around 51 species of the box jellyfish which are grouped into 2 orders and 8 families. Stings from some species, including Chironex fleckeri, Carukia barnesi, Malo kingi, and a few others, are extremely painful and often fatal to humans. This venom is delivered by contact with it's tentacles. 

The most venomous box jellyfish is the Chironex fleckeri, commonly known as the Australian box jellyfish or sea wasp. It has extremely potent venom that attacks the heart, nervous system, and skin cells. and the more severe stings can cause intense pain, cardiac complications, and in rare cases, can be fatal if not treated quickly. It’s primarily found in the coastal waters of northern Australia and parts of Southeast Asia.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Immortal Jellyfish

The immortal jellyfish is the species Turritopsis dohrnii and it’s famous for its unusual ability to essentially “reset” its life cycle. It can revert from its adult stage back to its juvenile polyp stage and it can do this process multiple times. This process is called transdifferentiation, where specialized cells transform into different types of cells. When stressed, injured, or nearing the end of its life, it can transform its adult cells back into immature cells and return to its earlier polyp stage. From there, it can grow into a new adult again.

Is it truly "immortal"? No, not really. It can still die from things like predators, disease, or environmental changes too. 

These jellyfish are actually super tiny, about the size of your pinky nail.

Scientists are currently studying them to learn more about aging, cellular regeneration, and stem cell processes. 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Moon Jelly 

This is the most common species of jellies, and likely one you've seen. This species is hardy and super easy to care for, and often found in aquariums. It's found in temperate and tropical oceans worldwide and most common in bays, estuaries, harbors, and coastal waters.

• Usually about 10–16 inches (25–40 cm) across.
• Has relatively mild venom, generally harmless to humans.
• Feeds mostly on plankton and small marine organisms.
• Moves by gently pulsing its bell, drifting with currents.

Good news, you can have these as pets. Here's a few key things to know or have if you're going to do that:

You're going to need a kreisel tank and they cannot live in regular tanks and thrive. These types of tanks will allow them to float suspended in the water, prevents them from getting stuck in corners, and creates a gentle current for them that they need to survive. Moon jellies are very soft-bodied and they can tear easily if they touch any type of hard surface or filters. 

They are very sensitive to water quality. Because of this you'll need to keep the tank temperature around 60–70F (15–21C). Of course, it will have to be a salt water tank with strong filtration and keep the water clean at all times. Clean water is critical because jellyfish have no immune system like vertebrates.

For food, they'll eat mostly baby brine shrimp or specialized jellyfish food blends you can order online and they'll need to be fed 1-2 times daily. Because they lack complex digestive systems, uneaten food must be cleaned out quickly to prevent water quality issues.

Keep in mind, even though they look simple enough to care for, they are not beginner pets and require a lot of care and work. 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

To end, I'll leave you with a few pictures I took of jellyfish at the Ripley's Aquarium. 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sea Bunnies

• The "fur" is actually composed of tiny, rod-like structures called caryophyllidia, which act as sensory organs.
• The two antenna-like appendages on their head are called rhinophores, used to detect chemical scents in the water to find food and mates.
• Sea bunnies are toxic. They consume sponges containing toxins and store these compounds in their bodies as a defense mechanism, making them unpalatable to predators. So don't be confused by how cute and fluffy they look, however although toxic, they are generally considered harmless to humans, but their delicate bodies should never be touched.
• While they are usually white with black spots, they also appear in yellow, orange, or brown varieties.
• They are very small, usually measuring less than 1 inch (2.54 cm).
• They are found in the Indo-Pacific Ocean.
• Despite their name, they are marine mollusks and do not have gills like a fish; they have exposed, feather-like gills on their rear.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sea Pigs:

• They inhabit the deepest parts of the ocean, often called the abyss, across the globe.
• They are deposit feeders, eating decaying organic matter, bacteria, and carcasses that fall to the seafloor.
• Their skin is toxic, containing chemicals that can break down red blood cells, which helps protect them from predators.
• They move in large groups, often facing the same direction to navigate currents, and sometimes act as "babysitters" for juvenile crabs that hide on their backs.
• Generally 1.5 to 6 inches (4 to 15 cm), though they can reach up to 8 inches.
• They are found on the ocean floor at depths of 4,000 to 16,000 feet.
• They are actually a type of deep-sea cucumber. While they share the "sea" name, they are distinct from sea slugs (which are gastropod mollusks) and belong to a different phylum entirely. 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sea Sheep (The Leaf Sheep)

• Found in shallow tropical waters near Japan, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
• It is famous for being one of the only animals in the world that can photosynthesize, using stolen chloroplasts from algae (a process called kleptoplasty) to convert sunlight into energy. 
• First discovered in 1993 near Japan's Kuroshima Island.
• Found in shallow tropical waters, they feed exclusively on Avrainvillea algae.
• They often graze together like a herd of sheep and group together with other sea sheep.
• They have an average lifespan of 6-12 months.
• These slugs are hermaphroditic organisms, meaning they are both female and male. Also, leaf sheep can lay between 2,000 and 4,000 eggs. The eggs hatch in four days.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I hope you enjoyed learning a few things about these cute creatures, and tomorrow's blog will include some photography of fish I've taken myself

Before we begin, you might be wondering what the heck is a snakehead and the first image that comes into your mind is probably something from a movie. There are over 50+ species of snakeheads that are divided into 2 different groups: Channa and Parachanna. The 2 main types I'm going to be talking about today are Northern Snakeheads and the Ceylon Snakeheads both from the Channa groups. 

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A few facts about Ceylon Snakeheads:

• Incredibly dangerous, even to their own species, they will eat smaller members of their own species. 
• They don't stay in one place for long. when food becomes scarce they move to other ponds by jumping on the ground and they can survive without water for a while.
• They can heal fast, with bruises from walking across land healing within a day. 
• Can grow up to 10–13 inches (25–33 cm).
• They don't hesitate to attack humans and if you put a finger into the water they'll swim toward it at lightning speed and try to bite it.
• They're fast swimmers and when they feel like they're under attack, they stir up the mud to make water unclear.
• They're easy to catch if you just slowly place a net in front of them and tap their back they'll swim straight into it.
• The Ceylon is one of the smaller snakehead species and often referred to as the "Dwarf Snakehead".
• Habitat: Streams, rivers, ponds, and wetlands.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A few facts about Northern Snakeheads:

• Originally from China, Russia, and Korea and is classified as an invasive species in the United States. 
• Can grow up to 4 feet (about 1.2 meters) long and weigh up to 15 pounds.
• Like the Ceylon, they "walk" by wiggling on land from one body of water to another and can breathe air for several days.
• Eats fish, frogs, crustaceans, insects, and sometimes small birds or mammals but if it fits in their mouth, they will eat it. 
• They prefer sluggish waters with dense vegetation, but can inhabit canals, rivers, and ponds. They are highly adaptable to temperatures ranging from 32F - 90F(0C - 32C).
• A female Northern Snakehead can lay up to 100,000 eggs per year and they can double their population in as little as 15 years. 
• Northern snakeheads are respected among some Chinese fishermen for their virtue, as parent snakefish are known to sacrifice themselves to protect their young.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Myths VS. Facts: Snakehead edition. 

Myth #1: They can crawl for miles on land.
Fact:
They cannot go on epic cross-country journeys. They can survive out of water for a short time if kept moist and may wriggle short distances to reach nearby water and they are not planning to attack any local towns. 

Myth #2: They attack humans.
Fact:
There are no confirmed cases of Northern Snakeheads hunting people. They’re aggressive toward other fish (especially when guarding babies), but you are not on the menu unless you go sticking your hands in the water or aquarium you have them and then yes, they will dart at your hand and likely try to bite you because they'll think it's a food source. 

Myth #3: They’re venomous because they look like snakes.
Fact:
They are not venomous and not at all related to snakes despite the name.

Myth #4: They’ll completely destroy every ecosystem instantly.
Fact:
They are invasive in parts of the U.S., and they can compete with native species which is a real ecological concern, but they are not machines of mass destruction (despite that movie lol) Ecosystem impact varies by location.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I hope you enjoyed reading this, and tomorrow we will be covering Sea Bunnies~!

And of course, I had to throw this in here for @Zeref, his favorite movie LOL

Stingrays:

• Flat, diamond-shaped, or circular bodies.
• Their habitat is usually coastal waters and sandy or muddy areas.
• For food they scoop or suck prey up from the sand.
• They have a whip like tail that may have one or more stingers depending on the species of rays.
• Likes to be buried in the sand.

Manta Rays:

• Much larger than stingrays, they have triangular pectoral fins and cephalic lobes near their mouth.
• They are more often found in large open areas of the ocean. They do sometimes come to the coast as well but they typically prefer more open areas.
• They are filter feeders and swim with their mouths open.
• Their tails are very thin, short, and they do not have stingers.
• They migrate and are very social.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Some easy ways to tell the difference between stingrays and manta rays:

• The easiest way is size. Stingrays are much smaller, usually 1-6 feet, and manta rays are huge reaching sizes of up to 23 feet across. 
• Stingrays are often sitting on the sea floor or in shallow areas, manta rays are usually in deeper ocean areas near reefs.
• Another good way is to look for the mouth. The mouth of a stingray is on the underside, designed for bottom feeding, and the mouth of a ray is on the front of their body and they are usually swimming with it wide open for filter feeding. So if you've got a huge fish swimming at you with its mouth wide open, odds are it's a manta ray. Here's a good image for visual with a manta ray on the left and a sting ray on the right:
  
• The above picture also helps you visualize the shape, you can see the sting rays are much rounder and the manta rays appear to have wings. 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

While neither species is aggressive, it is important to remember that stingrays, while not aggressive by nature, can become defensive, and use their tails to protect themselves and sting, especially if stepped on. Manta rays are generally very gentle, curious, and don't have a stinger to harm you with. Manta rays = ocean puppies, stingrays = spicy sand pancakes. 

Here are a few parting facts you might find interesting about both:

• Giant manta rays can grow up to 23 feet (7 meters) across.
• Stingrays often bury themselves in sand with only their eyes sticking out.
• Manta rays have the largest brain-to-body ratio of any fish. They show signs of intelligence, curiosity, and even self-awareness. Some researchers believe they may recognize themselves in mirrors.
• Despite their size, mantas eat tiny plankton.
• Stingrays eat clams, shrimp, worms, and small fish, and they use their powerful jaws to crush shells.
• Female mantas usually give birth to one pup at a time and sometimes only every 2–3 years.
• Stingrays are part of the cartilaginous fish family, meaning their skeletons are made of cartilage, not bone
• Manta rays can live 40–50 years, possibly longer.
• Stingrays can detect tiny electrical signals from prey hiding in the sand.
• Mantas are known to leap completely out of the ocean. Scientists aren’t 100% sure why but it could be possibly for communication, mating displays, or just showing off.
• Stingrays usually have between 2-6 pups at a time.
• The spot pattern on a manta ray’s belly is like a fingerprint with each one having a different one. Researchers use these patterns to identify individuals.

See you guys tomorrow for my snakehead blog~! I hope you enjoyed reading this one. 

First off, I'll start with a few differences between seals and sea lions:

• If you see them in a zoo encloser, they are probably swimming. One way to tell who is who is seals swim by using their back flippers in a side to side motion, and sea lions tend to use their large front flippers.
• When you look at their heads, you'll notice that sea lions have visible external ear flaps, whereas a seal just has tiny holes where their ears are. 
• Sea lions have much longer necks compared to seals and they often sit upright, and a seal will usually lay flat and scoot around on land. 
• Size-wise there is a pretty big difference. Sea lions are up to 10 feet long, weighing up to 1,000 pounds, and seals are around 5-8 feet long and only weigh up to 300 - 400 pounds usually. 
• If you see one "barking" and making a lot of loud noises, chances are you're looking at a sea lion as seals tend to be quieter and make softer grunts.

So in summary > If it's screaming at you, has ear flaps, and it's walking on land, you're probably looking at a sea lion, and if it's being quiet like a ninja, earless, and flopping around on land, odds are it's a seal.

Here is a good chart to use when comparing:

And now for a real picture, you can immediately spot some of the differences, noticing the "hole" on the seals head for ears compared to the obvious flapped ears of the sea lion. The flippers also make it very obvious which is which, with the sea lion having those large and outward facing flippers. Also this picture makes it very easy to note the difference in how their necks look, with the sea lions being much longer.

I'll leave you with a few fun facts about seals and sea lions. 

• Seals can sleep underwater and can surface for air without waking up.
• Seal pups are born very fluffy with white fur, and later shed it.
• Sea lions are highly intelligent and can solve problems, recognize patterns, learn tricks, and remember commands.
• A seals whiskers are able to detect even the smallest of water movements, allowing it to hunt fish in dark or murky waters.
• Male sea lions are known to be extremely aggressive and get much larger than the female sea lion. During mating season they become extremely territorial.
• A seal can reach speeds of up to 15-20 miles per hour and a sea lion can reach speeds of up to 25.
• Sea lions have been known to dive as deep as 600 feet.
• Seal moms and pups find each other in seal colonies through sound alone and are able to identify each other's individual "voices".

I hope you enjoyed this, and I'll see you tomorrow with more fish

Today I will talk about the almighty Mola Mola, otherwise known as a sunfish. These are my absolute favorite fish simply because they look so dorky and are silly little guys (I like my fish how I like my men, what can I say? LOL). If you've never seen one, they look like someone didn't know what a fish looked like and tried to draw one:

A few quick facts about the Ocean Sunfish:

• They weigh between 250 - 1,000 KG (or 545 - 2,200 pounds). 
• They can be up to 1.8m long (around 5ft 10 inches), and specimens up to 3.3m (10ft, 10 inches) tall have been recorded from fin-to-fin height. 
• The largest one on record was records in New Zealand and weighed 2,300 KG (5,100 pounds). 
• Sunfish are not wide and have virtually no width and are a flat fish. 
• It recieved its name because it likes to sunbathe on top of the water and is commonly seen floating around at the surface of the water.
• In German, it is also referred to as Schwimmender Kopf, or "swimming head", and in Polish, it is named samogłów, meaning "head alone", because it has no true tail.
• The earliest known fossils of the sunfish date back to the Holocene period, around 11,700 years ago. 
• There is a freshwater version of sunfish but it is not related to the Mola Mola and is part of the Centrarchidae family.
• The Sunfish shares a lot of characteristics with the Puffer fish and was originally mistakenly classified as part of the Puffer fish family. Likely due to the fact they have beaks to eat with instead of teeth like a Puffer fish. 
• It was believed in early research that Sunfish just drift along with the ocean current to travel, but recently species have been recorded traveling 26 KM (16 miles) in a day and actively hunting at 200m (650 ft) and below and they can go as fast as 3.2km an hour (1.9 miles an hour).
• A sunfishes main predators are Seals, Sea Lions, Sharks, and Killer Whales. 

Not a lot is yet known about Sunfish because they haven't been researched extensively, and we are only recently discovering more about their mating, eating, and migration patterns. There was a lot of misinformation about them up until recent years as well. For example, their diet was once thought to consist mainly of jellyfish and Gelatinous Zooplankton, but in recent years it's been determined they consume mostly Flounder, Eel, and Squid. As for their lifespan, we still don't even know that because it's not yet been documented in their natural habitat, though it's believed they may be able to live around 25 years. 

Another type of Sunfish is the Giant Sunfish, which is slightly different to the Mola Molas, although they are in the same family. These are considered to be the largest bony fish and weight up to 2,700 kilograms (6,000 lb) and is usually 3.3 m (11 feet). They are easily distinguishable from Mola Molas as they are much wider and have bumpy bodies:

Sunfish pose no harm to humans and are often docile so if you find yourself diving next to one, you don't need to worry as they will likely ignore you, and you can probably get a really cool picture next to a HUGE fish~! 

I'm thinking tomorrow's entry I might do crabs, but if you have suggestions let me know in the comments~

Sorry the pictures aren't that great but the sunset from the boat was really pretty and we were pretty fortunate that we were on a smaller cruise & the boat wasn't packed. It was easy to walk around and get views from all sides of the boat without having to wait for other people standing around. 

These are pictures of the sunset from the boat:

These are pictures coming back into the city after dark:
Note ~ The bridge pictures are the walking bridge as it's known here, it constantly changes colors & you can walk across it from the Louisville side to the Indiana side and end up in Jeffersonville. 

These were prior to leaving while the boat was still docked & daylight pictures going upriver:

That's all for now, hope you guys enjoy the pics ;D 

I really liked this particular place we went to because they had all different types of trails depending on what kind of hiking experience you were wanting to have such as ones for more experienced hikers or flatter ones that were only around a mile long for people not that experienced. We kind of stuck to the latter ones because I wasn't really feeling climbing up a buncha complicated things that day lol ~ Anyway I really wanted to share the pictures from there because I thought it was a really lovely place

I'll put most of these behind spoilers so it's not to overwhelmed with pictures: 

Out in the wooded part of the trails:

I really liked this tree because it was a place people could carve their initials on ~

And here's some pictures of the sky ~ 

Lastly, I just thought the paintings on the building were pretty ~ 

I thought the sunset reflecting on the water with the bridge in the back looked really lovely  Plus it was very peaceful just having milkshakes and watching the sunset. Hopefully this weekend I'll have some better pictures because we are going on a sunset cruise on the Belle of Louisville boat :3 

First I want to put my favorite ones here ~ the rest will be behind the spoilers  The first ones are when we were crossing over the Ohio River and the rest are all pictures from the countryside scenery as we were driving out. Everything has gotten so green now that Spring is here and the sky was perfect that day. 

I'll put the rest under spoilers here. These are pictures from my Great Aunt's farm such as views from her property and the old barn that has been there for 60 something years. 

The rest under this spoiler are just pictures of the Kentucky countryside. There's also a few more of the Ohio River in these. 

That's all for now but I hope you enjoy looking at the pictures ^^ 

I've really enjoyed being back home. The reasons why I'm here are for mental health reasons so it's a bit personal and not exactly the best situation to be home for. Despite how I'm feeling I've felt more at peace since being home. Seeing the places I used to go to, meeting up with friends, seeing my family, staying in my dad's house. It's made me feel relaxed, safe, not stressed out, and just peaceful which is better than I've been in what feels like a really long time. Everything has just been kind of building for months and then kind of came crashing down at once. 

I decided to try a black and white photo which is not something I usually do. I tried the first one with an angle of a street I liked and the second one is downtown Chicago. I really like the way the black and white looks on the first set it kinda gives it a really old look. Not sure about the second one I think I like the way the colored one looks more. 

The ones below this spoiler are from the road during our trip here. The sunset that day was so pretty coming through the clouds that I had to take some pictures of it!

Another one of my favorite things to take pictures of is the city lights at night. It was a bit cloudy as usual in Chicago this time of year, but I kinda think it just adds to the atmosphere. Or maybe I'm weird but I've always liked foggy and cloudy Chicago when I can look up at the huge skyscrapers and can't see the tops because they are in the clouds ~ Most of these are in and around the Chicago Tribune building which is right at the main center of the Magnificent Mile and the other is from out on Navy Pier. 

Below is just a few pictures of when we first headed out to walk around. The last picture is at The Field Museum. The Field Museum might look pretty familiar because it's been in a lot of movies such as Night At The Museum which is actually a movie I really like : D 

 I guess that's all for now. I really wanna say thank you to all my friends though on AF who have been there for me lately. You guys mean the world to me

Dogwoods and Cherry Blossoms are some of my favorite trees when they are blooming ~ I think the pink ones in the photos are Cherry Blossoms and I'm not sure what some of the other ones are such as the red trees. The whole neighborhood area is blooming with them right now though ^^ Anyways hope you guys like the photos. Hopefully I can get back to creating blog entries again soon after I start to feel a little better. I think I messed up resizing some of the photos but it'll haveta do for now lol 

I think my favorite photos from this are the pink trees (not sure what they are) that belonged to a house near my dad's and the neighbor said I could take pictures of it. They are probably some of my favorite flower pictures that I've taken and I hope you enjoy them too ~! I'm trying to get out on the river soon as well and take some pictures of the sun setting over the Ohio River but with the flooding and all I'm not sure that's going to happen this weekend x.x If it gets a bit better possibly during the week next week I'm hoping to get out on the boat 

Welp, I'm going to just post these here this time instead of under a spoiler

I did edit these on PS such as with the lighting and color, which is something I don't do as much now. These days I do enhance colors on photos but that's about it. I still think these are pretty though with the way I edited the lighting/coloring/adding bokehs. 

Anyways, I hope you like looking at them ~

Here's some pictures from the cemetery:

We also ended up hanging out on my roof for awhile and I took a few pictures there. You can see the river and all of downtown from there. I personally prefer it at night with all the lights twinkling but it's harder to take pictures at night:

The next ones are from today. It was raining all day which kind of matches my mood tbh ~ I mostly just laid in my bed and stared out the window watching the storm moving in. There's been a lot of stuff I'm working out in my head recently and I know how to fix it, but it's also not that easy. Well, maybe it would be, but then I overthink it and I talk myself out of it. There are times I wish I could turn my emotions off and simply not feel anything, for anyone, ever again. I think it would be much better than whatever the hell I'm feeling lately. 

Well, that rambling aside, it's really kinda nice to watch storms here. We are so high up I can see really far in the distance such as the storms coming in and even rain falling far away. Being so high up is also a really great place for taking pictures of the storms since you get such a good view and when I'm laying around in bed it's nice to cloud watch and think. 

Last one is still just the rainy pics but you can see that little street better where all the pretty white trees are ~

While they were in Nevada they rented a car and did some sight seeing through the mountains and visited my step-dads brother who also lives there. Some of these views are from outside of his home I believe. It would be really awesome to step outside of your house I think and have that kinda view lol ~ it's much different than my city views here, though I like both of them in their own ways. Oh and the last picture I think is from one of the little towns they were visiting through. She asked me if I could clean up some of the photos on PS for her and enhance the coloring so I did and she said I could share them.  That's all there really is to this post is I just wanted to share the really stunning mountain views she had  

I went to see some of the trees that are blooming first, then visited the parks, and after that I decided to walk around some of the streets behind my house where there are a lot of old Victorian era houses built in the 1800's. Old Louisville is pretty much made up of these huge beautiful houses that have really cool architecture, big tree-lined streets, and beautiful gardens. You can Google "Old Louisville" actually and see some way better pictures than mine under images. It's really such a beautiful neighborhood, and while I do miss Chicago often, I think this is one of the prettiest places I've lived. Despite being right next to downtown, walking around here is very peaceful and there's so many cool things to look at. 

There was a street I can see from my apartment windows (I'm 17 floors up so I can see pretty much everything) that was lined with blooming white trees I wanted to visit so that was my first stop. Below in the spoiler are pictures from that. I initially thought these were Dogwood trees but turns out they are called Callery Pear trees.
 

These are from my walk down a couple of the streets in Old Louisville. The Magnolia trees are already blooming and I love those ~ I really like the architecture on a lot of these older houses too. The details are really cool to look at and I noticed some of them even have things like Gargoyles on them and just really intricate patterns carved into them. I love those huge round windows a lot of houses in this style have too ^^ 

Below is one of the Victorian mansions in the area known as the "Pink Palace" and it's part of the ghost tours around here (Old Louisville has ghost stories about pretty much every single house lol). Apparently there is a ghost named "Avery" who lives in the home and is a protective and peaceful spirit. He usually appears to residents to help them. Two such stories I've heard were 1 a woman was taking a bath in an apartment in the basement part of the house when Avery appeared to her. She freaked out (naturally) and jumped out of the bath just a few minutes before a cement block came through the window because robbers were trying to break in and the block would have hit her. Another story is Avery appeared to residents right before a fire broke out leading them to the kitchen were the fire had started and they were able to put it out before it did any major damage. 

This is another supposed haunted Victorian Era mansion called the Conrad-Caldwell House, or just the Conrad Castle. I actually did a historic ghost tour of this place back at Halloween and it was super interesting. It was built between 1893-1895 and it's currently a museum. I'm not sure how many ghosts are supposed to be in the house, but I've heard somewhere around 9 different past residents haunt the home. They've done several TV shows such as Ghost Hunters on the property as well which is kinda neat. 

That's all I have for now, hopefully you enjoyed looking at the pictures. I'm thinking about taking a walk to the riverfront tomorrow, so I may have another batch of photos to share

I decided that I'd put together some of my favorite snow pictures from the snow we had last Winter.  I had gotten out and taken some pictures of the pond and park area when I went for a walk with my cousin at her house, which is kind of in a more rural area compared to where I lived in downtown Chicago. I was able to get some much better pictures of the snowfall and scenery. Taking pictures of nature is always my favorite type of photography and snow is always so lovely when it's first fallen. 

Some behind the spoiler

The past week has been somewhat draining and exhausting and a lot has happened with my uncle's funeral + some other life issues that I'm still working on sorting out and processing. I always find it amazing how you can do everything for someone and they still end up treating you badly or backstabbing you in the end. I think I might attract the wrong kinds of people sometimes and I'm just too dumb to realize it. BUT! I won't try to focus too much on that because I also have some really amazing friends who I've formed deep long-lasting friendships with that I also know will always be there for me in any way I need and that's what's much better to focus on. 

I guess that's about all I have for this blog entry. I hope everyone who happens to read this has an amazing rest of your week. 

Oh! One final thing, a couple more pictures. I know these are pretty awful but I don't have some amazing, high-powered camera, so it is what it is and taking pictures of the moon is never easy  but I did think the moon/sky was extremely pretty last night and I tried to get a few pics of it.

When I think about Spring the #1 thing that also comes to mind is new beginnings which is kind of where I'm at in my life. Working through a lot of different feelings and emotions and trying to let go of the past and work on my present & future. I'm hoping to start a new chapter in my life in more ways than one. There are some days when that feels more difficult than others, I suppose today would be one of those days but I'm trying to deal with it as best as I can. The beginning of things can be scary, whatever that is, whether it's a new chapter in your life, new love, new school, new whatever. With me, there's just a lot I need to process for this next chapter of my life but I'm hoping it blooms into something beautiful that I can look back on some day and be happy that I took the steps that I'm taking now. 

Here's a few photos I took last Spring to look back on ~ The butterflies are from the Chicago Butterfly Gardens that you can walk through and most of the flower pictures I believe are all from my Dad's yard. 

In my case, I'm tired, and above all I'm tired of hurting and waiting for someone that is never coming back and that's really just something I've accepted. I feel like I deserve to move on and be happy with someone in the present instead of constantly living in the past and never moving forward. Though this is all a little personal and I guess that's really all I want to share about it at this time. On the happier note though I have decided to let myself find something in the present to be happy with and I'm proud of myself for that much. 

Onto some pictures since of course this is still my photography blog lol ~ These are some of my favorite pictures I took from the roof of our house back in the Summer during a really pretty sunset over the city & I hope you like looking at them too

Under the spoiler

Pictures are below in the spoiler

Second part

I guess I really don't have much to talk about in this blog, so sorry about that. There's nothing very interesting going on in my life right now but I just wanted to share one of my favorite picture series I've taken in my lil photography blog  I suppose Valentine's day is coming in just 2 days as far as holidays go, but I doubt that's going to impact my life very much.

I was debating telling them until they called me and started telling me about some girl they had just started dating. I don't think I've really felt "okay" since that happened last week. While that hurt I also felt kinda.. glad? After I really thought about it. Mostly because I feel like I'm getting feelings for someone else and those bother me even more because I can't figure out if I really am or not. Also that person lived in Brazil and while we've met once before IRL I always felt like he was just using me for various things and as if I was just someone to talk to when there was nothing better going on. When I look back on it all though I realized I never said *anything* to him at all about anything I felt and basically was just living out whatever I thought we were/could be in my head. May have been a good thing though. 

As far as the other person goes, I haven't figured that out yet either, and I feel nothing but extreme confusion with whatever I'm feeling there. I mostly just want to go out into the woods and scream at a tree about it. I don't know how I went from years of being content with just me and understanding that was all it was ever going to be, to being hurt by some idiot and absolutely losing my mind about another guy at the same time. Though neither of them know/knew and odds are I won't tell this other person either. I never know how to confess that to someone so instead I just put up cryptic Discord messages and try to hope they are psychic or something lmaoo

All that aside though I went up to the roof today to think about all this and there was the most magnificent sunset I've seen in a long time  I sat up there watching it until all the colors had gone from the sky. That's what I have pictures of today for this, so I hope you enjoy looking at them and sorry about the rambling. 

Piccys below vvv

There is also a short video I took of it:

https://i.imgur.com/ei92yRX.mp4